Red Light

I was sitting at a red light on my bike. A lot of the girls that rode with me on the bike would just run up to me and yell, "Wait for me!" She jumped on. I don't remember who it was, another senior moment!! I took her on the loop for about 10 loops. She did not say much. usually the girls told me what was happening with them. I was known as a good listener.

We hit a pothole. On a bike it is a bad bump. I said are you OK? She said, "This baby is two weeks late, hit some more bumps, maybe that will make the baby come out. I am tired of being overdue." I hit a few small bumps, I did not want to hurt her or the baby.

Yes, the girls trusted me, told me their troubles. Never asked for money, or food, so I always asked, "How are you doing?" Sometimes their sisters would say, "Don't give my sister any money, she has enough, give it to someone who really needs it."

I am like John on American Grafiti, helping people, trying to get others to drive safely even though most of the time I don't.

I pulled up splitting lanes, I was between two cars in a two lane street. They were teasing each other by revving their motors.  Bob geared my bike very low. I just ran one block, light to light. With the modifications we made, it had fierce acceleration, first and second gear. The soft tire on the back, run a little low on air, a wider track more grip. We had to glue the tires to the rim. Because they really gripped the roadway, they would slip the rim and rip the tire valve stems and lose air. Now the back tires are held on the rims by screws thru the rim into the tire bead.

I do not need to tell you who won! It was 2:00 AM on a Saturday morning. I only raced one time before at 6:00 PM on a week night. It was on the road that the police station was on. Passing the police station I was doing 60 mph. It scared me so much I never did it again before midnight. The loop was no place to race when people could be walking about.