The Importance of the Motorcycle Hangout
In America, we motorcyclists are both spurned and ignored. On the fringes of acceptable society and in the spaces between acceptable traffic, we are literally and figuratively an eyesore in a blind-spot. Images of renegade, outlaw, vagabond and nomad might surface in a soccer-mom focus group when asked about us. Popular culture has painted us with a broad brush, Easy Rider, Sons of Anarchy, Hell's Angels all come to mind. Of course, this perception could not be further from the truth, but it is our invisible burden to bear. Some of us ignore it, some of us embrace it, but it's always riding just behind us like a shadow. The 10-ton tattooed elephant on the pillion seat, if you will. There is, however, one public space the elephant cannot follow. A place where your leathers and helmet and sordid appearance won't garner a second look from anyone because they all look equally disheveled. I am talking about your friendly neighborhood motorcycle hangout. It might be a place inten...