A few months ago, I was introduced to a young man who I will call Dan (not his real name). He is the son of a mutual friend. His uncle was killed in action in Afghanistan last year. Dan was given his uncle’s Honda Shadow motorcycle by his uncle’s wife. Dan loved that bike and often admired his uncle riding it. While he did not want to get a motorcycle the way that he got it, there it was. He wanted to learn how to ride it, both in memory of his uncle as well as to pursue his interest in motorcycling. He couldn’t afford a car and his Mom only had one, so he seldom had his own wheels. He was so tired of bumming rides from friends and using the bus.

Dan is much like me at his age — 20. He is a rising junior at our state’s university, my alma mater. Unlike most students, he declined on-campus housing and remained living at home. He has four younger siblings and a mother who works two jobs to provide for the family. His father died ten years ago and his Mom has not remarried. He felt an obligation to continue helping out at home, paying rent in-kind by mowing the lawn and doing household chores and maintenance. He also works full-time during the summer at a tough maintenance job that is physically demanding and exhausting.

But, he has weekends off… and he wanted to learn to ride that motorcycle. So he asked me for help and guidance. I recommended…
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Loyal readers follow my rants sometimes where I have stated that real bikers — the serious guys who ride motorcycles regularly and who are not aggressive kids on a sport bike or the next Darwin Award contenders (you know, the kind who wear shorts and sneakers or flip-flops while riding) — always wear above-the-ankle motorcycle boots when they ride.

To prove my point, following are random shots that I took of the boots on bikers who showed up at an event that my motorcycle club sponsored yesterday. These are real, honest-to-goodness, hard-core bikers. Not wannabes. While some of these guys are a billboard for a certain brand and are wearing cheap Chinese-made overpriced boots that carry a certain well-known motorcycle brand name, they all demonstrate what I am talking about.

Okay, here’s another one from an internet search that directed a visitor to this blog: “Do only gay guys wear harness boots?”
My opinion?
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I joined a charity motorcycle ride last Sunday. The ride is open to all — not just for Harley riders. But most of the motorcycles ridden to the event were Harleys. Anyway, I can’t say that some of these people will ever learn:

Sheesh… see for yourself. Idiocy reigns supreme!
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