Much to my dismay, the riding season is coming to an end. That isn’t to say I won’t be riding through the Winter, but the days of having someone to ride with have all but come to an end. And this realization has helped me to enjoy the last two rides with friends all the more. Our previous ride was a three bike endeavor featuring only custom cruisers: an amalgamation Harley with a 110 S&S motor, a Harley Davidson 883 bobber, and the Cain Abomination AntiCruizer. Despite that ride being rather short, only about 130 miles, it was epic in proportion as it was made with one of my closest friends (who happens to claim responsibility for my addiction to riding) and another friend I only recently started hanging out again (and surprise, surprise, that is because of motorcycles).
The day was cool to say the least, bordering on cold by most motorcycle standards, but that didn’t stop us from donning our cool weather gear and heading out on short notice for what we thought would be the last ride of the season. Somehow it has become my responsibility to decide on the route for rides, perhaps because I have a pension for trying to get lost, then finding myself. These rides tend to wander through the countryside on back roads that all but the locals know not exist, and those are the roads for which we live. scenery, open highways, and my favorite, twisties. Granted, the guys on the lowered, custom, raked out machines aren’t necessarily a fan of the last in that list, but that’s what they get for allowing me to lead the way. This ride went particularly smooth considering there were two custom Harleys in the group. I don’t really have good luck riding with Harleys. They tend to not survive the roads every 5th ride or so. But it was a great ride, and I even managed to get lost at one point. Of course, the guys following me never knew that since I just kept cruising (perhaps cruizing since I was on the AntiCruizer) and eventually found a highway number that would lead us in the direction we needed to go. And to top it off we got to finish with one of my favorite roads.
Then today I thought I had a group together for the last ride of the season since this weekend was unusually warm, but nothing seemed to pan out. One person working, another hanging out with his family, another having blown the exhaust off his bike leaving him on a loaner from a friend that he wasn’t comfortable enough to ride for any distance yet, and any myriad of excuses other than those to leave it down to a two person ride. Instead of riding my own SV I took to the Shadow as I was under the impression the guy I was riding with would be on his old ’52 Triumph “Cafe Cruiser
“, but he broke out his chopper thinking we would be traveling at a blistering pace. Far be it from me to disappoint I flogged the Shadow for everything that little 600 was worth to keep up when I wasn’t leading, and we ended up just making what be a total of 60 miles ridden. The journey is the important part, though, and this day that journey included dinner at the Stephen Foster Restaurant, but before that the hypercharger blew off the chopper and being the good Samaritan I am I stopped and tossed it in my saddlebag. After eating (dessert first, of course
) we were ready to roll out, but there was a hiccup in the plan. The chopper died just before pulling onto the highway. More than two hours later we finally had the American engineered monster running again thanks to a guy with a local shop, and I was busy playing catch-up yet again. A windy, yet warm, ride back was a near perfect way to wrap up the season.
But here’s to hoping the weather gives one last gift so I can have one more day on the road with my brothers. As much as I love and prefer riding, it’s so much more enjoyable with a friend.
