FREE WHEELIN’

FREE WHEELIN’

BRIAN RATHJEN

BACKROADS FUN SYNDROME

Several years back some of our “Baker Street Irregulars” began a FaceBook page called Post Backroads Fun Syndrome. It was their way to keep the fun, frivolity, and feeling that so many have experienced at any of our rallies.

In truth, we were humbled and bewildered that these great friends would do something like this. You all rock.

When we got home from Ecuador in late March, after the toughest and, I’ll say it, dumbest overseas Backroads event we have ever held, I thought about this page and how I, and I think we all, have our own ‘Post Time Rituals.’

If you go away for a few weeks and things tend to pile up. But it is not just mail, day-to-day chores, and the additional ‘stuff’ that makes up life but other things. Sometimes it’s baggage that comes home with you as well.

Years ago, it seemed like the world was ours. But COVID, war, and everything else seemed to put a crush on it all.

Yet, at Backroads we have kept the course.

Multiple rallies. Good times. Some bad. But here we are.

So, after a longish trip – maybe one that did not go as we had hoped - we all have a moment of decompression.

I have said that “nothing” beats coming home… but a few days later a single rider comes past our road and I think…. I need to be gone.

Not this time. It is late March. We have a full plate of riding ahead of us.

But, today…I am happy to be home.

This Sunday started nice enough but now it is friggin’n hailing. Still, I go about getting all the tools in order and trying to make sure the batteries are all up to snuff.

What a crazy world. But not as crazy as what we had just been through.

So, back home there are things to be handled. In truth, the real Post Backroads Fun Syndrome.

First, there is Spenser, with an “S” like the poet, thank you. After all this bit of time, he is just a tad pissed off. He will let us know this for the next day or so. I am sure you have been through this too if you have furry friends.

But, after a journey like this, we have to deal with laundry. Indeed.

A few years back I wrote a piece on washing riding gear and how each bit of grime, every slog of sludge, and ooze of muck that would be turning the clean wash water black is just telling a story of another mile on the road. After the last few weeks in Ecuador – the mountains, atlands, jungle, and beach - my mighty Roadcrafter needed two complete washing cycles to reach any bit of acceptability. Even if it lives in the barn. Helmets cleaned, boots re nished. More than one or two cups of coffee. Even if we are not about to head back out on the road for a bit, I like to make sure all is ready to go – especially in the days leading up and running away from the warmer months. Continued on Page 6