http://bfskinnersbaby.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-world.html
My step-brother (who rode across Siberia with Iron Butt Association founder, Mike Kneebone and two others) just turned me onto this blog by noted motorcycle author, Melissa Holbrook Pierson.
Reading through the entries hits home, and brings back memories of how we were raised as bikers; you help each other ... with the shirt off your back, with gas from your tank, you never leave another biker stranded. Back when I began riding, in the early seventies, I was told a person on a motorcycle could leave New York with no more than $5 in their pocket and other bikers would make sure "he" made it safely all the way to California!
I remember one time at the motocross races at East Jewett NY, on the starting line waiting for the flag to drop, my brother's bike crapped out. The other riders gave him parts, loaned tools, and most importantly, held the race to give him time to tear his bike apart and fix it right there on the starting line!
The interesting thing is that they all knew if he got running, he'd win the race (he did), but they helped him anyway.
My step-brother (who rode across Siberia with Iron Butt Association founder, Mike Kneebone and two others) just turned me onto this blog by noted motorcycle author, Melissa Holbrook Pierson.
Reading through the entries hits home, and brings back memories of how we were raised as bikers; you help each other ... with the shirt off your back, with gas from your tank, you never leave another biker stranded. Back when I began riding, in the early seventies, I was told a person on a motorcycle could leave New York with no more than $5 in their pocket and other bikers would make sure "he" made it safely all the way to California!
I remember one time at the motocross races at East Jewett NY, on the starting line waiting for the flag to drop, my brother's bike crapped out. The other riders gave him parts, loaned tools, and most importantly, held the race to give him time to tear his bike apart and fix it right there on the starting line!
The interesting thing is that they all knew if he got running, he'd win the race (he did), but they helped him anyway.
It is up to us "old timers" to teach these "newbies" that it takes a whole lot more to be a biker than riding a motorcycle. It is a sharing of the soul. It is not necessary to know each other, or even to like each other. I've seen individual one-percenters from rival clubs stop to help each other. It's a matter of respect.