Featured Rider: Andy Baranello
Current city, state: Jenkintown, PA
Number of years riding: 7 years.
First Bike: 2005 Yamaha FZ6.
Current Bikes: 2022 Yamaha XSR900.
Favorite bike accessories: Tanks pads and radiator guards are first to go on when buying a new bike.
Favorite piece of riding gear: Cortech Scarab V3 gloves that I purchased earlier this month. Great comfort and amazing warmth.
Most memorable ride: Riding my first bike home. I went to purchase my FZ6 from a guy in the Air Force at Browns Mill, NJ, and only had my motorcycle permit at that time. My only experience was on a 50cc scooter at that point. After money and title were exchanged, my dad offered to give me a ride back to the apartment I was staying at, but I’m stubborn and would do anything to experience the power of this machine. I learned how to use a clutch on that 25-degree day in the middle of February. To this day, I do not know of a bike with a heavier clutch pull than that Yamaha. I must have stalled the bike 20 times on the ride home. People in traffic were going ballistic behind me the whole hour and a half ride back. I didn’t care, I was creating new possibilities in my life and they could either wait or angrily go around me. I’m not one to practice how to ride in a parking lot. I wanted to be right out in traffic and learn first hand. Once I really opened the throttle on that machine, it was like I was being catapulted into another dimension. And in a way, it was doing exactly that since I’ve grown exponentially within myself from that point on.
Why do you ride? The adrenaline rush of riding a motorcycle or any extreme sport was never really a thing for me. For me, the faster and more aggressive I ride, the more relaxed and conscious I get. Riding is very supportive of my daily yoga routine and I consider it equally beneficial as yoga or meditation. It is dancing on the line of life and death and that is the essence of meditativeness. If you get caught in your thoughts or emotions for even a second on a motorcycle, that can mean the end of this lifetime for you.
Social media: Instagram
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