Soloist

It's officially autumn in the UK now, and the weather is correspondingly getting a touch nippy. I love this time of year - slippery leaves in the road notwithstanding. The weather's still dry enough to allow for regular rides, and cool enough not to have that 'boil-in-bag' effect you get in the height of summer, especially in traffic. 

I had a yen for a pub lunch (ah, Sunday roast dinners at good pubs....) so off I headed. 

I got to a favourite pub, which I know does a mean nut roast, parked up, ordered and sat at a nice little table out the front, where I could see my bike and enjoy the sun. 

As I was sitting there, sipping my coffee and waiting for my food, a man walked past on his way back from ordering at the bar. He looked at me and my neatly piled helmet and jacket, and said, "I can't believe you're on your bike on your tod."

Huh?

Is it that he thinks bikers only exist in packs?

Or is it, which is depressingly more likely, that I'm a woman, who rides an H-D FLS, and has absolutely no need of a man to do the driving or keep me company. 

To the pack theory: I do enjoy riding with friends, but essentially, as I've said before, riding is a solitary pursuit. It's you and the bike and the road, in a symbiosis that needs extend no further. Any group ride briefing will include the reminder that you are responsible for your own ride (both the experience and the vehicle). 

To the other: well, frankly? Get with the 21st century already.