300 Miles in Daylight

Shamong Bears, from left, Jim, Captain, Joanna, Pogy, Chris and Mac.

Motorcycle Polar Bear Blog, ride to Pic-A-Lilli Inn, Shamong, NJ, Sunday, November 15, 2015.

By: Chris Loynd

"One of the great things about getting older is you get up earlier," Jeremy Clarkson, former host of "Top Gear" on BBC.

Barnsider Tavern went out of business. So our destination shifted to the popular Pic-A-Lilli Inn in Shamong, New Jersey. (You couldn't make those names up if you tried.) I say popular because the Polar Bear Grand Tour visits there at least once but also for the end of season blow out. Polar Bear Grand Poohbah Bob admitted the Pic-A-Lilli is close to his home. So it certainly is a popular destination with the man in charge.

Far for us! Which is not all bad. At just over 150 miles one way, we pick up five big Polar Bear points. The Barnsider in Sugar Loaf, N.Y. is just 100 miles one way, four points. Doesn't sound like much, until you ride. Then you get points fever, leading to patch fever, leading to bonus pin fever, leading to perfect attendance dementia, leading to Captain.

Starting as three bikes we smoothly added three more as we cruised toward our destination. Pogy joined up at Darien. Joanna was ready at the bus stop, we never even had to stop for the traffic light. And Jim just appeared, right there on the parkway, powering up the shoulder to smoothly take his place in the pack.

Mac's peripatetic riding style was a bit frustrating for your leader, me. There are times when you try to speed the group up or slow it down to fit in and out of gaps in traffic. But when your second rider has a three to four mile lag time, it's a bit of a challenge. When I made a wisecrack at the stop at the top, I included Pogy who was behind Mac. He took great umbrage. And when Mac dropped further back in the pack for the last leg home I couldn't get Pogy unglued from my wing. He was in perfect position the whole way.

We got to Pic-A-Lilli early. Good thing too, the joint was jumpin' by the time we finished lunch. People were packed-in and waiting for our table.

Food and service were good. At lunch Jim shared some good stories about his multiple Harley dealer experience. Captain maybe found a wizard to help cure his Road King gremlins. And poor Joanna was embarrassed by our waitress. You could tell the waitress knew it was the wrong thing to ask a fellow female sitting at a table full of motorcycle guys.

We reaped the reward of starting early by leaving early. That left us enough time for coffee at the top, traffic over the Tappan Zee, and still got Pogy home just before the 4:40 sunset.

Truly a rose among thorns.

Bears at Chez GSP, Dunkin' stop at the top of the Garden State.

Jim checks the Dunkin' cup for holiday political correctness.

Pogy takes his wingman status seriously.