When I first got into this biker world, I spent a lot of time listening to the old timers, the Greybeards. I spent many hours hearing about the “old days” and how things used to be. I was always taught that before we can look to our future that we must first learn about our past. I was particularly fascinated about a now defunct motorcycle run. This run was a Multi-Club organized run brought together by a common cause. I read newspaper articles about these Clubs accomplishing astronomical feats. As I dug deeper into the history of this annual event, I found myself becoming drunk with envy. I was let down that this event hadn’t been done in several years (before my acceptance into this world). I wish I could have been part of such a remarkable event that seemed to bring a twinkle to the eye of every biker I asked. In speaking with other bikers my age, I learned that I wasn’t alone in my feeling “left out”. They say everything happens for a reason and that God has a plan for all of us. As I began making my way into this world, I struggled to be noticed from behind my older brother’s shadow. I decided I should just be myself. I introduced myself to many bikers and showed them respect they deserved. I’ll be damned if respect didn’t start coming back! My plan of being myself, included trying to be a good dad and role model. During my transition into the biker world, I caught wind of an old friend (who was now a teacher) having trouble supplying her students with one complete set of a particular book title (30 copies). She began to solicit people for donations on her own, because she didn’t have any other recourse. My wife and I jokingly talked about organizing a motorcycle run to help my friend and others like her. We dreamed of how it would play out. One afternoon I jokingly made mention of our dream on the social media Facebook. I was blown away by the response I received for what seemed like a pipe dream for us.
There were two bikers who encouraged and vowed to support and even help build this thing within minutes of the post. One was a “younger” biker, much like me who shared my envy for not taking part in the now defunct run I mentioned earlier. The other was a well-seasoned biker, who I’d been trying to win the attention of. He had been around, he had withstood the test of time, he was well respected, he had seen many a biker come and go, and most of all, he had taken part in the run of my envy. The three us talked and joked around about this “fantasy run” throughout the next summer. In doing so, we learned a lot about one another and found that we had many things in common. All three of us were married men, all three of us worked full time jobs, all three of us had young children, all three of us were Patchholders, and all three of us enjoyed reading. The more we spoke of this “fantasy run” the more it actually seemed possible. A few others heard about our dream and thought it sounded like a good idea. Eventually, we decided to give it a whirl. After gaining the approval of our respective Clubs, the planning began. We quickly learned that by including our families in the planning process, that we were able to devote more time to it. As things began to fall into place and word got out about our effort, the response was staggering. We began to be contacted by other bikers, other MC’s, schools, business’s, and plain ole reading fans. Other MC’S contacted US to pledge their support PUBLICLY !!! They were willing to allow us to use their name in order to help advance our project. It was becoming apparent that this project was growing at an alarming rate and was much bigger than we originally anticipated. Things began to come full circle for me when I received a call from another well respected member of a local MC (much like the Brother who helped start this project, I longed for his respect as well). The Brother called to pledge his Club’s support for our run and said to me, “We have been looking for a good thing to be involved in since the end of the St. Vincent’s Run.” I sat in silence for a short time and it was at THAT moment that I began to feel as if things were coming full circle for me. It made me feel like THIS is what I was supposed to do.

Support BIKERS FOR BOOKS ~ Big B.