Midnight Ride: Live and Learn

The pictures do no do the ride justice as to how many bikes were present

I am one of those guys that believe that you should try everything once. Then you can truly have an opinion on the subject at hand. Since owning the motorcycle, I have wanted to get involved with different areas of the motorcycle community. From my short time on two wheels, I have been on three day bike rides with a motorcycle group, participated in many bike meet ups and most recently have done a solo trip. Last night, I decided to do a midnight bike ride for charity.

Matt (left) with his buddy, Rich, staging for the ride

Bandit Brother Matt sent me an email regarding info on last nights ride. It was a charity run for Maryville Academy in Des Plaines. I admit that I was a bit hesitant to do this ride but after hearing some testimonials, I decided to ride with Matt and his friend Rich.

The event was well organized from the get go with some areas that were over looked. I would say about 1000 bikes were in attendance....maybe more. We pulled into the parking lot for the Academy and registered right there on our bikes. You pull up next to a table, do your paperwork, pay and you are on your way.

Once parked and staged for the main ride, the three of us wondered around the area to view the 30 some vendors in attendance. There was a judged bike show. They also had food and soda plus a DJ working the crowd with ticket raffles. There was even this guy in attendance......

Razor and the Man

Best in Show (a female owner)

Let me note that no one knows the route until right before the start, with the exception of the organizers. Matt said that in the past, the organization handed out cards with the details of the route but we did not get one this year.

I think we started the ride around 11:15 or later. We rode two by two. What was nice was that intersections were shut down as we drove through as well as riding through red lights to keep the bikes together. In my mind, things were going well until we got on to Interstate 90 heading west. Imagine over 1000 motorcycles getting on an interstate and still have to share the rules of the road with other cars. At times we were switching lanes to get around slower cars or cars that need to exit a ramp. Then there were the other riders that had to urge to get to the front so they raced up the far left express lane. It seemed a bit chaotic at times but I adjusted.

We took the interstate west to the Woodstock ramp which I think was route 47. The route took us on some back roads that were not to bad except the turning intersections that had large loose gravel. I survived but one guy didn't.

As we slowed down for a left hand turn, I saw a big heavy Harley laying in the ditch with the owner laying on his side. I am not sure how the accident occurred but it did. The man was being attended to by some other riders so I kept going. It bothered me that a rider was down and I did not stop but to be honest, there was no place to pull over on this tight road and I did feel that he was being taken care of. Looking back at it, I felt I made the wrong choice by not pulling over and assisting since I preach that on my blog.

The route took us on some roads there were under construction with uneven roads. The roads were grooved out with prepping to be resurfaced. This is the part that I think the ride organizers made a mistake. I am not sure if it was Rich or Matt who said this but it was a good point. "I am sure the route look good on paper but did not take into account the road hazards" or something like that.

We ended up safely at the Road House in Harmony, Illinois which is near Union. We rode for over 40 miles. Over all, I did not enjoy the ride taking into account the accident and road conditions. I was more cautious of other riders last night then when I drove through the center of Chicago... and we are all motorcycle riders. I don't think I will be going back next year but I do appreciate Matt asking me.

On a side note, Matt and I made it home safely at 2:30 in the morning. It was slightly cold and a bit damp. We did not put our feet down once we got into Woodstock plus there were no cars in front of us the whole way home. Something to be said about driving at night. Now if we can get the animals to be sleeping at night instead of wondering around, I would stick to driving at night.