Early Friday morning, Denis & I jumped on our motorcycles and headed north toward Daytona. It was the beginning of Daytona Bike Week. This is the longest ride either of us had attempted. During the ride, we saw many other bikers on the highway. Once in a while, we would join with a group of other riders as we headed north on I-95. It felt nice to be part of a small unique group of people. Six hours later, we arrived in Daytona. It felt like we, the bikers, owned that city. The number of motorcycles on the road far outnumbered any other type of vehicle. The types of motorcycles were vast and varied beyond belief. Although the bikes were all different, we were all the same, we were bikers.

There was sense of belonging. Not only belonging to a group of people, but an exciting and daring group of people that share the commonality of knowing the fear of death when a car doesn't look before moving into your lane. The same group of people that try to dodge the rain under an over-pass on the highway. The same group of people that deal with the issue of never having enough space to store anything on the bike. The same group of people that can move their feet about 4 inches and have their shoe touch the street while moving at 80 miles per hour. The same group of people that risk the one blow-out that could end their life to feel the freedom of flying on two wheels.

Music, fun, beer and bikes is all that existed for me in Daytona. It was incredibly fun. I'll be returning.

A few days later, Denis & I starting heading back south. We got on the highway and there was still a few bikes here and there. Once again, we would join a pack of other bikers for a while here and there. The further south we got, the fewer bikes on the road there were. Our group, our club was disappearing. As I hit the Glades road exit, Denis kept on. Once again I was a sole rider. I was the unique one on a motorcycle while everyone else was worrying about their bills, work, home-life, and how they looked in their SUVs and BMWs. We humans are surely a social animal craving the comfort of others that are like us.

Before Daytona, we were guys that rode bikes. After Daytona, we were bikers.

Pictures of bike week are here.