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I'm Not the King of Kool

Fellow BFE riders, from left, Carrie, Cool Neighbor Tim and Dave.
Our bikes, from far end to closest: Mike's, Kevin's, Tim's and Dave's.

You know how some people are just cool? They probably work at it but they have perfected it so well that it looks effortless. Neighbor Tim is cool. He looks cool. He acts cool. He talks cool and I think he's one of those guys who was probably fairly cool, or on the way to cooldom even when he was 13.
Well, I agreed to go on a poker run yesterday. Its one of those things where you sign up at a bar and then travel to 5 or more places and get your card stamped at each stop. Along the way is the enjoyment of riding a bike, having a little adult refreshment, maybe a little food and lots of camaraderie. At the end of the ride (back at the bar you signed up at, they have some food and drink and you draw a poker hand. Best hand wins and so on.
Well, I am not cool. Never have been. Way too shy, way too backyard, way too uncool. My first oh-so-not-cool move was to insist on wearing my helmet. Now, you see, we bikers are aware of the high-risk nature of riding these machines. Some, or rather a few-OK, so I was one of only 3 out of 30 bikers wearing a helmet, consciously decide to risk the snickers of our fellow bikers. Oh, they'll politely say, "No,man, that's cool." Which means that it is not. Wearing one may get you a safety award but in the Harley world of biking, helmets are for newbies, bankers, football players, or the truly square.
So from the start I was a marked biker. Nice bike, cool bike, but the rider might as well have been Pee Wee Herman.
My next slick uncool move was to forget that Kawasaki built in to these machines a mechanism that will not allow acceleration if the kickstand is down. Of course I have known this for years. Had a 96 Kawasaki for 6 years and have had this one for almost as long. But every once in a while I forget.
Our first stop was in Mathersville and after we got our cards stamped we revved our bikes and pumped the handle to hear our pipes. And then we follow the leader, one-by-one out into the street. Only the goofy looking rider with the helmet seemed to be having a tough go with his bike. Wouldn't accelerate. Rev it up, put it in gear and then it dies to a whimpering stall. Much concern from the other bikers, muttering things like, We'll stay here with ya," and "we won't leave you here alone." And then, Cool Neighbor Tim comes over and gently whispers, put your kickstand up. See what I mean about cool Tim? Of course that was the problem and off we all go. I swear I could see shoulders bouncing up and down with laughter from the others, but then maybe it was my imagination. Either way when you aren't cool and then feel silly, it makes for a tough uncool day. By the way, at the first stop sign after that debacle, Cool Neighbor Tim comes up alongside me and says, "Hey, Mikey, I've done that before." Yeah, I'll bet he has, but then he would have done it in such a cool way.
Anyway, we all had a great time, it was a nice day and no, nobody in our party won anything. Didn't really have to since it was a fun time.

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