Daingerous Liaisons: Rode To Work, Worked To Ride

If you live, eat and sleep motorcycles, chances are good that you also know that yesterday, June 21, marked the 16th Ride To Work Day. So, if you’re a bike enthusiast and you’re among the 90 percent of Americans fortunate enough to be employed, did you do your part? Did you ride your bike to work?

I did—sort of. See, I work at home, so if I saddle up, my moto-commute would take me right through the family room and kitchen (fortunately bypassing the downstairs guest bathroom). Not the most favorable bike route, although I’d certainly have the inside line for my morning bagel and brew. (“Honey, just set my coffee on the counter. I’ll pick it up on my way through to the office. And make sure the lid’s on tight, will you?”)

So I opted for Plan B, and that was to ride to lunch. I currently have a 2010 Victory Vegas 8 Ball in the barn that I’m testing for Motorcycle.com, so that black beauty served as my lunchwagon today. I packed the tank bag with a couple of motorcycle magazines so I’d have more than the place-mat menu to read, and I was off. Destination: My favorite fast food/junk food establishment in the ‘hood—Carl’s Jr. (aka Hardee’s for folks east of the Rockies). I’m a softy for the Carl’s standard-issue hamburger combo; $3.25 gets me the burger, fries and soft drink. What a deal.

Alas, my belly full, my bladder swollen with Diet Coke (with a squeeze of lemon to fight that bitter lingering aftertaste), and my arteries replenished with my daily allotment of cholesterol and other indescribably delicious indescribables, it was time to return to base camp where I had some captions to write for Don Emde’s Drag Specialties Magazine. Ride To Work Day turned into Work To Ride Day, which isn’t such a bad thing if you’re among the optimists who feel that the end justifies the means.

But in the end my Ride To Work Day was a success because I joined thousands of other motorcyclists so that we could be seen on the highways and byways of America. Did you do anything special to support the cause? If so, let me know. And if you have a picture as proof, all the better. –Dain Gingerelli