Bikers 911

Sometimes, you find yourself in the middle of nowhere; and sometimes, in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself. Late last night while riding home from our church’s small home group meeting on Scarlet my red Vespa GTS300 Super, a black cat ran across the road just in front of me. I stopped and watched it in the headlights while it sat at the side of the road for a while before it darted into the veld. Now I am not a superstitious person at all and actually enjoyed our encounter but it raises questions when this morning while commuting to work on my trusty steed, Scarlet, I felt my rear tyre suddenly become unstable so I safely pulled over to the emergency shoulder and discovered that I had a cut about a centimetre in the rear tyre. The cut was way too big to use the repair kit that I carry in my cubbyhole. I found myself stranded, black cats or not.

I was stranded just as you enter Krugersdorp on the R28 next to the suburb of Noordheuwel. I could get someone to come all the way from Randburg but it would have to fit into their schedules and in rush hour traffic this exercise would ruin my entire morning. My best bet was to find a motorcycle place in Krugersdorp or Roodepoort. I spent the next hour on the side of the road searching the web, phoning numbers, and emailing, but it was way too early for the West Rand shops to open. It was after eight that I finally got hold of a bike shop, Big Boy West Rand. They only had 120/70-12 tyres and not 130/70-20 tyres that I needed but I was stranded and had to make a quick call on the thinner tyre. Big Boy West Rand promptly sent out a driver to pick my Vespa and me up.

While I was on the phone with Big Boy West Rand, a car pulled up and out jumped a young man wearing a denim waist-coat covered in biker club badges. Obvious a biker who saw another biker in need, stopped and offered to help. I was blown away when he stated that their code is come hell or high water, they never leave a brother or sister on the side of the road. Respect man, respect!

He could have just driven past like many did that morning, but he saw a biker in need, and stopped immediately to offer assistance. He went on to tell me about Bikers 911 where the Bikers are helping Bikers wherever they find themselves in a pickle. These brothers and sisters make a pledge to stop and offer any help they can, be it a skill, a trailer, a bottle of water, a phone call, or even a little moral support, but they won’t just ride by and wave. They have a Bikers 911 Facebook site but I only wish I got his name or the club that he belonged to so that I can thank him for support that he gave me long side the road this morning, respect!

Since I am safe and sound, and to make sure that there is nothing linking black cats to my ordeal because black cats always get a raw deal, I hope that the black cat from last night is all safe and snug, as the veld where it disappeared into is jackal territory. So the life lesson for today is, if a black cat crosses your path, pet it.