Bill Says He’s Done–Sorta
Thursday, September 7th, 2023
Bill (on his bike) and John on one of our earlier trips when it was still just us three.
The OFMC took its first trip in 1989, and has done a trip every year since. The original three were me, John, and Bill. Other members have come and gone over the years but we three were regulars until just a few years ago when John could no longer ride due to health issues. Now Bill is talking about bowing out.
Dennis and I had a pretty good idea this was coming while we were out on our recent trip. We had decided to do Lolo Pass and that meant we needed to do some longer days and also an extra day. Several of these longer days were also blazing hot. Bill was not enjoying a lot of this and he was making comments such as “Remind me again why we do this.”
So it was no surprise the next to last night out when he said flatly that he doesn’t want to do it anymore. OK, let’s get into particulars. What exactly don’t you want to do anymore.
Well, he doesn’t want to do these long days. He also doesn’t want to be out for as long. And he really doesn’t like doing long days in 100+ degree weather.
Fair enough. What would you say to shorter days and fewer days? As for the heat, I’ve pushed for years to move the week of the trip later than the last full week of July. But you insist on doing it that week.
Dennis had the idea that we could do an all-Colorado trip where rather than ride past all the tourist attractions we actually stop and visit them. Take it easy.
Well, OK, something like that Bill said he could probably get into and enjoy. Fine, said I, the official trip organizer. Let me give this some thought.
The next day I had some ideas. A lot of ideas, actually, but the best–I thought–was to do this all-Colorado ride where we spend our last night some place like Estes Park–close to home–and all the wives carpool up and we stay at some fancy bed ‘n’ breakfast and have dinner at some really nice restaurant. Dennis liked the idea. Bill’s response was pure Bill.
“My wife will still be in Brazil.”
Bill’s wife is from Brazil and every summer she goes there to help her sisters care for their aged mother. She is a teacher so she comes back just before school starts, which is not the last full week of July.
But Bill, we don’t have to do the ride that same week in July every year, and if you don’t want the heat all the more reason to move it to something like the last week of August or first week of September. Or the second week of September, after the kids are back in school and the tourist crowds thin out.
No, no, that won’t do.
Now, Dennis and I are of a different mind. Earlier in the trip we had discussed what we saw coming and Dennis had said that if he didn’t have his wife at home he’d be saying let’s take a month. We’re retired, for Pete’s sake. I totally agreed.
So the thought arises, if Bill dropped out would Dennis and I continue and maybe finally do some of the longer rides I’ve been wanting to do for a long, long time? Apparently not. Dennis didn’t elaborate on his thinking but he did say at one point that if it got down to only two he would not be inclined to go on. So that would mean the end of the OFMC. Wow.
I don’t think that’s going to happen next year. I do think Bill will be interested in a shorter trip. But things continue until they don’t. And then they end.
Biker Quote for Today
100 reasons not to date a biker: 32. You’ll have a burn mark or two from the exhaust.
