Saturday–Sunday, 23-24 Aug 2003
Pictures start here
Marc’s commentary
The ride up and back was wonderful, the weather was perfect, and it seemed like a good time was had by just about everone. Only one thing (from my point of view) kept the weekend from being perfect….
Pay-back
Guess who’m I’m looking at
This sad little tale starts in 1984. Carl had just done the Harley-to-BMW switch and I had a Yamaha Vision. It was a brand new bike even though the model year was 1982. That made it very cheap!
On a pleasant Sunday Morning Frank Simmons was leading a ride of 12-15 bikes to Petaluma. I was toward the rear of the pack with Carl directly behind me. At Junipero Serra Carl pulled to the front of the pack and had some words with Frank. This resulted in Frank leading the pack into a gas station. It seems someone had sprung a leak, dripping oil from a hole in his right crankcase cover onto his tire – and from there over the windshield of Carl’s new BMW. Who, me?
In true Breakfast Club style they left me at the gas station and went on to breakfast. I tried duct tape (ha), electrical tape (ha ha) and, once the store across the street from the gas station opened, some quick drying epoxy. The epoxy lasted longest, about 30 seconds. This hole wasn’t going to be easily plugged. Eventually I got in touch with a cousin with a truck. He picked me up and I made it back home… about 6 PM that evening. Those who went on to Petaluma for breakfast and a ride afterwards were easily home by 3!
Fast forward ten years. Carl has gone from the BMW back to a Harley and was pining for his old airhead. I’d just bought a K1100LT and wanted to sell my R80RT. Carl made me a low-ball offer on beemer and I, feeling guilty about that incident ten years earlier, thought about it for a couple of days then made an almost equally low-ball counter offer. He accepted, but never being one to leave well enough alone proceeded to pour a ton of money into the bike making it look and run better than when it was new. (The bike lives in Fred’s garage today. It still looks (and probably runs) better than when I sold it to Carl in 1994.).
Fast forward nine years. Try as one might, perfection can not be maintained long term. This spring I had a slight case of “down syndrome”, dropping two different bikes in a 10 day span. As luck would have it Dave and Carl arrived on the scene seconds after the second fall. Had this occured to any other member of the group there would have probably been an outpouring of sympathy. But I could see it in Carl’s face even then: boot material. It took 19 years, but he finally got his pay-back!
Carl rebuts
As to a rebuttal, what’s to rebut?? CBS news should have such fair and unbiased reporting! The truth is, it is always most fun to give the boot when the reasoning behind the award is totally lame. Witness the year when I received it for bad weather in Death Valley … complete with Desert Storm hats, no less.
There are two basic ways to get the boot. First, you may actually deserve it for reasons as varied as putting diesel in your gas tank or stuffing a rag in your differential, to moving to Houston … and these can’t be ignored. However, the best way to win the award is when the (self appointed) committee decides it is your time and will seize upon the least little error so as to anoint you as the grand award winner. Yes, there is nothing more satisfying than the righteous indignation of a truly undeserving recipient.
Your typically perfectionist ways made the reward all the more challenging. Dave and I were just discussing this very topic on that rainy morning when he and I took a car to breakfast and you rode your R69S. As we rounded the corner and found you picking your bike up from the rain-slicked onramp we turned to one-another, smiled and nodded approvingly. The committee had just made its decision! Congratulations, you are in honored company.
Pictures from Marc and Sheila
