The article “Pocket Watches and Monsters” by Bud Miller was originally published on the “RoadRUNNER Motorcycle Touring & Travel” magazine website on 07/29/2012.
When I was 10 my brother, our friends, and I would ride our bikes to Bob Milheim’s General Store. Behind the counter on the shelves they kept all the things we couldn’t afford but wanted so badly. My particular obsession was a silver pocket watch. We must have made that ride a hundred times. I’d stare at that watch and wonder if I’d have enough money to get one someday. We’d pool our pennies, buy as much candy as we could, and ride back home talking about the objects of our affection.
I was thinking the other day that group rides are a lot like those bicycle rides we used to take. When we get together the feeling is always one of joy and friendship. It seems to me that a ride is a time to not be that thing you are identified with most of the time. When you meet other riders you’re not defined by what you do for a living and you can shake off the cloak you normally wear, if only for an afternoon.
Status means very little, we all dress pretty much the same. You can’t tell who might be a mother or a father, who might be wealthy or going through hard times, who may have lost someone or who may have overcome or is currently dealing with a serious health issue. You can’t tell what someone may do for a living or whether they are retired. You find out all those things over time but in pieces because it’s not what’s important. What’s important is to forget those things and to ride and talk about riding, to share with friends, old and new, one common thread that links all of us in a way that status, career, money, and success never could.
I’ve mentioned it before as being a recollection of youth, that’s how it feels to me. The ride is an occasion to let your guard down, to laugh and really communicate. I can’t remember the last political or religious discussion, the last argument or harsh word I heard amongst people I’ve ridden with. We haven’t the time for it. Our week is filled with those things and the ride opens the door to a vacation from the tedious world of current events and politics that I think everyone is dying to get away from for a while.
The ride gives us a chance to be kids again, to focus on one thing that makes us happy and to share that thing with others who feel the same. The candidates, the scandal, TV, news, those things can wait; they will be there when we get home. We have more urgent matters to discuss like tire wear, counter-steering, Bluetooth, close calls, and double apex corners.
It’s the same as when I was 10 except the pocket watch has been replaced by a Ducati Monster and the candy with ribs and pie. I still get to daydream too, about new roads to ride and places to see and just like when I was 10, it’s always better to do that with friends beside you.