Motorcycle Forum / General / Motorcycles / April 2008

Coming home on the Harley from the blueberry farm after dark ...
rolling down the old farm highway I hit a patch under construction --
new black asphalt, no painted yellow lines, no streetlights,
just inky darkness... sh.t I can't see a thing -- hope I'm heading
the right way and not towards the ditch ... lights coming toward me,
I head just to the right of them... whew, I reach  an intersection
with streetlights mostly by good luck ... *now wtf*? a roaring
in my left ear... some yahoo on a sportbike passing me in the same
lane... I drop back so he can have his pileup somewhere else
(I didn't see a thing, officer) ... sure enough soon he's tailgating
the cage up ahead ... perched on the guy's right rear bumper ...
soon as the road widens a bit he opens it up and roars past on
the right ... by the time I round the next curve he's nowhere in sight.
... meanwhile I take the bridge exit and soon I'm into more construction
-- this is worse; new asphalt on old, with the join running diagonal
across the road; real confusing, especially at night; few streetlights;
luckily I know the area well or I could easily take it offroad into
the rubble (anyone recall Elizabeth Taylor's smashup in _Butterfield-8_?
What a waste of a good sports car ... some jackass coming up on my tail
... I stick to the posted speed limit ... what does he think this is,
the Grand Prix at night through half-finished cloverleaf exit ramps?
... then waiting at the next light some kid pulls up beside me in
a muscle car and revs his motor at me... I rev back with my Twin Cam
Screamin' Eagle III ... some kind of primeval male jungle ritual ...
("We were buggin' each other as we sat out the light... we both popped
the clutch when the light turned green... You shouldda heard the whine
from my screamin' machine...") Soon I pull into the driveway, tired but
with a big goofy smile on my face I always get riding the Harley;
nothing I can explain; ya just hafta be there.

Sean_Q_
'99 FLHTCUI SE3 / '06 S40 / '04 SV250 / '81 CB750 / various derelicts