Speed the Wheel: Like Seeing Heaven

Over our lives, most of us will witness a number of memorable atmospheric events. Nature is an engaging host, serving up beautiful sunrises, dramatic sunsets, violent storms, double rainbows, and surreal cloud formations.

It’s not always calm and serene, but the natural ebb and flow of the Earth’s atmosphere delivers a great many fascinating experiences.

In my memory, there is one atmospheric event that stands above all the others. It happened in 2006, when I was test riding the new BMW R 1200 S outside Cape Town, South Africa.

We spent part of the day on the track, burning through tires. Afterward, we did the street portion of the test on a winding two-lane road over the mountain range from our hotel.

Late in the afternoon, clouds rolled in, threatening rain. Many of the journalists took this as their cue to call it a day and returned to the hotel.