Familiar Faces At PIMS
Thursday, January 30th, 2020
At the Progressive International Motorcycle Show.
One of the fun things about being a member of a community of like-minded souls is that you run into old friends and acquaintances when you go to events. That was definitely the case for me recently at the Progressive International Motorcycle Show.
At one point I was just walking through the crowd, looking around for anything interesting, when suddenly I was face to face with Alisa Clickenger. I’ve know Alisa now for about 10 years and I hadn’t expected to see her there but I probably should have. I met Alisa during the Adventure for the Cures event put on up at Keystone by Sue Slate and Gin Shear. Alisa was one of the riders. Since then Alisa has ridden solo to the tip of South America and most recently organized the Sisters Centennial Motorcycle Ride, which came through here in 2016.
Alisa is now promoting her latest project, the Suffragists Centennial Ride, another coast to coast event tied in to the passage of the constitutional amendment that gave women the right to vote. Basically all of Alisa’s endeavors are aimed at empowering women by getting them on motorcycles and realizing their ability to take charge of their own lives.
So Alisa was there. Then I saw a tall, long-haired guy I recognized but took a while to place. It didn’t take me long, though, to realize it was Dan Ballard, who runs Bitchin’ Stitchin’. I don’t really know Dan–I’ve only met him once–but he was one of my very earliest advertisers here on the Passes & Canyons website. I didn’t say hello but it was like, oh yeah, I know him.
Next I ran into Mike Langello. Mike is a member of the RMMRC who I never quite met on a ride we took “together” a couple years ago. We were all headed out to Alabama to the Barber Motorsports Museum but Judy and I left separately from the group and then got snowbound in western Kansas for three days. We never did meet up with the group but I was in contact the whole time with Mike, who was leading the ride. I finally met him in person at an RMMRC meeting about a year later.
Finally, I was tired and wanted to sit so I chose a bench with space next to this other guy. We got to talking and of course asked what each other rode and when I said I have a 1999 Kawasaki Concours he replied that he had had two of them. He got the second after he “wadded up” the first. This guy, Phil, asked if I had been involved at all with the Concours Owners Group (COG) and I said I had just for one year, twice. Phil had been very active in that group and I realized he did look familiar and I must have meet him a time or two way back then.
Talking with Phil was fun. It was like we were part of a fraternity where we both knew the same things and could talk without needing to provide details or clarification. He said he had had two ’99 Connies and I asked, “The burgundy one?” He replied yes, but you know what some people call it, don’t you? Yes, the “Barney bike,” referencing Barney the purple dinosaur.
I told Phil the best thing I got out of COG membership was assistance at a Wrench & Retch where a couple guys helped me install some highway pegs I got from Murph after he came out with the design that allowed you to mount them without cutting holes in the body work. I’m betting there are at least three items in that statement that you don’t understand but Phil needed no explanation, he knew exactly what I was talking about.
The bottom line here is that it’s nice to go to these things and run into people you know. When I was working full time as a motorcycle journalist I used to go to lots of events and most of the time I was all by myself, didn’t know anyone, and I’ve never been really good at meeting people. I spent a lot of really solitary days in the thick of large crowds. That’s something I don’t miss.
Biker Quote for Today
Life is about finding out who you are while enjoying the journey to get there.
