I understand about not liking to get passed on the hiway. I don't travel slow so it doesn't happen often to me but when it does I feel like I've been put to shame. It's not pride in my ride. It's just a gearhead thing. That's how I know exactly why I got the bird the other day.
I was on a state hiway traveling north on a warm sunny afternoon. The sportster and I were on a mission and didn't want to waste a lot of time in traffic. Unfortunately I rolled up on a "parade". My definition a of a parade is a long row of cars being led by one slow vehicle followed by a driver unwilling to pass. The car in the back of the line, right in front of me, was occupied by some younger gentlemen. Their ride was a small Asian car. Based on their unwillingness to pass and move up through the ranks I would say the extent of the mods to the car would be a shiny tail pipe, maybe a big air kit and some tunes. I could see the driver wanted to pass but he never took his shot. Twice I watched them throw away the opportunity.
I wasn't interested in waiting around so I made my move. You know the routine. Pick off one or two at a time and keep on motoring. I passed our wannabe gangsters in their wannabe fast and furious car and slid in the opening ahead of them. This didn't agree with them and they closed the gap. At this point I didn't know if they wanted to play or if they were pissed. I didn't wait around to see how close they were actually gonna get and I made another pass. I noticed he was hugging the centerline looking to pass but the pussy never tried. I passed another eight or ten cars but he never came around. When I got closer to the big city the road split into two lanes each way. That's when ours friends finally caught up. The horn on my sporty is louder than the annoying little beeping directed at me. I guess they wanted to get my attention enough to notice they were flipping me off. A split second later they turned left and I never saw them again.
OK, so I said I knew why I got the bird. When I was younger and got passed I had an immediate negative reaction that lasted a nanosecond. Well, maybe longer than that but never did it boil into road rage. If something is done to endanger me or others that would be different. I'm just talking about a display of power, nothing more. If I get blown away by something with real power then as a gearhead I'm just impressed.
Why would our friends get so pissed? Was it because they were passed by a bike? What did they expect? If you're gonna pretend to have a fast car you can expect to be called out once in a while. If you think your car can take a bike then you better have a nice car. Even a 26 year old sportster can spank most cages.
I've decided they were just a bunch of young hot heads. They'll get over it.
End.
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