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by Jane
The first time Penny rode her motorbike to my house, I hardly recognised her when I answered the door. Was it a courier with a parcel? Surely not, what with a brightly-coloured silk scarf being used as a mask - a bit effeminate for a courier! As she pushed the visor of the helmet up, I instantly recognised Penny's still half-covered face. "Wow, what a surprise", I said as Penny pulled the scarf down from her nose and mouth. With her jacket still fastened and the helmet buckled up, the scarf merely got pushed back up a little covering her mouth once more. "Phew", came the muffled voice, "what an exhilirating ride!".
As Penny pulled her gloves off, I started to unbuckle her helmet, "Let me help", I offered. Between us, we undid zips, buckles, velcro and poppers until Penny was standing in the hallway looking normal again, albeit with fairly wild hair, and a pile of motorcycle garments strewn across the floor.
After a coffee and a chat - the usual stuff about work, my latest clothes purchases and so on - it was time for Penny to go. "Here, let me help you on with all this clobber", I said as we walked into the hallway. "It may just be clobber to you but it's very necessary on the bike", she replied. Penny struggled into her trousers and boots and I helped by fastening the zips in the lower legs over her heavy boots. Next, I held Penny's jacket by the collar as she slipped her arms into the sleeves and I pulled it up and onto her shoulders, the collar standing up at the same time. I can't explain it really, but I got a little thrill of excitement, feeling the stiff yet supple leather in my fingers and the sound of the material as Penny moved her arms just added to my feeling. I pulled Penny's neat pony-tail out of the jacket so that it hung once more behind her head.
Again, sharing the workload, we fastened the jacket, Penny fastening one zip and me the other, then Penny snapped the poppers into place as I started to buckle the belt. "How tight?", I enquired, not wanting to hurt her but wanting a wind-proof fit. "Oh, quite snug", she replied, "It needs to keep the jacket from flapping about in the wind. I pulled as tight as I dared and did up the large buckle at Penny's waist.
"Damn, I forgot my scarf", Penny said as I started to grab the helmet and gloves from the floor. "Give me a hand would you Sal? It's tricky moving my arms far in this jacket and I need my face protection". I dropped the gloves to the floor and pulled the scarf from within the helmet where Penny had stuffed it when she arrived. "You really ought to look after a lovely scarf like this", I said. "Silk, is it?". "Yes, it's one of my Mother's old ones", Penny informed me. "I've worn it as a neckscarf once or twice and it was the first thing that came to hand when I needed a mask for the motorbike". "Well, no-one can accuse you of not being a smart biker - no ordinary cotton bandanna for you!", I said.
I re-folded the large scarf into a neat triangle, held it up by the ends in front of Penny's face, then wrapped it carefully over her nose and mouth, reaching behind her head to tie a single knot at the back. "Tighter than that", Penny said through the mask, "or it'll flap about and come off on the journey". I walked round behind her and pulled the first knot tight, making sure that her hair didn't get caught. A second knot made sure that the scarf mask stayed firmly in place as, round at the front again, I smoothed the scarf over Penny's mouth and chin and tucked the spare material into the front of her jacket. I noticed the ends of the double knot draping a few inches down the back of Penny's neck as I pulled the collar up a little more and fastened the buckle on the collar strap - nice and snug as I had now learned!
I handed Penny her helmet and gloves, helped her on with the gloves and zipped them up before she put the helmet on and I did up the buckle under her silk-covered chin. She pulled on the one-piece rain-suit and I did up the velcro and other fastenings, making sure that the hood was up (at Penny's request) before doing up the couple of poppers under the chin.
As I watched her speed up the road, I felt rather jealous. The freedom of the open road with the wind rushing past and all the protective feeling of the double suit, scarf, gloves, boots and helmet.
One day, a few weeks later, as we were drinking our coffee and chatting I asked if Penny was still enjoying motorcycling. "Oh, yes!", she replied enthusiastically. "It's a great feeling, I get to work in half the time that I used to and I scoot past all the traffic jams. What could be better? Why don't I give you a ride on the back and you can see for yourself?". A little unsure at first, I eventually agreed. "But I haven't got all the 'clobber' Penny. Perhaps another time". "Nonsense", came her retort, "We won't go far. You just need to wear something warm and I have my old helmet outside."
"Just a mo, then", I said, and nipped upstairs, feeling a little excited by now, almost like a school-girl, at the thought of the ride to come. I put on a pair of woolly tights under my jeans, a long-sleeved t-shirt, cotton roll-neck top and then a thick jumper over that. Downstairs again, in the hallway, I dug out a pair of brown leather knee-length boots and a pair of old leather gloves I'd had for years and hardly ever worn. "I haven't got a suitable jacket, will this do?", I asked, as I held up my riding mac. It was a heavy rubberised cotton one, single breasted, but with a wide collar and lapels which buttoned up across the front with a storm flap at the top, making it almost water-proof at the neck. "Perfect", Penny replied. "If it's anything like my riding mac, it will have leg straps to stop the skirt flapping about too much. "Great, I hadn't thought of that", I said as I pulled the boots on over my jeans.
Penny was nearly ready by the time I had come down. She stood in the hall, trousers and jacket fastened up, helmet on and her scarf, having obviously been tied initially over her face, now pulled down around her chin, the folds of silk material resting on the neck of her jacket hiding the helmet strap. "This time it's my turn to help you", she said and proceeded to button up my leg straps inside the skirt of the mac, as I pulled the buckles on the wrist straps tight. As I started buttoning up the front of the mac, starting at the bottom as I always used to when we went horse-riding, Penny looked up and said " It's a full-face helmet, but you might want a scarf as well - have you got one handy?". "Hang on". I went back upstairs as quickly as the leg-straps would allow, but Penny had made sure they were quite tight so as to keep the mac secure around my legs.
I pulled open a drawer in the dressing table and carefully selected a large, bright, multi-coloured heavy silk scarf that I had been given as a birthday present a few years before. Holding one corner, I folded it into the obligatory triangle as I trod carefully back downstairs. "And you said I had a fancy scarf for a mask - just look at that, it's gorgeous!", Penny said. "It's just the first one that came to hand", I replied, with not a little sarcasm in my voice. Watching myself in the hall mirror, I pulled the scarf over my nose and mouth, pulled the ends behind and tied a firm double knot at the back. I gently pulled the front of the mask down at the bottom to make sure that the scarf was smooth over my face. "This is even better than doing up Penny's gear", I thought as I pulled the lapels and collar of the mac over each other at the front and fastened the rest of the buttons over my scarf mask, finally pulling over the storm flap and buttoning it at the side of my neck.
"Well it may not be standard biker's gear, but you look terrific", Penny enthused, and I couldn't help but cast a quick glance at myself in the mirror once more. It felt really good too, even better once I had the helmet on and the gloves, which Penny kindly struggled to pull up over the sleeves of the mac. Penny then gently pulled her mask up over nose again, adjusting it around her cheeks for a perfect fit, tugged her gloves on and we were ready.
I tried to be lady-like as I swung my leg over the back of the motorcycle and settled onto the pillion seat, resting my boots on the little rubber foot-rests Penny had turned down for me, the generous 3" heels stopping my feet from sliding forwards. As we roared away, the wind pulling at any spare inch of loose material and rushing under the helmet and blowing into my scarf mask, I knew that this would not be my last experience on a motorbike - I would make quite sure of that!
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