Heading Out On The Highway With The OFMC

© Ken Bingenheimer

The OFMC takes the West one winding road at a time.

Join us each week as we get a view from the road in "The Bike Life."

In the beginning, John bought an old Yamaha Virago 750. And it was good. Then Ken bought an old Honda CB750 Custom, and it was very good. So Bill splurged and bought a new Honda Shadow, and there was only one thing to do: go ride them. The OFMC was born.

Mind you, OFMC was tongue-in-cheek. We were all in our 30's at the time so Old Farts Motorcycle Club was kind of a joke, but we liked it and it stuck. Then John designed a super cool logo with the letters forming a motorcycle and it was set in stone.

Our first road trip was a three-day affair, out to western Colorado from Denver, where we all lived, to Steamboat Springs for a night. Steamboat was still a small, dusty, western town back then, just starting to catch fire as a ski resort. Camping was the order of the day; the place we camped is now a freeway interchange.

Day two we headed on west to Craig, turned south to Meeker and Rifle, and spent the night camping at Rifle Gap State Park. This is the spot where the artist Christo put up his fabric "Valley Curtain" and splashed his way into American consciousness. Unprepared and inexperienced as we were, we didn't have swim suits, so we did our own splashing in the falls in our underwear; you don't want to see the pictures.

Then it was on home the third day. It was just a short trip, but we knew we'd found something pretty dang cool.

"What do you guys say we do this again?"

From the second year on, our summer OFMC trip became a full week. We criss-crossed Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, plus a bit of western Nebraska and western South Dakota. Then we made it to California. John's map of the western U.S., with our routes highlighted, became a solid mass of yellow. A couple times mechanical issues kept one or another of the three from leaving with the rest but we met up down the road. One time Bill couldn't make it at all.

The OFMC Grows

For the OFMC, growth was unplanned and organic. In the 10th year some new faces started to show. First it was John's son Johnathon, then Bill's brother Friggs, then Bill's son Jason. Soon there were friends of the sons and a brother-in-law to boot. Today the OFMC numbers nine.

The bikes have changed along the way. John followed Bill's lead and bought a new Honda Shadow, while Bill has moved on to a couple Harleys. Jason got Bill's Shadow but traded it on his own Harley. I still have my Honda but also gave myself a birthday present in 1999 of a new 1999 Kawasaki Concours. The rest of the line-up includes Dennis on his Harley, Randy on his Honda VTX, Johnathon on his VTX, Friggs on his Virago, and Brett on his Harley.

It was probably inevitable that some of the younger guys became dissatisfied with the name Old Farts Motorcycle Club. Variations were proposed: Our Fathers' Motorcycle Club; Our Friends' Motorcycle Club. Finally we agreed to take the corporate route. If International Business Machines can change its name to simply IBM, and if National Cash Register can change its name to simply NCR, we can change our name to simply OFMC. It doesn't stand for anything now, it's the name.

And we still have that cool logo, and the patches John had made that we've sewn on our jackets and vests. Yeah, we're wearing colors. You gonna tell us we can't enter your bar? We're a motorcycle gang! Stud bikers! (Ha!)

Finding Riding Buddies

Riding together was a natural thing for us, but it's not as easy for some folks. If one guy buys a bike and no one else he knows rides, what's he going to do? This is where riding clubs often come in. Buy a new Honda and you're automatically a member, for a year, of the Honda Riders Club. The same is true for Harley owners and probably most others. You then find your local group and go on some of their planned outings. It's up to you to meet folks, make friends, and find some riding buddies.

Websites can help, too. Meetup.com is a common place for riders to meet other riders in their area and find someone to ride with. There are also any number of motorcycle forums out there on the Web. You can join those that focus on the bike you have, or go for the all-inclusive forums such as ADVrider (Adventure Rider) or Horizons Unlimited.

One other popular way of meeting other riders is by going on the charity rides that many groups sponsor. These often take the form of "poker runs," where you ride a prescribed route and stop at various places to draw a card for your poker hand. At the end, prizes are awarded for the best hands, and sometimes these can be substantial. The charity raises money, everyone has a good time, and an outgoing rider can make new friends.