One of the unique things about being a consumer of bikes and a seller of knives is that my buying and purchasing status allows me to see both sides of the transaction. Two things became apparent last year.

First, when it comes to knives I see two differing types of posers. There are the status guys, and then there are the "anti-status" guys. Imagine folks like Paris Hilton buying every bauble she can find, and then Johnny Depp who spends an equal amount of money to appear that he isn't a snobby consumer. Why can't they just buy what they like?

For example, there are guys who cannot cook that demand razor sharp Hattoris, and there are guys who cannot sharpen who claim it doesn't matter. Both are elbowing for center stage using two different ploys.

As to bikes, one day last year I happened to leave the shop with four guys from my club. I didn't know them well, if at all, and I'm careful to share a road with clowns I don't know. I choose to ride in the back. Good thing.

One of the items I learned watching "Animal Planet" is the altercations start with combatants puffing themselves up to their maximum size. And these guys were no different. Their choice of rides was the standard "look at me" bikes, being, an Electra-Glide style scooter with no glass, ape hangers, and straight pipes on a stock engine. After the first turn off of the frontage road onto the highway, they grabbed so much throttle so fast that there was a smelly plume of burnt oil in their wake.

I took the first on-ramp away from the children. However, I felt the same disappointment that settles on me when dealing with all status seekers. Here were patch holders that acted like rookie Prospects. They didn't even know how to build a custom bike, ride in formation, or ride on the road period. I began to wonder who voted them in. Did they even like motorcycles, or was it just owning the emblem?

In a parallel fashion, one food forum I patronize just had a thread on making pudding. Yikes, is sweat equity and paying your dues so old hat that posing is now acceptable? The service writer at my shop informs me that the average seasonal mileage of these bikes is 3 to 4 thousand miles. I know one guy personally that bought a boated out Electra-Glide last years and did 1,300 total miles, and that was 30 miles at a crack.

I ran into a woman I know at the mall yesterday. She's planning her wedding. Her finance' is sitting in prison right now on a parole beef. They ride will a local third rate club in a smaller farm community. After he gets out and they finally marry, they plan to sell their Honda, buy their first Harley, cross the state line and join The Angels.

That figures.

Well I guess I'm a "Non-Status" poser. I get tired of hearing people bitching about what people are doing wrong. Likewise I get tired of people that think that they are due some modicum of unearned respect just for what they state they've accomplished in some other circle.

The first time you're with me you start to either earn my respect or my ridicule. Nothing before that point matters to me.

Well, I feel the same, but only after backing away from the nonsense for a bit.

Last season I didn't share the road with anyone. If I rode, I rode alone. I used my Sportster more, took more back roads, rode around slower, smelled the air. If anything, I felt like I re-connected with the things that got me into this sport.

Due to our weather locally, I've only been out five times. Four times on the Sportster, and once today picking up Black Betty. I didn't ride with anyone yet. I'm not riding to anything, nor am I riding away from something. I'm just out to enjoy the day. I almost missed my turn-off going home.

I spent the rest of the day detailing Betty.

This season will be my 44th, most of that on Harleys. Oh, I still see the guys, we get caught up, mostly at funerals. I don't drink much, and I always found taverns depressing. My guess is that I will be back out this year mostly on the Sportster again, clean socks and a cheese sandwich, enjoying the day and not a clue as to where I've been.