This blog post tells about the Bikers for Bridges Ride. This is an annual motorcycle charity event to benefit children in our community.
Bikers for Bridges
If you drive down Main Street on a Sunday afternoon, you might see bikers standing outside the Walt Moss Barber Shop, They aren’t there to create mischief or mayhem. What you are witnessing is the annual Bikers for Bridges ride.
Bikers for Bridges is one of the many charities supported by motorcycle riders in Central Indiana. Bikers have deep pockets when it comes to a worthy cause, which benefits children in the local area. One of these events attracts bikers like a kid is drawn to a candy store.
The process is simple. It’s not hard to get the word out about a ride. A flier gets hung on the wall of a local bike shop, a post goes up on social media, and word of mouth carries the announcement through the biker community like wildfire.
Motorcycle clubs and organizations from all over the area like to participate in the Bikers for Bridges ride. Leather-clad characters of every shape, size, gender, and color will show up at the designated location. They put aside their life for the afternoon because Bikers for Bridges is a charity that benefits the children in our community,
The price of admission is paid by each participant, and they hand it over the money without uttering a word of protest. Riders are also required to sign a waiver dismissing Bikers for Bridges from liability if there is an accident. In other words, they ride at their own risk.
The cost is generally a twenty-dollar bill for the rider with an additional fee for the passenger.
There is a great deal of fellowship among the people hanging around, waiting for the ride to start. People wander around until the motorcycle cops show up dressed in full-uniform straddling their Harleys. The roar of engines revving up fills the hot, steamy air as people climb aboard their bikes.
If you’re lucky, the weather co-operates. Temperatures can soar into the nineties, but nobody cares as long as rain doesn’t fall from the sky. The cop will turn on their lights and sirens, the lead motorcycle follows them into traffic, and the Bikers for bridges ride has begun.
It might look like mass confusion to an observer, but there is a method to the madness. Most riders prefer to travel staggered instead of riding side by side. It gives them room to navigate through the curves. Common sense tells you to follow the path of least resistance.
A route is laid out in advance to get riders out of the city and into the countryside as quickly as possible. The police officers are there to block traffic. It is essential for the bikes to flow through town without breaking for lights and stop signs.
Motorcycle police escort the Bikers for Bridges through the Indiana countryside. That means the police come along with the bikes instead of dropping us off at the city limits like they are driving the riff-raff out-of-town. Once we get out into the corn, the speed picks up and bikes flow at a steady pace.
Rooster is uncomfortable when the police bike sails up the blocked lane next to us. There are a number of hazards to watch out for on a group ride. A fast-moving motorcycle often appears in the lane next to you without warning. There are many unwritten rules among bikers when it comes to riding in a pack.
One important rule to remember is when you are riding close together you don’t make any sudden moves to impede the flow of the traffic behind you. A rider shouldn’t suddenly decide he needs gas and decides to take an unexpected turn. The second thing to remember is to look out for one another.
The main goal of the adventure is for everyone to make it home at the end of the day without a broken bone or a fractured skull.
If you find yourself stopped at a green light on a hot summer afternoon, watching a group of bikers flowing past your windshield, please don’t get impatient. They are out there in the heat riding for a good cause. Consider it your contribution to a kid getting an electric wheelchair or a handicap accessible van. Think about it being your donation to a family whose child is battling cancer.
You may have had a part in helping a middle-school kid stay off drugs due to the Bridges mentoring program. You might even be sending a personal thank you to a soldier defending your freedom in a faraway land.
We live in a face passed world where ten minutes on a Saturday afternoon might be an infringement on a person’s schedule, but hang tight for ten minutes. The leather-clad bikers will pass quickly. You will have done your part in bettering your community.
Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana, who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh. To read more of her short stories and adventures click here.
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