Polar Bear Motorcycles: Trumped

Highlands Bears, from left: Mac, Princess, Thumper, Token2, Ed (hiding in back), Captain, Grumpy, Jim, Pogy and Fonz.

Motorcycle Polar Bear Blog, ride to Bahrs Landing, at the twin lighthouses, Highland, NJ, February 21, 2016.

Once again I had an event at work, part of a new initiative by our new president. This weekend it was the Long Island Sound Luau. Our idea was to offer a tropical respite in bleak midwinter. My luck the weather was freakishly warm in the middle of February. Still we had fun. I poured frozen umbrella drinks and judged the Spam carving contest. John Howard, a.k.a. Token2 offered the report.

By: John Howard

No, this is not about the presidential candidate but the word, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary; ‘to be more important than (something) or to do better than (someone or something) in a contest, competition, etc.’ (Hmmm…I suppose it could relate to current politics)

Before the ride began your regular blogger Chris Loynd had his plans to visit Bahr’s Landing trumped by his employer. Work trumps riding; sad but true. So here I am, Token 2, appearing again as your stand in reporter.

I was trumped when calling the Captain to notify my intention to join the ride.

‘Hello Captain, T2 here just wanted to….” I got no further.

Captain interrupts…’Morning, I need to put you on hold, Princess is also calling…’. The line went dead.

A ten year, gnarly veteran with scores of Polar Bear rides under his belt, put on hold, yes, ON HOLD for an ambitious, perfect attendance seeking newbie. Oh the shame of it, the humiliation. I write this piece crestfallen as there is no longer doubt (if doubt ever there was) that a youthful Polish chick with a little touch of recently anointed blue blood trumps a poker faced, curmudgeonly and increasingly ancient Brit.

Paul, who is now sporting a Thumper rabbit motif on his riding suit, was trumped at Dunkin Donuts in Stratford. Evidently he could not get his Yamaha single kick started when the ride formed up. He had left his ignition on (rookie error by a rookie, so that is OK) and the battery could not raise a spark. No one gave him a jump start so he was left behind to figure things out for himself. Reinforcing the fact that for CT Bears the ride trumps everything.

Fortunately Thumper was able to buy a couple of AA Duracell batteries from the garage across from the Dunkin and eventually got his mount fired up. He arrived at Bahr’s Landing about 15 minutes after the group. It would seem that while he was spending time getting his Yamaha functional his un-helmeted head was strafed by an overhead bird leaving white deposits in various places in his hair. He claimed it was paint from decorating, I was not persuaded as it looked chunky in places.

I need readers help with the next one. Does a well filled out, toga wearing, theatrical kind of guy on a 700cc Honda twin trump a skinny, computer code kind of guy on a 400cc single for take-off speed from a standing start? I don’t know as I was in the lead. We were joined by Jim on his son’s Honda Shadow somewhere on our journey south and he then battled things out with Paul on the journey north. Answers on a postcard please…see, increasingly ancient as I said earlier. Oh, have it your way, send your response via a bloody tweet then.

Fonz trumped everyone on the ‘special day’ front…his birthday. So we sang the traditional song for him at the largely empty Bahr’s Landing (yes, we arrived at 11 and departed at 12.30pm). Pogy doesn’t much care for special days and asked who gave a ****. No one had a good answer, so we just tucked into our food and stopped talking.

Mac has his special day next Saturday we learned…tying the knot, and will make things uber special with a trip to Africa for the honeymoon. Two-up? That would trump everything don’t you think?

Grumpy made a return after most advisedly opting out of last week’s shiver-fest. His compositional talent for taking the group shot, one close in another with the restaurant signage in view was not fully appreciated by the group, well, Captain mostly. QEd (Quiet Ed) who has never once heckled Grumpy rounded out the group of ten CTPB’s that made the run.

My mother told me to be careful of the quite ones …and she was right. QEd along with Pogy must have wrangled an invite to Fonzies birthday party (and sleepover?) given the three of them slipstreamed past as seven of us exited at the Montvale rest stop. Nice, don’t forget to bring the rest of us some cake next week! (And keep it frozen until then so it stays fresh!).

This weekend had nice temperatures, nearing 60°F , which certainly trumps what was endured last week. The waitress who served us did not wear hotpants or show cleavage; Bahr’s Landing is always ‘delightfully refined and yet untacky’ . She was efficient serving our group of 9 plus a latecomer and the food was customarily good. Traffic was not so bad, but intensified on the journey north.

Paul hosted the Montvale drinking session, thank you.

In deference to the title just a note on the presidential primary front, there was discussion over the beverages at Montvale about the runner up positions in South Carolina. I Googled CNN and reported, but was advised that CNN was not reliable. Only when confirming the report via Glenn Beck was the result accepted. No names; but for some Beck trumps CNN. Oh and I thought Cruuuuuuuz was a wide receiver for the NY Giants!

And finally on the local news Sunday night it was reported that over 100 seals had pulled out of the water on a sand bank in the Sandy Hook National Park, a stone’s throw from today’s destination. The news did not report on the motorcycle gathering just down the road and so I conclude that seals trump polar bears, but I have never seen them eat one.

Until next time.