From The Mind of

Hello My Happy People!

When the smoke was clear, Motown came away with a roughed up bike and a broken leg along with other scraps and injuries.

As bikers, when we leave the house for some wind therapy, sure we are aware of the dangers, but none of us think something bad will happen to us, directly. We hop on to our bikes and twist the throttle back ready and ride looking for a good time. Some of us love to just putt putt down the road slow and easy. Nowhere to go and happy to feel the wind in our faces, and some of us want to test the reaper and see just how fast we can go. It doesn’t matter how you like to ride. If you are riding Miss Daisy or chasing the devil’s tail. Either one can put you in the hospital or the grave. My grandpa once told me, “Son, once you lose respect for that motorcycle, don’t worry. It will be happy to re-train you.”

Big Ed aka 2Timer

Being your brother’s keeper. This has been weighing on my mind. Since I started with my club I can tell you just about every time we’ve had a brother or someone close to us to go down...When I say “go down“ I mean wrecking their motorcycle. Some situations, was where a brother was being careless or not properly maintaining their motorcycle and the bike put them on their ass. Other situations were where cage dwellers weren’t paying attention while driving and caused a wreck. Either one is not good, especially if it can cause a serious injury or death. Not to mention, totally destroying your sled. Which can ruin your day.

Here this past month we had another brother go down. The situation was caused by a cage dweller not paying attention to their driving and hit my brother Motown.

I often think about his words now that I’m a little older. I’m not the young man I once was and my responsibilities have also changed. I’ve got young children who need a Daddy at home. I got a wife who has already got a butt load of responsibilities with kids and really doesn’t have the time to feed me through a tube or wipe my ass cause I was acting stupid on a motorcycle. So, I don’t do all the dumb shit I used to do. I don’t go cutting off cars and I also don’t test the limits of seeing just how fast my Harley can roll. I leave the house knowing I must respect my bike and to stay alert. My eyes are like security cameras. I’m always watching, always looking ahead. I slow down at the cross roads even if the light is green. I’m always looking behind myself at the stop lights. I want to have a good time, but I also want to go home the same way as I left. All in one piece.

That thought that’s been running through my mind about being your brother’s keeper. Lets get to that. Some of us think that means being a billy bad ass and kicking the guts out of some dumbass who wants to pick a fight with your brother. Well that’s not the case I’m speaking. I’m talking about, you taking the time to look your bike but also looking your brother’s bike as well. There might be something he or she has missed. A loose nut, some belts showing in the back tire. The air pressure of both tires. Has your bro drank too much at the watering hole? If they take medication, ask them have they took their meds. As you are riding, look for smoke or anything out of the norm. Also while you are riding, not only look out for yourself but looking out for your brother. Road trash and I’m not talking about the lovely 50+ year old bar fly he just picked up at the local watering hole. No, I’m saying let your bro know you see some trash on the road and keep them aware.

As a club we used to attend this certain event every year around Thanksgiving. It used to be one of our mandatory rides, but we started noticing how dangerous it was becoming.