Folks,

One of the best things about riding a motorcycle is the reactions you get from people. I own an old bike, so I get a lot of attention from vintage collectors as well as from people who had the same bike back in the day and want to reminisce. Also, there's a weird brotherhood of motorcyclists out on the road. We wave to each other, signal to inform each other about potential dangers coming up and generally just appreciate each other for enjoying what we enjoy. It's pretty nice.

But by far the best attention I get comes from little kids. Like with most things, kids are entirely polarized in their reactions to the bike. They either love it or hate with all their heart.

Today as I was riding I had two of the best reactions I've ever had. The first came from a small boy who was out with his mom. He was riding his tricycle on the sidewalk and had a huge blue helmet on. As I turned the corner and slowly passed him, he started yelling "Go! Go! Go!" while fervently turning his handlebars back and forth. Sweet.

About three seconds later on the same street I came across a small African-American boy also out with his mom. I mention his race only because you need to imagine this three year old, three foot tall kid in bright orange overalls with a fluorescent green shirt and an afro like an early Michael Jackson if MJ's afro had been recently slept on and kind of looked like Vanessa's haircut from the old Cosby show. Anyway, as I rode by he stopped in his tracks and just screamed. No words, just a pure ecstatic burst of little kid "holy shit!" energy. I like to beep at any kids who get excited about the bike and when I did he escalated the screaming by jumping up and down...oh, and screaming.