Life as a TCMC officer #1: Two wheel pedestrian

One day I got an e-mail from Don the RC, Road captain of the Twin Cities Motorcycle Club, asking if I wanted to be what they call a Corner Guard / Blocker. Basically, this means that if the group comes to an intersection that we might not be able to cross all together, I'm supposed to block (that's the blocker part) the traffic along with the other corner guard / blockers. The corner guarding part is for if the group gets split on a ride, and someone from the front group needs to mark the corner for the following group. But mostly, you do whatever the ride leader needs.

It's cool that this group has girl officers, and that I got to be one of them. And I'm going to blog about this from time to time. It's serious, responsible work, mostly. But sometimes it can be funny. For example:

I was riding in the front of the group, and we were stopped at a stoplight. It wasn't changing, maybe because we weren't big enough to trigger the sensor that changes the light. So Don says to me:

"How quick can you get on and off your bike?"

"Why?"

"Maybe you can push the walk button at the cross walk."

Well, I was riding my latest bike, a BMW R1100RTP (former California Highway Patrol bike) and if I put down the sidestand, the engine will stop. So I turn towards the crosswalk, and ride up the little ramp at the cutout of the curb, alongside the traffic light stand, and push the walk button.

Immediately the light starts to change, and I coast backwards back down into the street. The whole line of bikes is starting to move, and I have to hustle to get back up to the front.

It wasn't in the club primer, but it worked.