In past columns I have jokingly referred to my partner as my wife-like-unit, and several of my readers (more than 2) have enquired about whether or not she minds being called this, and all I can honestly say is that she goes along with it in good humor. However, it made me think about it, and I realize that it isn’t the most flattering of monikers. It was probably a joke that seemed funny at one time, but it doesn’t really cast her in a positive light. So please allow me to start over.
I really don’t have a story idea for this week, so I must resort to idle ramblings.
Anybody with a trace of observational ability will have noticed that a lot of guys on motorcycles wave at each other on the highway, even though they don’t know each other. It is so firmly established a tradition that no biker ever questions it, but I think the whole thing needs revision. I have been riding motorcycles for 28 years now, and I guess when I started I thought the wave was pretty cool, and I participated wholeheartedly. Today I am not so sure about the waving thing; there are so many bikers on the roads in summer, and I am not really sure I want to wave at all of them. I mean, what does it really mean? Does it mean, “Hey, I see you ride a bike! Same here! Hi!” or does it mean “Hey I’m a cool motorcycle dude, hang five brother”. A lot of it depends on your status as a biker too. A Harley rider is usually a purist who will only wave at another Harley guy, because if it’s not a Harley it’s not really a bike, that’s the rule with Harley guys. It must be confusing for them these days, with so many “Honda Davidson” and “YamaHarley” clones on the roads. They look the same, sound the same, are more reliable and better built, cost a quarter as much, but hey they are Harley rip-offs and therefore not real bikes. If I accidentally waved to you I didn’t mean to, rice-rocket!
I have always ridden Japanese bikes, mostly classic big bore Suzukis, but for the past five years I have been riding a dual-purpose dirt bike, because it allows me to explore logging roads and get to remote places fast. Oddly, when driving on the highway, this has promoted my status among the Harley guys, I get waves all the time now, but when I had my kickass Suzuki GS1100 tire-burner, I was lucky to get a mere nod. The rice-rockets are just flashy pests, but the dirt-bike seems to get some respect. Strange.
I have noticed a huge increase in the number of female riders on the roads these days. They don’t seem to have the need to wave at each other like guys do – why is this? Is it because the fairer sex are less egotistical and don’t need to do the wave thing? I get the feeling that the secret message among female riders is “hey sister, cool you’re on a bike, but I ain’t waving cuz that’s just a ridiculous ego-prop for boys”.
Anyhow, I am tired of waving, I don’t initiate the wave, and I usually don’t wave back either, although sometimes the automatic wave reflex takes over. Don’t take it personally, great that you ride a motorcycle too, but I don’t think it’s really necessary to continually congratulate ourselves about it.
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