Motorcycling Community Spirit
What a brilliant weekend we’ve just had. The Old Dragon and I headed off to the Ace Café for their Cruiser Day. The plan was to meet up with my brother and friends from the Brackley Festival of Motorcycling (www.bfom.co.uk) on their Victory cruisers and also friends from the Suzuki 800 forum (www.suzuki800.com) all on various Suzuki Intruder cruisers.
The weather on the way out was sublime. The temperature was in the mid 20 degrees C and, because that it was relatively early on a Sunday morning, the roads empty. The sun shone and God was in his heaven as they say. We all eventually met up at Ace Café and how impressed was I that a member of the Suzuki 800 forum, Dave, whom I had never met before walked up to me and started chatting before I could even remove my helmet. Dave actually runs the forum and we have had many a chat online over the last year but even so I love the way this happens in the biking community, we’ve never met before but there we were chatting away as if we had known each other all our lives. It is unique in my experience and something to be treasured. It was so nice to catch up with others that I have exchanged messages with and benefitted from their knowledge over the time I’ve been on the forum. Not to mention, of course, catching up with little Bro, Andy and Linda, which is always a pleasure.
All in all it was a brilliant day. However, a word of caution is in order here I think. On our way home with the temperatures reaching uncomfortable levels we saw more than a few sights than send a cold shiver down my spine. There were numerous young lads out on the roads on powerful sports bikes dressed in shorts and T-shirts. On it’s own this is bad enough and bordering on suicidal but combine that with the way these fools were riding and it left me cold. To make things worse and drive the point home when I arrived home there was an article on the local newspaper website stating that 6 motorcyclists in their 20′s had been involved in fatal accidents over the weekend in Hampshire alone.
Can I use this blog to make a heart felt plea to everybody who rides a motorcycle please.
Motorcycling in something that gives me and thousands of others a great deal of pleasure and a sense of community that is unique and very special. It is also a relatively dangerous pastime. We don’t have airbags and crumple zones. Our safety aids lie between our ears. If we don’t anticipate and out-think the other idiots on our roads then we stand a better than evens chance of getting hurt. Please, please, please think about what you are doing and don’t take unnecessary risks. It is better to be hot and sweaty than dead. Life is short enough as it is, go easy, take care and enjoy riding a bike for many years to come.