Patches

Yesterday was another nice Sunday, which as usual = Riding. 

We headed west, out on the A40, just to do the curvy forested section between Stokenchurch and Postcombe. This involved getting caught up in the Surrey HOG Chapter run (don’t they have enough pretty roads in Surrey?) all the way from High to West Wycombe before we could pull free. I enjoyed checking out all their bikes, but I have to wonder what the comments were when they stopped – we broke all the Chapter Run riding rules - we overtook, we filtered past... we did everything that you don't do during a run, because it breaks the run up.

The reason they might have been confused by our presence is that half of them weren’t wearing their Chapter vests. On an official ride, you generally wear your vest – which is decorated with badges and patches from rallies and meets, all of which create potential conversations in a group of bikers, but which, crucially, has the HOG emblem patch and Chapter banner patch on the back. It helps on the road to know who is and isn’t with your ride, and therefore who you are and aren’t supposed to be following/ allowed to overtake with impunity.

Of course, today I got into work and saw the news of a sometime problem with patches – the fight between two bike gangs in Waco, which left 9 dead. Don’t cars and legislators pose enough of a threat to bikers without us gunning for each other?