As riders, whether we realize it or not, we rely heavily on the previous generation to help guide us through our motorcycle journey. I call them our Moto Mentors: Those unsuspecting characters who hang around at shops, community rides and races, who still spend time in the garage looking at or reminiscing about their bikes, even if they don’t ride anymore. They are the stewards of our motorcycling experience; they help us fuel our passion and continue to inspire us throughout every facet of motorcycling.

These people built our community of motorcyclists. They put in the time building trails and motorcycles, or just setting out on an epic trip. I can guarantee that everyone in motorcycling didn’t just wake up one day and decide to ride. No, they likely saw one of you riding through the streets and thought, “I want to be like that.” Whether you realize it or not, just by riding a bike, you’re spreading inspiration to others who may not have considered the joys of a motorcycle beforehand.

Recently, while attending the TripleClamp Moto Rally in Ontario, I had the pleasure of meeting a few women who picked up riding in their later years. They had expressed how they wanted to ride like me, and how they looked up to me! I couldn’t believe it; I never thought of myself as a role model, especially for anyone older than me. Ironically, the whole time I rode with them, I was thinking about how inspirational they were, and how I wanted to be like them. We had quickly become each other’s mentors for different reasons. 

The tenacity it takes to pick up riding later in life — fully knowing the potential consequences and understanding that progression in adult years can be a difficult thing to achieve and can be a massive challenge to take on — is enormous. Experiencing progression as an adult and learning something new is incredibly empowering. As children, we constantly learn and are taking in so many new things day to day; to have some semblance of that feeling as an adult is a little scary, but very gratifying.

It’s easy to start riding when you’re young. You have no perception of fear, and hitting the ground hurts a lot less. The amount of progression that can happen with riders between six and 12 is far greater than what most adults can achieve given the same amount of seat time. I often remind riders starting to ride later in life just how much an achievement that is.

What I realized is that, whether you know it or not, people will look up to you. Mentorship doesn’t start at a certain age; it’s an embodiment of your passion — a passion that burns so bright others can’t help but be affected by it.

Throughout the years, I’ve chosen to ask questions of my mentors instead of scouring the internet for unreliable and sometimes ridiculous  answers and wasting valuable time. Gaining knowledge becomes so much more valuable when coming from personal experience. Someone who’s been in the sport for years and can recall decades of bike, travel, or gear evolution often has a broad scope of options and opinions to share. I would much rather speak with one of my Moto Mentors as their experiences are invaluable and I can then pass our conversation along to others.

As Moto Mentors, you might not fully comprehend the value of your wisdom in motorcycling. Even listening to the tales of roadside fixes and shenanigans while on the road gives us younger — or less experienced — riders inspiration to live and ride a little more freely. We carry each story with us into our next ride, thinking about how we can become more like those who inspire us.

I suppose, in a sense, Motorcycle Mojo has become somewhat of a Moto Mentor forum throughout the years, by sharing stories of wisdom and woes of the road and giving our readers honest opinions about things that worked or didn’t turn out right at all. My hope is that we can get more young or fresh riders hooked on the magazine for the tidbits of wisdom in every article we publish.

So, as a Moto Mentor, even if you’re not riding anymore, I want you to continue to share your knowledge with the upcoming generation of motorcyclists. Keep reading Mojo, and even get your mentees a subscription to induct them into the Mojo Collective that you’ve enjoyed and been inspired by throughout the years. Our words and experiences are solidified within these pages. They can be read over and over again without an algorithm determining how to sell you things based on your search history. 

These stories will remain printed, separate from the wildly intrusive internet of today, not dissimilar to speaking with your favourite Moto Mentor in the safe space of a garage, coffee shop, or the wilderness.