It seems I’ve got a penchant for attracting attention. I may not have broken the all-time attendance record, but I think I did set it for number of new club members and guests — we had a whopping four riders on their maiden voyage with the FMC, plus 17 seasoned vets, for a total of 21 motorcyclists.
With so many bikes and people to chase down for waivers, it was a little after 6:30 that I finally managed to deliver the ride safety spiel, and then we were on our way. I’d warned everyone that with a group size this large, getting split was pretty much an inevitability, and sure enough it happened through the very first turn out of the Speedway parking lot. And then again at the second turn onto 8 Mile Road. While trying to navigate the minefield that is 8 Mile west of Haggerty, I searched desperately for an avenue wide enough to collect the front half of our group to wait for the rest – but I chose poorly, and in the turnaround one of our guests dropped their bike. The rider suffered no injury, and a quick test up the street determined the bike was rideable, so they decided to carry on. My sincerest apologies to them, but I am glad they stuck it out.
We continued on 8 Mile until Griswold, through the backstreets of downtown Northville, and then got to 7 Mile, only getting split about a dozen more times along the way. Having finally made it to 7 Mile, we encountered a cager who decided they wanted to record a TikTok of the large group of motorcycles behind them more than they wanted to drive at least the speed limit. Thankfully they were out of our way before too long… only to be replaced by another cager too entranced by us to bother going the minimum speed on such a clear, warm day. Eventually we got past them as well and were afforded some fairly unencumbered space ahead of us to groove with. 7 Mile kinked around to Whitmore Lake, and I led the group clockwise around it toward and over US-23, taking the north exit of the final roundabout toward M-36. This time we passed under the US-23 bridge to take parallel Fieldcrest up to the always enjoyable Silver Lake.
From Silver Lake down Rushton and then back to 9 Mile. I had cautioned the group about the freshly laid tar snakes through the tight corners on 9 Mile, so we traipsed through that section, back under US-23, and out the other side onto westbound M-36. We weren’t on it long, branching off north to follow Hamburg Road toward Brighton. Hamburg Road became Brighton Lake Road which ended on Grand River, and turning onto that, we got split again. This time I was successful in finding a pull-off area, our group collected back together, and we continued on our way through Brighton. We hung a left on Pleasant Valley until Culver, which became Buno, and then back down Van Amberg and Spencer to rejoin Pleasant Valley. Finally we were in the last leg of the ride, and all that was left was Stobart — another of my favourites. I told the group at the briefing that I would take full liberties in the corners and I did just that around the proving grounds. Last came General Motors Road leading toward Milford, and we stopped just short of downtown to come to a stop at Central Park.
We said goodbye to a couple folks and got underway with the monthly meeting, welcoming our new members and guests, applauding the numerous recent impromptu ride leaders, and discussing upcoming club events (track day anyone?). As we were already half an hour behind schedule upon arrival at the park, we didn’t stick around too long after the meeting ended, all splitting off toward our respective residences. I took the long way and got home around 10:30 covered helmet to knee pucks in dead bugs.
A huge thanks to Charles, George, Ollie, and anyone else who helped with the herculean task of sweeping, including Uday for his telltale yellow fog lights riding at the very back. To our new members — hope you enjoyed the ride! To our guests — hope to see you again! And to our regulars and those reading — til next time!
