| Author | Message | ||
     Blublak |
Ok.. Just some quick thoughts and observations for those of you that couldn't make it this year. uh.. Hmmm.. Lemmie back up. My SCRC Chapter was hosting so there was a crowd of cruiser folks at the hotel, I came roaring up on the XB, ran the back of the parking lot letting her.. uh.. Announce her presence, then dive  (more or less) a right turn and blast into the middle of them.. Stopping crisply at the feet of a fellow member. Everyone is staring. The wife comes blaring up on her Blast and we dismount and start greetings. One guy thought I was gonna do a stoppie.. (I'd thought about it, but decided if I screwed it up, it wouldn't look right.. ) Got a lot of questions.. Mostly they wanted to know how fast. Was it anywhere close to say an R6 or a CBR1000R? etc. But it was fun none the less to 'pontificate' on my passion for Buells. The next day, little ride, 47 bikes following me into the back roads and mountains. Got a bunch of complaints I was going to fast?!? I was at the posted the whole time (mostly) I swear. Ok, enough of that. Sunday, I'm on the Harley and I lead a line of 80 something bikes out to meet up with our state Police escort. Get there, no problems. The Sgt. in charge was kind of  dumbstruck, we'd told him to expect a bunch, I guess he was thinking about half that would show up. He's got two other motors with him and a cruiser. The cruiser falls in behind the line and the motor officers take point. At the ramp where the Dulles Access road meets I-66 the youngest Trooper (the only one NOT wearing his jacket) lost it and went down  . The Sarge E-Stopped stepping off his bike before it even finished moving and ran to check his man. I pulled the pack up onto the shoulder giving enough room for all those bikes to pull in behind. The Trooper appears to have gotten a wobble in the turn, then clipped the retaining wall and went down. Serious road rash on his right arm, he's a mess, walking around but hurtin' big time. His H-D is slightly bent now and there is police gear all over the road. The Sgt. tells us to go on without them; they are waiting for the crash team and won't make the rest of the ride.  Damn, that kinda put a sour note on the start of the day. Got to the South Parking lot without too much trouble and got to park in the 'early' section of bikes for the 'parade'. Then settled in for the four hour wait. At some point, I heard that they had filled up the North parking lot and were now closing a lane off on the George Washington Parkway for bikes to park on!  Somebody else said, 450 - 500 THOUSAND bikes! The Tuttles were there, from OCC. They had a nice fenced off section where they could move around, have a privy to themselves, get food and drink delivered and basically live in high style while the rest of us didn't have anything close to that, long lines, crowds and trying to walk around all those bikes parked fender to fender.  Damn.. Must be nice to be a big TV star. They would go in the first group, with camera truck to record the POW bike as it made its way through the parade route. They started at 12 as usual. Being as close as we were, at 1:30 I was starting to.. Uh.. Putt. The route has several bottle necks in it this year and we were forced to ride our clutches for quite a while...  Then, just as we were turning onto Constitution Ave. There was the first really impressive sight. A Marine MSgt. in dress blues, standing in the middle of the road, at attention, saluting as we passed.  Just sent a chill up my spine something very visceral knowing he was there, because we were. Then once on Constitution (constipation usually) some of us got to open 'em up and roared down the first part of the four lane Avenue. Until we had to stop because of people crossing the street. WTF? Didn't they notice all these bikes that were going by in the last hour and a half or so? We would be stopped like this at least a dozen or more times as people wandered across the street oblivious to what was going on. People on the sides waved, gave thumbs up, peace signs, or some (there were still a lot of vets in town) saluted. We turned in front of the Capital where there was an Army MSgt. in full dress .. Waving, smiling and occasionally tossing  a 'light' salute to someone that displayed the flag or wore military uniform items. Not anywhere near as inspiring as the Marine from the beginning of the route. Once again, lots of stop and go's.. Frustrating, but at the same time, kind of neat. During one of the stops I got to actually look at some of the people watching the ride go by. There were a few that stood out more then the rest, two old men, one in a wheelchair, both wearing their ribbons on civvies and caps identifying them as WWII vets. One saluted me, so I sat bolt upright and returned it as sharply as I could. He smiled and so did I.. Then, there was another man in a chair, this one was Vietnam era. He smiled, seemingly near to tears at the thoughts we were provoking, the support he never got when he first came home. It's for people like these that all the frustrations and wait were for. These little frustrations were more than worth it, just to let all those that served and do serve know.. We will not forget.. Ever. Just before breaking from the pack to head out on I-66, I looked over (easy since we weren't moving again) and saw that same Marine, still holding his salute.  DAMN! That is something, it's about 2:30 now and he's been there for close to three hours. If he held it for the whole ride to pass, he'll have been there for at least 4 straight hours. AT ATTENTION! That's another little inspirational. Another chill up the spine. I slipped past some more folks and headed out to the highway, feelin' good about the ride.. And tired just the same. I wasn't about to park it and get buried until the end of the day.. Once you parked you ride, you would be buried  once again in bike to bike parking with no room to maneuver. Heading out was a good tactical move. That Marine.. Those vets. Those are images that I'll carry for quite a while, thanks to them, whoever they were, who they are! Inspiration incarnate I think. Later. | ||
| Rosko |
I'm glad to see someone else from here made the ride; and took away some feelings of pride, honor, and respect. Too many people there to make an appearance and show off...seems to tarnish what the intent is. Thanks for going! P.S.: Rode my XB9R, saw only 1 other Buell the whole day..a yellow Blast. |
