Shuffle the Deck in 2016

New Year’s Day rides have now been established as a tradition for me as I made it two in a row with the core group of riders I hit the road with. Am I allowed to declare a tradition after only two in a row? New Year’s Day activities should be full of promise and reflection and this one hit the sweet spot making new friends and providing life-lessons – pleasant, reflective, and scary. All three categories are a fine thing as long as the lesson is well learned.

I’d been looking forward to riding with my VMC (Victory Motorcycle Club) friends thinking that there would be around ten bikes or so. A last minute addition to the VMC folks was a group from B.A.C.A. (Bikers Against Child Abuse) and our numbers swelled to around nineteen bikes and twenty-five riders with several B.A.C.A. couples riding two-up. I was introduced to them by their ride handles – Wizer, Big Cookie, Tinkerbell, Bikerdad, Mouse, Doc, Baby Doll, Bonny, Hands, Sonny, Phoenix, Frosty, and the soon to be monikered ‘Wolf’. I’m sure that I don’t have all the names of the folks who were with us so chime in with a shout out to them.

B.A.C.A. International, as the name indicates, is an international organization of bikers dedicated to ‘breaking the chains of abuse’ and creating a safer environment for abused children. The membership operates under the belief that no child deserves to live in fear. Use the following link to access the B.A.C.A. website for more information regarding their mission: http://bacaworld.org/mission/ No one I know, or would want to know for that matter, would gainsay their mission or that sentiment.

It was brisk and clear as only a New Year’s Day in L.A. can be and perfect for a ride into 2016. If you’ve ever watched a Vegas dealer shuffle cards you have an idea of what our two groups did as we left the gas station in Glendale. It was seamless and without effort as we rode through Griffeth Park and on down to Sunset Boulevard to swing up PCH and northward to Duke’s for lunch. It amazed me that with only a couple of wait-ups we were able to pull into the lot as a group and early enough that we had time for photo ops before the doors were opened to our big group. I love the way these people ride.

De-biking and gearing down at
Duke's, Malibu

We enjoyed a meal and good old biker fellowship at three tables. I somehow ended up at a table full of B.A.C.A. riders, Dave Hintz being the only person at the table that I’d ridden with before. New friends are great. I found out that Bikerdad and Tinkerbell live only a mile or so from me and are fellow CV Falcons, albeit more than a decade and a decade and a half after me. Kids! We talked about kids and rides and purpose and were amazed at how fast Wolf put down his hamburger prompting Sonny to request a name change to ‘Wolf Down’ for his name patch.

While the ride to Duke’s was full of city streets, stops, goes, and pot hole avoidance tactics, the ride out to the terminal point of the day’s ride was canyon riding at its best with twisties through the mountains and blue skies above Malibu Canyon and the Mulholland Highway. We were lined up nicely for a photo pass by Highway Photos and the pace setting was perfect, no lagging or dragging.

However, as I mentioned in paragraph one, I learned a riding lesson the scary way. Soon after we had twisted our way out past the Rock Store I suddenly hit something that would later be identified as sand. My rear tire went out from under me, my right foot came out on reflex and hit the pavement to keep me from going down, and as the rear of the bike caught up to my firmly planted and booted foot the saddle bag caught my foot and as far as I can tell, pushed the bike upright before I could go down. I believe that the saddle bag humping over my foot righted the bike and saved me from sliding out, the only cost being a nasty shin splint that cleared the next day during my dog walk.

After we had wound our way along the highway, through the Sherwood Lake community, and down to Thousand Oaks to our terminal point I heard several stories of the others hitting that same spot but to a lesser degree than I had experienced. That news both comforted me that I was not the only one and concerned me that I hadn’t seen it happen ahead of me. I’d let my vigilance down being too busy figuring out when to turn on and off my helmet cam and enjoying the scenery to watch the riders in front of me as my warning. You just cannot let your guard down. Ever.

The day ended with an impressive tally of good things; a good meal, good conversations, good, no make that excellent riding, and various riders reaching out to sooth a grievous wound to the soul for one of our members. People taking care of people, riders watching other rider’s backs, and doing those things that make riders good company and that made for a fine way to break-in 2016.

Ride with heart, ride with vigilance, love the children, and as always, keep the iron side up. Friends, have a blessed 2016.

jerry

PS – I would be remiss in my reporting if I did not share that three certain riders posed for a photo striking a pose that would not meet the ridged requirements of my old AT&T Sexual Harassment guidelines. The pose was too quick for the shutters to blink and no photo exists of the incident, only those mental images that will at one and the same time fade with memory and grow in legend.

Here are a selection of raw-footage helmet cam videos (I need to learn how to edit and splice …):

Mounting up in Glendale:

Arriving at Duke's in Malibu:

Entering Malibu Canyon and through the tunnel: