Sunday, November 13, 2011

Champagne Run

Fourteen years ago, I joined a motorcycle gang.  Brimming with enthusiasm, I transformed the club from moribund to boisterous.  I was soon elected Leader Of The Pack.  During my reign, I boosted membership and participation by unprecedented magnitude.  Fun became our priority.  Those were great times.

In the process, I learned a lot about social organizations and how people behave in them.  That was invaluable knowledge which I continue to use today.

Do you belong to any social groups?  Do you enjoy them?

I am, by choice, less involved with the group now but there are a few events I make every year.  Today was "Ralph's Champagne Run," for which I lead a large group of bikers out to the North Fork of Long Island.  It's a pleasant, leisurely ride through bucolic farmland.  We visit 4-5 local vineyards and pick up gifts for the holidays.  It's the last ride of the year for most of the riders, so I fill it with comraderie and lots of social interaction.



What did you do this weekend?

8 comments:

  1. That sounds like such a wonderful ride, and what a cool group of people to get involved with. My circle of blog-friends is my strongest group. My old group of IRL friends have spread out due to changing lives, but we tend to get together this time of year to reconnect.

    I had a 19th English novel-to-movie weekend. I watched Pride and Prejudice (movie) on television and decided to also check out Jane Eyre (2011 movie), and I'm now working my way through the 1995 television edition of Pride and Prejudice. I hate to admit I haven't yet read any of the books, but I have a long standing agreement with myself to do so at least once in my life.

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  2. I didn't anything as cool as that this weekend. Great to see the shot of all of you together.

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  3. Oh this sounds so cool. I have always wanted to ride a motorcycle, I wanted one instead of a car when I was younger but my dad said that they were too dangerous. I love that you have this whole group of people that love the same thing as you. That is why I love blogging :)

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  4. I did remodeling this weekend.

    I belong to a Mopar car club, and am very involved in the children's ministry at our church. That's about all I have time for!

    We just had our last car club meeting last week, and everyone's putting their machines up for the winter.

    The idea of wineries always sounds fun but I hate the taste of wine, so I miss out on that whole thing.

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  5. Oh, how nice! Glad you had such a nice time. You sure had a beautiful autumn weekend for riding here. Especially yesterday. It was unseasonably warm for a good part of the afternoon.

    We were out riding around the east end on Saturday. Very windy but lovely.

    I don't belong to any groups. As Groucho said..
    "I Don’t Want to Belong to Any Club That Will Accept Me as a Member" ;o)

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  6. I immediately thought: "organized crime" when I read "motorcycle gang". Perhaps I need to watch less of the news, and actually see what the real world outside my door is like!
    I love that you stand out in the sea of black with your red leather!

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  7. Your reaction, Cara, is my fault. I used "gang" when actually the correct word is "club." I did that for comic effect.

    And, yes, I stand out as the oddball in every crowd. :) Despite my facade, I'm deeply non-conformist in every venue.

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  8. Thats so awesome you do that! I love that you call it a gang. I was in a sorority...organizing people who aren't on payroll is just very difficult. I applaud you for organizing such a cool group!

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