13,374. THE HARDSHIP OF RIDERSHIP

THE HARDSHIP OF RIDERSHIP

Is that laminate, or powder-coating?

Can you run this thing all Winter? I

maybe shouldn't even ask, because

why would you after all. Is there

room for a rider on that little 

seat-pad? Where do the rider's

feet go, if there is? What in the

world is that? I rode one of them,

once, back when I was 27 and

they were still only 4-speed. Made

a nice racket, I thought, indeed.

Straight-pipes were illegal then

too, but no one knew the difference

anyway, and cops never seemed

for the caring. 'Cept this one I

knew; seemed always chasing 

me down. I was dumb like a fig

anyway  -  you know how I learned

to ride, to tell the truth? Popping

clutches! Yep, I popped the clutch

at every light, soon as it changed,

and I was off. Until one day some

other guy I knew, named Jack, said,

'You're gonn'a get killed, Fields.'

(They all called me that). 'One of

these days you're gonn'a go flying

into something that won't move.'

He was right, of course, and so

I let him show me how to ease and

mesh the clutch in a gradual way.

Yep. It made all the difference

in the world, and I'm alive today

to tell it.