Jerk on a Harley

I have been riding a long time. I will almost always wave, because I usually feel bad "dissing" anybody. I will especially wave to people that look like they've built their own bikes, went out of their way to ride something original, or have traveled a long way, no matter the make.

However, when making a little jaunt around the city or a short trip out of town, I get tired of this full-on wave thing to "Sunday drivers". I don't care if you are on an American made bike, a German made bike or some plastic piece-of-shit I want to throw up on. I find waving every 15 seconds grows tiresome. Especially, on a 90 degree day, if the "bikers" are clad entirely in new shiny leather, a full-face helmet with a NASA-like two-way radio system so they can chat on their 50 mile ride. Not to mention if they went to their dealership and bought everything brand-name from pants and shirts to socks, belts and underwear so everyone can be sure to know they're "bikers".

Sure a few of these people put thousands and thousands of miles on every year sporting their logo enhanced gear, but a good majority of them are weekend warriors riding between ice-cream shops and I just don't have a fucking thing in common with any of them. Frankly, I feel like I'm waving to the enemy.

To me being an American is embracing the full-on, guts-and-glory mentality of the people that first came to America. They didn't wear helmets. Can you see John Wayne wearing a helmet? Or Sitting Bull? George Washington? Stonewall Jackson? Perhaps if they'd had them, but it sure as hell didn't stop them.

Yes, yes, I get the whole dying on the asphalt, invalid, statistics thing. But when I see those people all "safety-upped" riding around, they just somehow strike me as sooo un-American. Its almost as if they are spitting on the Constitution. And sometimes I just can't wave.