It was 1987, during the summer. Even though I had bought my Honda 550-four two years beforehand, I had never actually taken it out on a long road trip. Rather, time and circumstances kept me riding my bike only around town and to and from work. But it was bright and early one Monday morning when my brother called on the phone to see if I would like to go on an extended road trip with him. How could I say no?

And just thirty minutes later there was a knock at my front door and my brother was there waiting for me. He stood there with leather gloves in hand and brand new riding glasses over his eyes and looked very pleased with himself. I asked him about the glasses only to find that he’d spent more money on them than I would have.

However, he did warn me that it was not a good idea to wear normal sunglasses when riding a bike but because I was young and knew it all, I ignored his advice.

And do you know what? I was wrong.

Without any riding glasses, I found it to be a real eye opener as I travelled along the highway at 65mph. Or should I say, an “eye closer”~In fact, I should really say that it was a real ‘eye closer’~However, the reality is that it was more of an eye closer than an eye opener. Because I only had regular sunglasses on, I found that my eyes started to dry up pretty quickly as the wind found its way over the rims. And even with the glasses right in front of my eyes, I was still getting hit with things like debris, bugs and even little pebbles.

After about fifty miles, I was desperately looking for somewhere to get off the interstate so I could invest in my own pair of riding glasses.

Thankfully, before the day was out I had found somewhere and was now sporting a brand new pair of riding glasses. And if I ever planned to ride faster than 55mph again, I made sure I had these glasses with me. When the time came for me to sell my bike, I made sure to pass my brother’s advice on to the buyer and recommended that he buy a pair of riding glasses. Obviously I don’t know if he took my advice but I hope he didn’t have to learn the way I did.

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