Polar Bear Motorcycles: Respect My Authoritay

Connecticut's Rockaway riders, from left: Grumpy, Captain, Token2, Fonz, CT Blogger, John J., Anonymous Ed and Scott.

Connecticut Polar Bears at lunch, from left, Anonymous Ed, Token2, Scott, John J., Captain, Fonz, CT Blogger and Grumpy. Photo by Grumpy using wide-angle mode on his new LG cell phone.

Motorcycle Polar Bear Blog, Polar Bear Grand Tour, ride to Rockaway, NJ, February 19, 2017

By: Chris Loynd, a.k.a. CT Blogger

Mark Twain, longtime Connecticut resident, famously said, "If you don't like the weather in New England now, wait a few minutes." We weathered a wacky weather week. Last Sunday we were forced by snow to drive. This Sunday we were almost too warm, almost.

In Connecticut some of our foot-deep snowfall lingered still a week-and-a-half later. What was left was decorative in places. It accented craggy rock faces and lightened shadowy forest floors. Admittedly we also saw side of the road snow banks black with dirt. Still, I thought snow added an appropriate winter look to what felt all of a spring day.

Even at daybreak our temperatures were above February's average daytime temperature. Due to our relatively close destination, we had a late start, 10:00 a.m. By then the temperature was near 50 degrees; on the ride home it climbed nearer 60. Our CT Polar Bears were changing out gloves and shedding layers.

Anonymous Ed took the lead. He was great on the highways. Once we exited, he struggled a bit. At lunch he said something about the GPS on his bike being different from the one he was used to in his car.

I give him a B+, four out of five stars. On the highway he was steady and reasonable and that counts for a lot. That right fork turnoff for Main Street in Rockaway is a bit tricky. Lucky for Ed I was riding in third position. Also lucky for Ed there was a connecting side street closeby, albeit down a wicked-steep hill.

Captain was riding second position and tried to signal Ed he was missing the turn. The turn once missed, Captain hesitated about whether or not to follow. Hey, you gotta stick with your ride leader, even if he leads you to the wrong destination. In third position I kept coming and urged, nearly pushed, Captain to follow his leader, rather than making the over-the-berm hard right turn he desired.

Fonz who was second to last in line, and therefore not the sweep, wanted to sweep still. Token2 as sweep is obligated to stay with any rider who falls out of line. So when Fonz ditched the rest of us, instead taking the correct right fork, Token2 had to follow.

As we descended the cliff, I mean sidestreet, we found Fonz doing his authoritarian thing and blocking the road to help us enter. Of course that did nothing for the closer lane of oncoming traffic. Fortunately that car driver took pity on us and blocked cars behind him to let us out all in a line.

Anonymous Ed did see the big "The Exchange" sign of our destination, but appeared challenged in making a split-second decision to park on the street in front or the parking lot in back. He went for the back and we followed, well some of us followed. Fonz went for the street and took a couple of our riders with him. Parking lot choices were slim; there is a wicked-steep hill built into the lot. Maybe a low-slung car would be able to park parallel and not roll over. I was taking no chances with my high center of gravity Honda ST.

After all the fork-of-the-road and parking confusion, you know what happened? We all found our Connecticut mates and a big booth and had lunch together, despite our bikes being scattered across two parking lots and the street.

The Exchange parking lots and street front were packed, but the restaurant and bar were not. Our theory was because it was such a beautiful day a lot of the more local Polar Bears rode to the destination early, signed-in, then went touring around in the unexpectedly warm February sunshine.

This is often one of the brutally cold rides on our schedule. Was it two years ago the temperature started in minuses and never went above five degrees on this run? Grand Tour Grand Pooh Bah Bob told us his outdoor thermometer said 52 degrees when he awoke at 5:00 a.m. Assuming the thermometer was broken, Bob booted up his computer to check the weather.

Scott rode in a windbreaker over a fleece vest. He's never cold. He said he was tempted to choose a tank top instead of the short sleeve tee shirt he was wearing as his base layer just to tease me. Me, I still wore my silks and electrics then actually turned up my electrics, just a little.

On the way home we decided to shoot over to the Garden State Parkway so we could enjoy our stop-at-the-top. Once again Captain tried to drive Anonymous Ed from the second position. Ed made a right turn right in front of a big sign that said go straight for I-80 East. I don't know if it was luck or lucidity but no sooner than we turned we picked up an I-80 East on-ramp.

There was still a bit of confusion getting to the Garden State Parkway. At one point our sweep shot to the front, partly to help Ed find the GSP and maybe also out of Fonz frustration. We called Fonz out at our stop-at-the-top and he admitted to being challenged in having the patience to wait for the sweep on lane changes. Maybe we make him sweep next week, or leader.

Any of us who have been at the front or the back of the pack can attest that it is not easy. I had one of the most disastrous leads with a confused and likely illegal loop at the foot (or was it head) of the Whitestone Bridge. I too blamed my GPS. I too was saved by my sweep.

So kudos to Anonymous Ed for stepping up for the lead. Study your maps and set your GPS Fonz, I hereby publicly challenge you to lead next week's ride to Hooters. There are some nasty turns on the local roads after you exit I-80. If you like, I can ask Captain if he'll ride second. And we will all respect your authority . . . at least for the duration of the ride there and back.