Bernadette Murphy writes about literature, women, risk taking, and life — from motorcycles to knitting. She is the author of the forthcoming book “Look, Lean, Roll: A Woman, A Motorcycle, and Plunging into Risk” (from which this essay is excerpted), and has published three previous books of narrative nonfiction, including the bestselling “Zen and the Art of Knitting.” She is an associate professor of creative writing at Antioch University Los Angeles.  Her website is bernadette-murphy.com.