A consultant at work walks into my office, sees the picture of the CB919 I have as my Windows Desktop.
"Oh," he asks with a smile, "are you a biker?"
Taking issue with the term "biker", I reply, "I ride a motorcycle, yes."
"Is that a picture of your bike?" he asks, eagerly, pointing at the CB919.
"No, that might be my next bike. Right now I ride a Honda Magna," I reply.
He looks blankly. I point out the window to where it is parked in the parking garage. You can see the handlebars and headlight only.
"Hmmm," he says, unimpressed. "I have a Harley."
"Oh?" I ask. If needed, I can speak at some length about them. My wife, as I've told you before, has a long rich history with Harley, and a deep love for them. I can tell her story when needed to make polite conversation with the Harley crowd.
"Yeah," he said, "It's a '96 Sportster 1200 Custom." He started to tell me about custom chrome and custom air cover, and custom bars, and custom pegs, and my eyes must've glazed over. He realized I had lost interest.
I made an effort to steer back into polite motorcycle conversation. "Do you get much chance to ride it?" I asked.
"No, unfortunately, I'm too busy. I've only put about 4000 miles on it since I got it."
I kept a straight face, but I'm thinking that's a whole lot of money to spend on something you ride 400 miles a year.
"Yeah," I said, "I'm busy too. If it weren't for the daily commute, I wouldn't have much time to ride."
"I deliberately avoid riding to work," he said.
Again, I am dumbstruck. He is from a different universe than me.
"Really," I ask, "Why?"
"Yeah, I feel motorcycle riding should be just for fun."
"My thought there is, if you ride to and from work, you've brought some fun into your day. Doesn't matter how stressful my day is, I know I've got that ride home to look forward to. The highlight of my day. Turns a dull commute into something special."
His turn to give me the blank look. Awkward pause.
"Well it was nice to meet you," I said, blah blah blah, "Why don't you ride in on some sunny Friday?"
Well maybe I'll have to do that, he said politely.
I'll never see that bike.
i love the naked standards. that 919 does look intriguing, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteSpot freakin on, Ted. Thanks for the nice writeup. I have had similar conversations with folks who claim to be bikers at work. I ride 25 miles to/from work.
ReplyDeleteNice sweepers and rolling hills. What fun.
yup, me too. "biker" conjures up riding from one bar to another and spending beautiful days shining up the chrome on your bike so then you don't ride it anywhere, because it is too pretty to take out. i always like to refer to myself as a rider.
ReplyDelete