One of the cool things I was able to do on this trip was take a motorcycle ride with my dad. He has two bikes and we went out Friday afternoon for about three hours. Let me tell you, riding in Oklahoma is a lot different than riding in New England: flat, straight and 30 mph cross winds (and that's relatively calm). It was a great ride though. We stopped at a place called Pops, a retro style diner with over 500 different types of pop (translation for New Englanders: pop is mid western speak for soda). The other advantage to our ride was that it was a work day for most folks so we had the road to ourselves.
The ride was almost perfect except for one small thing. The bike my dad loaned me was a Honda Pacific Coast. It's basically a 850cc V-twin cruiser with a ton of plastic body panels that make it look like a giant scooter. It's a great bike: a smooth, quiet ride, very comfortable for long trips (I could have easily gone another three hours without getting monkey butt). I had convinced myself that it was more important to enjoy the ride than worry myself about such shallow things as whether I looked cool on the bike. That worked right up until we stopped at a convenience store for a much needed break (remember the pop?). There was an old timer sitting on a stool outside the convenience store when we came out to mount up. As I was started up my whisper-quiet bike, he looked over the bike and said, "Mus' be hard to git at the motor on that thang," to which I replied that, yes, the plastic panels did make it difficult to maintenance the bike. If he had stopped there my "easy rider" self image would have remained intact. But then he continued, "Well, they shore do make it look pretty." I could feel the testosterone leaking out onto the ground. I'm riding a "pretty" bike. Sleek. Streamlined. Unusual. Any of these adjectives would have been fine. But pretty?
So we took off to finish our ride and head for home. It was a great morning. On the open road with my dad, sun on my back and the wind in my face.
Maybe some flame decals might help.
-Justin
4 comments:
Thank goodness for flame decals, huh?
They put the testosterone back in any thing don't they!? I didn't think "pretty" described the bike, at least from the picture. Definitely sleek & trimline, BMW-looking.
Glad you had a nice ride & some pop!
-G
Looking cool isn't as important as enjoying the ride. Can't wait to hear more about the trip.
Did you notice in the picture that it looks like you have matching jackets?
Justin, somehow I can't imagine 'pretty' being a quality you'd look for in a bike. Good thing that riding outfit preserved your anonymity. -CB
Flame decals always help. I'm thinking of getting some for my white '98 Ford Escort wagon.
Amanda
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