Douchebag

I am, at times, a douchebag. Yes, you read that correctly. My "douchebaggery" showed itself last Sunday afternoon. Here's the story.

 

My dad has a 2002 Ural Tourist motorcycle with a sidecar. If any of you are familiar with Urals (especially Urals 10 or more years old), you'll know that they come with their fair share of problems. His Ural broke down near my house a couple of weeks ago. The ignition rotor cracked, causing the timing to get thrown off and the engine failed to fire. I ordered a new rotor for my dad shortly after (another thing about Urals is that parts are difficult to come by, but that's another story). On Sunday, he rode his Harley Road King to my house and we installed the new rotor on the Ural. He took the Ural home and I said that I'd ride his Harley back to his place sometime that afternoon. 30 minutes later it began to rain.

 

It rained for nearly three hours and I was pretty sure it wasn't going to stop any time soon. At this time my wife mentioned that we should head into town to do some grocery shopping and I agreed. When I went outside I noticed that the rain had stopped and the road wasn't too terribly wet. At that instant, I decided that I was going to ride my dad's bike back to his place since it was on the way to the store. I was hoping to make it there before it started to rain again. I ran over to the garage, hopped on the bike and took off. I was wearing shorts, a sweatshirt, and no helmet. If you've read some of my past blog posts, you'd know that one of the most idiotic things I think a rider can do is ride with shorts! With the fairly wet road conditions, not wearing a riding jacket or helmet was just as moronic. I'm actually kind of ashamed. I'm glad my son isn't old enough to realize how many of my own rules that I was breaking.

 

I completed the ride unscathed, but I had that terrible feeling that you get when you do something that goes against your moral compass. In my rush to beat the rain, I became one of the douchebags that I berate in this blog. At least I'm admitting it, right?

 

"A douchebag has an image to maintain. He is not real. He is the kind of guy who will change his last name into something cooler and more impressive." Cory Duchesne