#14 In Roads-Glen Meeting new people was great today. It included a couple of giggles which is always a good thing and makes conversation easy. I rolled in to see my daughter at her new job and there’s a group of guys hovering around a bike out in front of the place. They all stop what they’re doing and stare as I drop the Beast onto his kickstand. My kid comes out and introduces us, one of the guys reaches out to shake my hand as his eyebrows go up and he repeats “Mom?” in an incredulous tone. I can’t tell why he finds my parentage surprising but I prefer to think it’s my youthful demeanor. Inside I meet Glenn, leader of the band of merry men, who greets me with a wide grin and firm handshake. He tells me he’s busily preparing to blast off to Wisconsin where he will be a vendor at the Road America races, but takes the time tell the story about the lights he’s invented. Riding all his life, he created some great LED lighting for sport bikes to improve visibility after running over a deer carcass on a dark road while riding cross-country through Colorado. He managed to keep his bike upright, but is now keenly focused on safety. He’s been working on cross over products to fit other models, including H-Ds. Even with all the seriousness of production, installs and sales, however, Glenn’s “let’s have fun at work” attitude transfers. The place is filled with busy guys cheerfully assembling motorcycle lights and the whole staff cracks jokes and seems to enjoy themselves as they work. It reminds me of Santa’s workshop. Except with taller elves. Andy, whose nickname is now “Crash,” starts telling about his recent experience with learning to ride a bike out behind the shop. It’s Glenn’s wife’s new motorcycle with a mere 50-miles on the odometer and the guys decide he needs to take it for a spin. The kid giggles out loud as he relates the slow motion thought process of jamming across the parking lot before realizing, as he rapidly approaches a wall, that he’s neglected to ask where the brake is. He recalls the running conversation in his brain and chastising himself for being so stupid as to not know how to stop once he grasps the fact that he’s rolled heavily on the throttle and is going too fast. Crash eventually misses the wall but goes flying off a curb and tumbling across the asphalt. He shows off the healing road rash on his elbow as if it’s no big deal and mentions that most of the swelling in his hand is gone now. I tell him everybody crashes and it’s best to get that kind of thing out of the way early on so now he can focus on just enjoying himself as he learns. He nods. It’s so easy to bond over biff tales.
