Back in the days when I worked for Bob and Patti Carpenter at Road Rider magazine, they often divided their time between riding motorcycles and their other favorite pursuit, birdwatching. That always seemed like a strange combination of interests to me, but it worked for them, and they were often even able to combine the two, riding bikes to far-off game preserves and such to add another “catch” to their birding books.
Personally, I never quite understood their passionate pursuit of what seemed to me a rather odd pastime, but then suddenly, just the other day, I realized that I was engaging in an activity almost identical to theirs. And no, I am not a bird watcher, but I am a “biker watcher.” And so are many of you — I’d bet money on it.
For example, when I attend Americade every year, I see literally hundreds of people, every day of the week-long affair, sitting in their lawn chairs alongside Canada Street, just watching the bikes go by. And haven’t we all done that, to one extent or another? How many thousands of us line the sidewalks of Main Street in Daytona every year, just to watch the constant parade of bikes go by? We may not use binoculars, because our quarry is much more approachable, but I’ll bet we take just as many pictures, and are just as excited as any avid birdwatcher when we spot a particularly rare species, like, say, a Vincent Black Shadow, or the ultra-rare AJS Porcupine.
So, carrying this analogy to its extreme—which is a favorite hobby of mine—if we are so much like birdwatchers, doesn’t it follow that our quarry are much like birds? I think just maybe I can make that argument. The closer I look at this, the more similarities I begin to see between birds and bikers. Don’t we both come in all shapes and sizes, and yet tend to flock together with our own kind? And do we not, within our own flocks, share similar nesting and feeding habits? Aren’t there some of us who follow migratory routes with the changes of season? And others who virtually hibernate in the winter? And aren’t most of us easily recognizable and categorized by our plumage?
More:
Birds Of A Feather on Motorcycle.com
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