The bikes began rolling into my driveway around 10:30 – right on time! Before long, I had a driveway with an appreciable accompaniment of motorcycles.
At 11, we fired our bikes up and made ready to roll. Doing a quick count, I realized that we were missing someone... Flex had disappeared to use the facilities. Ok, he’s back, and off we go.
Running down Rte 1, heading towards Ronnie’s house. A bit of congestion at one of the major intersections where we’d apparently just missed an accident. We were diverted briefly, and then we were off again.
Rolling up in front of Ronnie’s house, we were greeted by the sight of one lonely bike. Hey little fella, where are all your friends? Seems a number of Ronnie’s crew were opting to stay inside today (too cold for them). No worries, Mike was there already, and Jimmy and Christene showed up right after us. Ronnie rolled his bike out, bringing our grand total to 11 bikes. A higher number than in years past, and that’s always a nice thing.
We kicked back with laughter and libations for over an hour, then we saddled up and headed over to the rally point. Pulling in, we paid our entry fees, and took our positions. Our reputations had preceded us, so we were relegated to the parking behind the building. (And memories of our experience up in Great Barrington refreshed themselves in our minds.)
We made our way to the front, picked up some T-shirts and said hello’s to familiar faces.
Many folks were in costume and/or masks. Here, too, was an unlucky passenger, tagging along for the ride.
We ambled back to the bikes and partook of more refreshments while we waited for things to start moving. Sure enough, right around 1:30, we saw folks scrambling towards their bikes, and we knew we were about to get moving!
Here’s an action shot – but it sucks. I was wrestling with vision problems (the back drafting due to the windshield was causing my mask’s cowl to blow across my eyes all the time. Fun!) But anyway, I did manage to snap this pic. It’s tough to make out, but you can kinda see how far the line of bikes stretches out in front of me (you can’t see the front of the line). And we weren’t even in the back of the pack, we were probably 2/3 of the way, with a full 1/3 still behind us.
We caused major traffic issues along the entire route, but for the most part, the cage drivers were all in good spirits (spirits! Get it? Halloween!) about things. Smiles, thumbs-up, etc. And the sides of the streets were lined with hundreds and hundreds of folks checking things out. Parents with kids, pedestrians, home owners out on their lawns, etc. etc. etc. All waving and cheering, having a great time.
The end of the run wound up at The Wicked, just up the street from my house. We all dismounted, said some more hello’s, then made our way to the beer and the food. Burgers, dogs, chili, etc. All good rib-sticking fare for chilled riders.
After a couple of hours, we parted into several groups. Many were heading home, some were heading to a bar, and a few of us headed back to my house for free beers and a fire. I ran my bike out to the back, cranked some AC/DC, and we wasted away the rest of the day with tales of this, that, and the other.
About 7 o’clock, we cleaned up the empties and the guys headed off in their own directions. I snapped one last pic for the day, before firing the bike up and returning it to the garage.
Another successful day, full of miles and smiles, food, fire and fun. If there’s an afterlife, every day needs to be like this one.
Ride Hard, Take Chances
At 11, we fired our bikes up and made ready to roll. Doing a quick count, I realized that we were missing someone... Flex had disappeared to use the facilities. Ok, he’s back, and off we go.
Running down Rte 1, heading towards Ronnie’s house. A bit of congestion at one of the major intersections where we’d apparently just missed an accident. We were diverted briefly, and then we were off again.
Rolling up in front of Ronnie’s house, we were greeted by the sight of one lonely bike. Hey little fella, where are all your friends? Seems a number of Ronnie’s crew were opting to stay inside today (too cold for them). No worries, Mike was there already, and Jimmy and Christene showed up right after us. Ronnie rolled his bike out, bringing our grand total to 11 bikes. A higher number than in years past, and that’s always a nice thing.
We kicked back with laughter and libations for over an hour, then we saddled up and headed over to the rally point. Pulling in, we paid our entry fees, and took our positions. Our reputations had preceded us, so we were relegated to the parking behind the building. (And memories of our experience up in Great Barrington refreshed themselves in our minds.)
We made our way to the front, picked up some T-shirts and said hello’s to familiar faces.
Many folks were in costume and/or masks. Here, too, was an unlucky passenger, tagging along for the ride.
We ambled back to the bikes and partook of more refreshments while we waited for things to start moving. Sure enough, right around 1:30, we saw folks scrambling towards their bikes, and we knew we were about to get moving!
Here’s an action shot – but it sucks. I was wrestling with vision problems (the back drafting due to the windshield was causing my mask’s cowl to blow across my eyes all the time. Fun!) But anyway, I did manage to snap this pic. It’s tough to make out, but you can kinda see how far the line of bikes stretches out in front of me (you can’t see the front of the line). And we weren’t even in the back of the pack, we were probably 2/3 of the way, with a full 1/3 still behind us.
We caused major traffic issues along the entire route, but for the most part, the cage drivers were all in good spirits (spirits! Get it? Halloween!) about things. Smiles, thumbs-up, etc. And the sides of the streets were lined with hundreds and hundreds of folks checking things out. Parents with kids, pedestrians, home owners out on their lawns, etc. etc. etc. All waving and cheering, having a great time.
The end of the run wound up at The Wicked, just up the street from my house. We all dismounted, said some more hello’s, then made our way to the beer and the food. Burgers, dogs, chili, etc. All good rib-sticking fare for chilled riders.
After a couple of hours, we parted into several groups. Many were heading home, some were heading to a bar, and a few of us headed back to my house for free beers and a fire. I ran my bike out to the back, cranked some AC/DC, and we wasted away the rest of the day with tales of this, that, and the other.
About 7 o’clock, we cleaned up the empties and the guys headed off in their own directions. I snapped one last pic for the day, before firing the bike up and returning it to the garage.
Another successful day, full of miles and smiles, food, fire and fun. If there’s an afterlife, every day needs to be like this one.
Ride Hard, Take Chances
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