University Motorcycle Club

My Sister In Law Lola.

While celebrating the holiday weekend and avoiding Black Friday like the plague I took a short trip to a University where my sister in law and her friends go to school.  The tightly knit group of friends have all picked up cheap motorcycles to get around town and around school as quickly and efficiently as possible.  You can’t imagine my amusement at a small group of friends forming a university biker gang.  

Not a traditional gang as you might think but a group of friends that share a common interest.   Not a single bike among them was worth more than $1000.00 and they all had to turn wrenches and use a little bubble gum and duct tape just to keep their bikes running.  Three kids are staying in a smallish house with a barely passable kitchen, but a two car garage.  


Obviously they had some passion for bikes before school, because between them they actually have a passable garage with enough tools and equipment to repair almost anything that goes wrong.  They do their own oil changes, maintenance and repair and when they're out a bike they are within walking distance to their jobs and school.  

Short break before more wondering

All of this just serves to remind me of the good old days when I scraped by on the skin of my teeth and a tenacity I almost thought dead.  I couldn't help but admire a group of kids like them.  Living, not in their parents basement, on their own and taking care of themselves, for the most part.  


When I arrived at their house they had just finished up repairing one of their scoots and wanted to go for a ride, which was admirable as most of my buddies packed up their bikes in the garage not to feel fresh air again until spring.  I happily agreed and we set out through the college neighborhood heading for a fun area of trails and scenery.  I had not been riding like that in a long time and quickly found that 
my 02 King was more out of place than any of their little bikes.  


We crossed through a park that was closed to the public but offered gates they sped through with ease leaving me to clumsily maneuver my huge bike as best I could through what seemed like an opening I could barely walk through.  Once we made it through the park I found there weren't any roads they planned to use to get to the trail head.  Instead we just rode on a running path which eventually came to a huge drainage culvert under the highway.

Returning home!

Once across we rode through the hills on larger very clean access roads.  Mostly they were paved but in areas the path was little more than dirt.  I stuck to the roads on the king but they would periodically speed off the trail and loop through the trees eventually catching back up to me.  I have to admit that over the course of the ride I couldn't help be happy.  These kids were living a life I had lived in years past.  Enjoying their freedom, the area and their bikes.


It’s not too much a stretch to say that these kids are making the most of something that in some ways I've forgotten. Every time they take a ride they feel as though they've earned it and they’re willing to work hard to keep enjoying their bikes and the places they lead.  All in all I couldn't have asked for a better weekend away than the one those kids gave me.

I’m proud of those kids, all of them and I think they will do great things in life.  I am looking forward to my next ride your way!