I've been putting off writing this article for months, for no reason other than not having a moment to spare and not being able to decide what to write about, or knowing what I wanted to write about but feeling like I would come off sounding like a malcontent. I was going to write about the motorcycle "business," or what it's like to get some notoriety as a bike builder, or what TV has done for (or to) our industry, or how it looks from the outside and what it's really like on the inside, or how there's another bike event or two or three every weekend and what a grind it is to go to so many. Of course, there was going to be a bunch of bitching and moaning involved. Blah, blah, blah.
And then a funny thing happened on the way to the ROT Rally in Austin, Texas.
Everyone knows how crazy those darn Texans are, and, like everything else in Texas, the ROT Rally was going to be "bigger and better." Texas, secede!
So...I'm not going to talk about all the naked chicks, or the scene across from the Bill Wall Leather tent where a huge female dominatrix had guys lined up to let her tie them to a wooden cross and whip them, or the rumors of a "sex wagon" that rolled around offering its passengers the ride of a lifetime. And everyone knows how the police in Austin are really cool and proud of their city and how they actually want people (including all these crazy bikers) to come back. Also, I won't mention that the hotels don't make everyone empty their wallets at the door but actually offer discounts for the Rally, or that each bar has a more incredible live band than the next one, whether it's Southern rock, Irish folk rock, rockabilly, or techno trance dance crap-and most bars don't charge a cover. You've probably already heard about the motorcycle parade that demolished the Guiness Book of World Records' old record by thousands of riders and how for more than 10 miles all of Austin lined the streets to cheer and scream and otherwise make all the riders feel like rock stars. Or the couple hundred thousand people who packed Congress Ave. and the world-famous 6th St. all the way to the Capital Building so that every biker felt like Queen for a Day (maybe that's a bad choice of words-but you know what I mean). It's probably not worth mentioning that one of the promotors, Luis, actually rides motorcycles and loves doing the Rally, and even arranged a houseboat party on Lake Travis for those who stuck around the day after. He also took the time on his day off to take this builder to the Texas wine country, which could rival the Napa Valley or Tuscany. I really do know this-not all bikers can live on Jack or Bud alone.
And the last thing I'm not really going to go into is how those crazy Texans are truly all about Southern hospitality.
But I guess I am going to say how this one little show reminded me of why I ride, build motorcycles, and bother with this "business" in the first place-and I really needed to be reminded.