I went on a couple of runs on Sunday with some friends that had us dipping our toes in both extremes of the biker world.<\/p>\n
First up was a charity ride for a sick kid that we went on as a favor to a friend. I\u2019ve been on a lot of rides like this over the years and it\u2019s always an adventure when you get a couple hundred people together who only put a few hundred miles on their bikes each year and have little or no experience riding in a group. You can pretty much bet that someone will get hurt before the day is over (and someone did, I heard \u2014 with a kid on the back) and all you can do is hope it isn\u2019t you or one of your friends. \u201cClusterfuck\u201d is the word some might use to describe these rides, but I don\u2019t use that kind of rough language. They\u2019re a gosh-darned adventure is all I\u2019ll say. This ride was different \u2014 it was scarier than most.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not going to take the time to go into detail about all the things that were wrong about how this ride was organized and led, the short version is: we went far too slowly on the freeway, we stopped for some red lights but blew through others, the route took us through a friggin\u2019 residential neighborhood \u2014 I can only assume so we could ride past some organizer\u2019s house, and once we finally got into the hills where there was some decent riding the guys up front went through some of the turns so slowly that I swear they put their feet down.<\/p>\n
The \u201cadventure\u201d at the intersections was what got to me the most (after the 5 mph twisties, that is). We had a line of around 100 bikes in the column, but the guys up front obviously weren\u2019t thinking about the back of the pack. They stopped for lights that turned red for them, but motored on obliviously through lights that were going to change right after they went through. That led to the riders behind them running the light to keep the pack together, and the riders behind them, and so on and so on, so that you had a long stream of riders riding through red lights with cross-traffic trying to cut through. It was dangerous as hell.<\/p>\n
But there was something else about the ride that was just \u2026 off. Early on the route had us circling a prison of some kind. It looked like it had been closed, so I didn\u2019t think too much about it. But further on we ended up at another prison, this one in obvious operation. And then we turned and went down a service road leading into the prison. And then we went through some kind of access-controlled entrance. And then we went into and around the prison staff\u2019s parking lot. And then we went down a service road right next to the yard, with inmates stopping their basketball games and weightlifting to turn and watch us go by. Holy crap, what I thought was supposed to be a short ride through the hills had turned into a total \u201cwhat the fuck am I doing here?\u201d tour of Cell Block Six. It was the weirdest fucking ride I\u2019ve ever been on.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t until we finally got to the ride\u2019s conclusion that the full realization of what was up hit me. I don\u2019t know how I\u2019d missed it, considering that the words were printed on the back of every single run T-shirt they were selling, but the ride was sponsored by the Department of Corrections. Prison guards! And I found out later that the fucking warden was the guy leading the ride! Unbelievable. If we had known who was behind it, I don\u2019t think we would have done the ride.<\/p>\n
Following that \u201cadventure,\u201d we went to a fundraiser party being thrown by a support club for one of our local power clubs. There was plenty of law enforcement in evidence at this event too, only this time they weren\u2019t being friendly about it. There was a police car stationed just opposite the driveway entrance to the parking lot, with the officer, arms crossed, watching everyone roll in. There were two police cars stationed on the hill overlooking the parking lot, where I think they were filming or taking pictures. There was only one road leading in and out of the roadhouse the party took place at, and both on the way in and the way out we passed several police cars with bikers pulled over. As we passed them on the way in I saw one of the officers scrambling to get out a digital camera and take pictures of us as we rolled by. It was full-press police harassment, the usual for the club we were there to see.<\/p>\n
So Sunday was an interesting day, in terms of the contrast of how we were treated at the two different events. On the first one, we were paraded through a prison by the guys who ran the joint, and at the second were harassed by the guys who want to put us all in the first one. Good times, good times\u2026<\/p>\n
Oh well, at least I got to ride, about 230 miles on the day. Here\u2019s my GPS track for the day showing how we went to bumfuck and back:
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