Lewis J. - Head Check: What it Feels Like to Ride Motorcycles

also by Jack Lewis

Nothing in Reserve:

True Stories, Not War Stories

For Tucker Dog,
who holds a piece of me
for later.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights.

Copyright 2014 Jack Lewis

Published Dec. 2014, Litsam Inc.

All rights reserved.

ISBN-13: 978-1-935878-08-7

E-book ISBN: 978-1-935878-09-4

LCCN: 2014954856

This is a creative work. Names and stories, fictional and factual, are rendered from the authors imagination. Any resemblance to persons living or dead, or events past, present or future, is coincidental and incomplete. Truth is an unfolding story.

Shoreline, WA U.S.A.

http://litsam.com

Foreword

Band of Brothers

The message from Jack Lewis Pretty Wife seemed innocent enough: It would be great if you could write a foreword for Jacks book, seeing as how you discovered him.

Yeah, well, somebody discovered the Ebola virus, too, and I dont see him beating his chest about it.

I didnt really discover Jack anyway. Truth be told, his was amongst a pile of unsolicited manuscripts left on outgoing Motorcyclist editor Mitch Boehms desk when I got promoted, ca. 2006. (Another in that stack belonged to Ari Henning, who I eventually hired as Associate Editor.) Mitch didnt say much about any of those stories, but allowed that there was some good stuff in that Lewis guys work.

Yeah, yeah, sure there was except when I finally got around to reading that Lewis guys work, I did indeed find that it contained some good stuff. Titled Riding Home, the story detailed Jacks very personal experiences as a veteran returning from the Iraq War. One paragraph about a souvenir bullet gave me serious pause, and convinced me to publish the piece posthaste.

I kept it close as a lover, and it whispered to me for months, chasing me like a ghost. It was my rosary, skeleton key, ballistic lodestone, taunting me with a papery laugh even after its author died in his barricaded window, head-shot by a better soldier than me. Zzzzip.

Clearly that Lewis guy could write. Trouble was, the story was too long. As in book-length. And cutting it down to size proved problematic as it quickly became apparent that Jack does not like to be edited. Not surprisingly, this book contains the unedited versions of Riding Home and some other previously published magazine articles. Consider them the Directors Cuts.

Riding Home was as much of a lightning rod as anything ever published in a motorcycle magazine. Some readers hated Jacks nonsense and called him a warmonger and other unflattering names not heard since the Vietnam protests. I politely reminded them that it was perhaps unwise to insult a rifleman who could part their hair from a half-mile out.

Others loved Jacks prose and appreciated his years of military service. Ill never forget Motorcyclist s Executive Editor Tim Carrithers, himself a fine writer, walking into my office, shaking his head and proclaiming, Man, that Lewis guy is good . The mere fact that we heard from readers who enjoyed Jacks work boded well, because in this Communication Age people are all too quick to fire off flaming emails and not so forthcoming with the compliments. I duly offered to make him a columnist.

A word about character: Jack and I are about the same age, the first generation to avoid the draft without having to dodge it. When I reached the age of consent, I chased girls, raced motorcycles and played in rock bands. Jack enlisted in the army. Two decades later, when September 11 th happened, I marked the occasion by riding a motorcycle cross-country and writing a story that never got published. Jack re-enlisted, making him a better man than me twice over. And he wrote a book about his experiences called Nothing In Reserve . Reading that, I learned to respect him as much as I admired him.

I wont ever pretend to know what its like to be a soldier on the field of battle. But I think motorcyclists and especially racers likewise make peace with the fact that we face the very real possibility of serious injury or death on a regular basis. That, in turn, breeds a sense of camaraderie that those who dont share it will never understand. Think Band of Brothers on wheels. As someone who has one foot in each of those two worlds, Jack offers a unique perspective. Better yet, hes that rarest breed of writer who is both a clever wordsmith and actually has something to say. Too often its one without the other.

I wont take the credit or the blame for discovering Jack Lewis. But I am damn glad that I gave him a shot!

Enjoy reading Head Check . I know I will

Brian Catterson

Authors Preface

For several years, Ive resisted calls to collect up a packet of my Motorcyclist ramblings and pack them into a book. For one thing, it seems a bit exploitive: Ive already been paid upon publication. Secondly, there is a kind of loyal opposition among readers who write letters. These folks regularly and carefully explain to my Editor (sequentially Messrs. Boehm, Catterson, and Cook) and to me not, it must be noted, without a certain delight the precise and manifold reasons why my writing should never again sully a public forum.

More compelling to me is that writing for moto rags even as eminent a publication as the ancient and venerable Motorcyclist remains nearly as evanescent a form as spoken-word haiku over your dozenth round of late-night sak . The wheel turns, another month rolls by, and you change out your toilet tank literature for a fresh issue. Think of it as the Great Circle of Bold New Graphics. Anyway, I already had a little Kindle book about motorcycling out, titled Coming & Going on Bikes, and it was bubbling along.

So when my publisher, Litsam, Inc., inquired about this project, I turned them down. Making a book is far harder than it looks, even if the content is already substantially produced, and anyway I was busy writing things for the magazine.

Then a brass ring dropped into view with the suggestion that a few favorite pieces could be run at their full uncut length, not at the length to which they were edited down to fit available magazine pages. That shiny ring was further burnished with the suggestion that a few previously unpublished items could be included, including an energetic ramble in an ingenious three-wheeler that no proper gearhead could ignore (the rig, that is). Finally, my project editor dropped the tastiest bait, saved for last: the Loyal Opposition would be heartbroken without further opportunity to voice their detailed critiques.

That opportunity is now open. As for those of you who bought this book on purpose, if youd be so kind as to avail a bit of real estate on your toilet tank, the writing in here represents some of the most fun Ive had behind keyboard or handlebars.

Theres a rumor floating about that writing for a motorcycle magazine is just about as good as life gets. That rumor, Im forced to report, is true. What youll find in this book is as good as its gotten for me.