Road Church: Freedom and Envy

Freedom is a wonderful concept. The Idea that we are free to choose. To do as we want given that we are not hurting others. The quote, erroneously attributed to John Locke “Your rights end where my nose begins.” I’ve always thought that as long as I wasn’t damaging anything or doing harm to another then what I did was fine, even if it is illegal.  These days I question the law and I question authority. I see days ahead where laws will be made that we ought not abide. I consider speeding to be practice for that day. It’s also fun. That’s why I do it.  I don’t speed all the time, but when the mood strikes and I’m feeling good I let loose with the throttle and fly.  Generally I pick times and places where I’m not putting others at risk, ultimately I’m going to pay the price for my behavior. Fines and high insurance premiums are deterrents.  I’m always on the look out for police. As time has gone on they have gone to greater lengths to disguise themselves. Unmarked cars, marked but barely visible. low profile lights or lights mounted in the vehicle. The goal of the modern American police force is revenue. They don’t even use that thin veil of public safety anymore. They want my money and they want to show me that they are in control. So I avoid the police as much as I can. It’s probably easier for be because I’m white. People that think that police treat everyone the same are very shortsighted. The law is not evenly applied. I’ve had very few negative encounters with the police. One where the officer tried to bait me into loosing my temper, by handing me a clip board then ripping it away from me. Another where an officer gave me erroneous information regarding a ticket, I knew he was wrong, and the look on his face told me he did too. He just wanted me to react so he could hit me with more fines or take me in. I just agreed with him and got out of there.

Saturday I felt like riding out in the country, I’ve just got the EBR sorted, for now, it’s running strong and it’s a fun bike. Friday night a storm rolled through and there are remnants of it  in the sky.

I head out from home after doing some chores, taking food to my shut in father, and getting my animals all taken care of. I haven’t been on a solo cruise in the Kansas country in some time. I generally go with others. I head out Thunder Road from Wichita. There is a long straight as you head east from Santa Fe Lake Road. I’m behind two trucks, one turns left and the other one goes straight. A red faded Ford Ranger. I stop at the sign, check that the cross traffic is clear, and launch, the front wheel drifts up over the road crown, I top out first, shift, 2nd WOT, Third, 130 MPH signal, lane change, pass, shift for 4th, let the engine brake for me, first corner, in at 70 roll through exit at 120, second corner, in at 80, theres on coming traffic, I let off to insure I stay in my lane, because they have their wheels over the line in my lane. I cross the bridge, wringing the throttle, third corner where I can see traffic for a half mile even though the road is winding,  I’m steady on at about 110 to 120, past the grave yard, in to a long straight to the tracks, then a right hander by a house that switches back and runs parallel to the tracks, then turns north through a small town. I slow to 45 here. On the other side of if I’m back to 80 and out of the corner at 100, across the bridge, and a lovely s-curve that feels so good at about 90 or 100 tires gripping, the feel of gravity helping you out. This is my roller coaster.

I slow to the speed limit, take a right on US 77 where I encounter a train. I don’t feel like waiting.. so after a few minutes of thinking about an alternate route, I turn around, take a right on US 54 and stop for gas. As I’m pumping gas. I see a red faded Ford Ranger. They stop right in front of me, Two men in their 20s or 30s. Their eyes are cold and dead. Faces screwed up with anger. They flip me the bird. I just look at them and keep looking at them. Are they armed? are they gonna shoot me? Are they gonna try to kick my ass? It sure seemed like it. The guy on the cruiser at the pump across from me though they were flipping him off.

“Pretty sure that was me.” I said

“Why?” he asked.

“I passed them…” I started.

“Oh well that’s just redic…”

“At 130…”

“Oh…well… Have fun!”

The truck rolls off and takes a right. I’m not giving them a chance to circle back. This is one of the few times I’d feel better if I had a gun. I hate that I feel that way. I’ve traveled all over, but here in my home state, 20 miles from my house I feel like I gotta pack heat because I live next to a bunch of hateful ass bitter broke white folk. Speeding on a motorcycle yields mixed reactions from others. Some people are thrilled to see you fly down the road. Some people think “Who the fuck do they think they are?” followed by “They shouldn’t do that, it’s illegal.” which is sometimes followed by “I’m going to show that asshole a thing or two.” I’m most concerned with the last one. I am doing something illegal, something where bad things could happen, mostly to me and maybe someone else but it’s more likely that I’d be in worse shape. Now if someone takes it upon themselves to dole out some justice on me that is on them. That is also illegal. It’s called assault at the least, and at the worst homicide.

The question I have is why? Why does passing some one garner so much anger? I think it has very little to do with my speeding. I think it has more to do with their lives. My speeding is the “cap off the toothpaste” it represents everything they can’t do in life. They are stuck in Augusta Kansas in a faded Red Ford Ranger, and their lives feel like prisons. So fuck that asshole that’s burning down the road at 130 doing illegal shit. Let’s kick his ass because our lives suck. Or at least flip him the bird and look at him mean. There, that will make everything better.

I catch a lot of flack for riding the way I do, and I’ll catch shit for this post. Including a post from my 70 year old mother “Please be careful.”  Y’all can think what you want. I enjoy riding the way I do. I’m not hurting you, if it makes you angry you may want to check why it makes you angry. Is it because I’m doing something you can’t or won’t? I can understand my family being angry at me. They love me and don’t want to see me die. How ever you oh angry one, you want to do me harm because I speed. Why is that? The answer lies with you and your life choices.

Once I was in Missouri riding with a friend. We pasted a truck hauling a pontoon boat. then stopped at a gas station. As the pontoon boat hauler pulled by us, he screamed obscenities at us.. and I just yelled back “You chose a pontoon boat. you should have chose a bike.”

I was riding hard in Wichita one night, I got off on a surface street and stopped at a light after blasting through an off ramp curve, which gave a pickup truck a chance to catch up to me. They followed me to our meet up spot where there were 10 other sport bike guys. And they proceeded to read me the riot act. I told them to “have a good night, I was just having some fun.” They asked me “what if you get hurt, what if I hit you?” I said “If you hit me intentionally, that’s on you. If I fuck up and run into you, that’s on me.”  I don’t think that situation would have ended as well for me if there had not been ten people there who knew me.

What I find interesting is how willing people are to enforce the law, even when it’s something as innocuous as speeding. Again this is something I apply to a dystopian future situation. People will turn other people in, they will actually help their oppressors. No I don’t feel oppressed, It’s like the parable of the crabs in a barrel. That one crab almost makes it out of the barrel to freedom, and another crab yanks him back in. Humans are the same way.

I’m headed through roads I’ve been down dozens of times. Clouds forming, a storm wants to gather, I feel rain on my arms and smell it in the air, I’m taking the corners with some caution, they roads are dirty out here, and I’m running them in a direction I’m not as used to. Today feels good. I turn off my music and listen to the wind and the double thump of the 1190 VTwin beast I’m on top of while pondering why people are assholes who can’t leave other people be.