Priest enjoys chopper rides

You hear them coming long before you see them. The roar reaches a crescendo as they pass you, their engines reaching a decibel level so high you want to hold your hands over your ears.

They are Harley-Davidson motorcycles, the "Cadillacs" of the biker's world, and aboard one of them could be Rev. Walter Czechowicz, pastor of St. Stanislaus parish in Amsterdam.

"There is nothing like it in the world," he says of riding a "hog."

Father Czechowicz, who now owns a silver and black 1996 Harley-Davidson V-Twin Engine Sportster, has been a Harley rider for more than 50 years.

"I've always loved two-wheel bikes since I got my first bicycle at the age of six," he said. "I started with my first Harley-Davidson after the [Second World] War. I paid $400 for it. It was a 1940s' vintage bike that was pretty tricky to operate, but I didn't know that at the time. It had what they called a 'suicide clutch.'"

That meant he had to learn to let the clutch out very carefully or the bike would "jolt me right off of it" because the clutch was so powerful.

"I was at a parish in the Catskills at the time I had that first Harley," the priest recalled, "and those roads had a lot of curves. I always seemed to be taking a spill."

After several mishaps, he traded it in for a one-cylinder Triumph Terrier, which was smaller and easier to manage. "I hated to let go of that Harley," he noted.

Soon, however, he found "the best bike I ever had" after being sent to study at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. "I had to sell my Triumph, and it made my mother very happy indeed," he said.

He earned a doctorate and returned to the Albany Diocese to teach at Catholic Central High School in Troy. But being a teacher didn't stop him from buying another bike.

"It was the last rigid-frame model that Harley ever made," he said. "It was a beauty."

Father Czechowicz said that he enjoys biking because it gives him the freedom to get away and relax, and time to enjoy himself and refresh his spirit. He has always viewed biking as a way to relieve stress.

"I love to ride the motorcycle," he said. "It gives me a sense of freedom and relaxation like nothing else I know of. When you feel that wind in your face, you feel as if you are in complete control and the cares that you carry dissolve away.

"People ride motorcycles for many reasons: because it offers them an escape from their everyday lives, because they love the feel of the wind on their face. There is no other feeling in the world like it. When you ride a bike, it is a means of feeling free. When you lean into the curve and move with that bike, you could ride forever. It feels so beautiful and gives you a feeling of control. When I ride, I enjoy myself so much. It gives me another connection to God's beautiful creation."

(7/31/03) [[In-content Ad]]