B.S.* Report (British Standard)

 

"I love all that thou lovest,

Spirit of Delight;

The Fresh Earth in new leaves dressed,

And the Starry Night;

Autumn evenings,

And the morn when the golden mists are born."

 

Ol' Shelley was on to something. I wonder if he was a biker? the autumn evenings and morns are upon us and it's time to get that Norton out, grab your own personal Spirit of Delight and head for the mountains. The weather has cooled off a bit, so instead of sweltering, you can look forward to the sensuous feel of slipping into your leathers and helmet.

Is it just me or do all bikers love that moment when you're walking out the door, helmeted and booted, glove straps pulled tight, zippers zipped and visor clean? By God, I'm headed to do something, even if it's just going to work. I'm ready for adventure, even if it'sm running to Majik Mart to get a six pac and a pack of Camels.

We were talking about rides for the fall season at club meeting and trying to decide what would be the best way to intice a few people to get their bikes ready and come out to have fun with us. We talked about announcing the rides two months in advance, calling everyone the week before the date. I was for some form of public humiliation, maybe stocks or the dunking stool. Don't laugh, the radical fringe calling for the return of flogging. The point is, it's really tough to get folks to have fun, and this irony is not restricted to the GANOA. 

At the Rally president's meeting the main topic of discussion among some of the new chapters was, "Why do we have fifty members and twenty five people at meetings and only four show up for a ride?"

Some of us who have been involved longer rushed to enlighten them. Our comments ranged from, "Damned if I know" to "Wish someone would tell me."

All seriousness aside though, if you've got an idea for a ride, get on the phone and call a few folks. If you get someone interested, give him half the list and cut the work in half. That's the way most things happen. Someone decides to do something, convinces someone else to join him in his folly and the next thing you know . . . You've got a hit single, a revolution, a child born out of wedlock, maybe even twenty five people on Nortons in the north Georgia mountains.

 

"There is a harmony in autumn,

and a luster in it's sky,

which through the summer is not heard nor seen,

as if it could not be,

as if it had not been!"

 

Yeah, he was a biker. I'll bet with a name like Percy Bysshe he got into a lot of fights.