Professors and motorcycles. Although it may go against conventional thinking, these words do belong in a sentence together. Just ask communication professor Kerry Strayer, or any of Otterbein's other bike-riding, open road-loving faculty and staff.
"I got into riding late, after being talked into it by my husband," Strayer said. After getting her license, she and her husband took a 700-mile trip in a loop through Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and back to Ohio.
Security Officer Jason Abramski likes to ride his sport bike to work on days when the weather is nice.
Abramski has always enjoyed motorsports but didn't start riding a motorcycle until after he turned 25, the age when insurance rates go down. Additionally, "I wanted to wait until I was older and more responsible," Abramski said.
As far as stereotypes go, Strayer said she does not see herself as a straight-laced kind of person or professor. Still, riding a motorcycle has helped her "gain cool points" from her students.
"Is there a college professor stereotype?" John Ludlum, communication professor and motorcyclist, said. He doesn't see himself as a particularly wild person, but that part of his personality is irrelevant to his riding.
Ludlum began looking at alternative modes of transportation last spring when gas prices rose above $4. He and his wife were interested in using motor scooters but were encouraged to try motorcycles while taking a course for their 250cc scooters.
"We tried them, and my wife immediately wanted one," Ludlum said. He finally bought one this summer and enjoys riding it to work on nice days.
Claire Parson, education academic departmental assistant, rides on the back of her husband's motorcycle, but plans on getting her own bike soon.
For these faculty and staff, though amusing it may be, riding is not about being hardcore and earning "cool points" from students.
"It's a time to put day-to-day stuff aside," Abramski said. When he's out on the road, he explained, riding just to ride, he doesn't have to worry about anything—he is free.
Ludlum rides because it's something his wife truly enjoys. He also just revels in the feel of the open road and the wind in his face.
While Strayer, Ludlum and Abramski prefer to ride during the summer and into the fall, Parson is looking forward to making a ride from Newark to Reynoldsburg and back on New Year's Day. "Superstition says if you ride January 1, you [will] be safe all year," she said.
Strayer encourages students, faculty and staff who are interested in learning how to ride a motorcycle to register for a course online at www.motorcycle.ohio.gov. The registration fee is $25, and the course is "relatively intense," according to Strayer.
So take the time to wave to the next friendly motorcyclist you come across on the road. Who knows? It could be one of Otterbein's finest. t&c;
