Hop on the back of Justin Plank's motorcycle, wrap your arms around his taut, black-shirted torso and just let him drive. You might end up at his favorite bar in Houston, or in a dusty abandoned house in the New Mexico desert. Justin's idea of the perfect date is just that: two wheels, a beautiful woman and a very loose itinerary.

Justin's docile yet masculine mannerisms are only emphasized by a full head of soft, silver hair -- he was completely gray by age 23 -- and a strong, narrow jaw line that lends him supermodel cheekbones. On first blush, Justin, 28, could be the man with a past that you'll never know about because he's too guarded to share. That is, until you realize that he's not so much guarded as shy. He might also seem to prefer the company of men over that of the women, until you learn that his quiet admiration for the opposite sex is really a simultaneous sense of protectiveness and idolization. I cracked Justin's shell over three rounds at the Herkimer in Uptown.

A man raised alongside two sisters by a nurturing mother and a hardworking father, Justin tends to have a softer disposition toward women. He loves the way a woman smells, and would rather lie in bed holding her than just have sex for sex's sake. In a word, the man is romantic. Justin's inherent respect for women doesn't allow him to objectify them, and he's never really gone through a post-breakup slut phase (an impressive feat for a guy who's had his heart broken more than once). He loves intense women with a passion for true love to match his own. The woman who never says "I wish I had this" or "I wish I could do that" is his ideal; she makes her own life happen.

It's clear that Justin leads a life of his own choosing, too. A self-employed jack of all trades, you can find him in small-town Northfield (where he grew up and currently lives) fixing bikes, painting houses, tailoring clothes or, ahem, laying pipe. Justin's father was a plumber, so Justin grew up helping his dad in the business. "He taught me everything I know about working with my hands," he says. Those hands occasionally pour drinks at the Cave, a live-music club in Northfield that attracts acts from all over the country. Justin also plays bass in the hot local band Gospel Gossip, but don't confuse him with your typical rocker boy. "I don't date women I meet at shows," he says. I ask what type of girl he does date. "I don't really have a type, as far as trends and appearances." He pauses, then smiles. "Well, I'm not a huge fan of Uggs."

Justin's social circle has a core of four close friends, all male. He naturally attracts the attention of men, straight and gay alike, but he can't seem to pinpoint why. Perhaps it's because he's a man's man; a list of his favorite movies includes everything Clint Eastwood has ever done. The girlfriends of Justin's pals sometimes call him "Justine," an allusion to his unintentional tendency to steal their boyfriends away for hours at a time.

"It's not that having a girlfriend of my own isn't a priority, it just hasn't worked itself out," Justin explains, when I ask him if there's a reason why he's currently single. He wants to fall in love, but he won't waste time with something that doesn't feel right. He chose to spend the past two years working and living alone in a small town, not so much playing the victim of a bad past relationship as learning how to grow from it. "You have to better yourself before you can really be with anyone," he says. "Sometimes there's no better company than your own."

Thankfully, Justin is game to pursue love again. Ready to move back to Minneapolis for reasons of social sanity, he's also open to living in the Southwest, a place he once called home that still seems to call to him. "Generally, being on my motorcycle in the middle of nowhere is my favorite place to be. I'd love to start doing that with someone else."

Justin Plank

  • Aliases: The Silver Fox, Hottie Chapati, Ranger, Plankster.
  • Age: 28.
  • Sign: Gemini.
  • Lives in: Northfield, Minn.
  • Orientation: Straight.
  • Status: Single.
  • Education: Graduated high school.
  • Occupation: Self-employed.
  • Favorite hangouts: "The curb in front of the coffee shop."
  • Turn-ons: "Women with guts."
  • About him: The last job this self-described "Renaissance man" did was paint a bedroom for a lady who wanted it "more sensual." So he painted it a seductive blue. If it hadn't been winter, perhaps the Gospel Gossip bassist with a silvery coif and an irresistible bad-boy allure would have zoomed away on one of his five motorcycles. Talk about manly -- but then again, he sews, too.
  • By Kara Nesvig

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