{"id":63460,"date":"2026-10-06T05:26:32","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T05:26:32","guid":{"rendered":"urn:motra-lsb-text:2005-01-01:03_Around_the_Bend.txt"},"modified":"2026-10-09T21:26:03","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T21:26:03","slug":"lsb-2005-01-01-around-the-bend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/?p=63460","title":{"rendered":"Around the Bend"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Carmen Juch<\/strong>
LoneStarBiker \u2014 Texas Independence Trail
Pages 30-31<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Carmen Juch<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warning: This article is based on opinion. It can contain sarcasm, derision or incongruities. Protective clothing may be necessary when reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditions. Superstitions. There are some people who absolutely will not start the year without black-eyed peas. Others won't begin January first without sauerkraut and sausage. I read about a tradition that requires that one eat 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight, December 31st to ensure the coming year is rewarding. And of course, Christmas in Texas without tamales, say what? Some traditions turn into superstitions over time and vice versa. Either way you look at it, the holidays are full of both, especially to end and begin the year, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, let me be straight right off and tell you I am way too lazy to be concerned about what I need to do to secure good luck in the new year. So far, having ignored every thing I ever heard of that I SHOULD do, I've somehow continued to survive. Of course, I haven't won the lottery either, but then I'd have to actually buy a ticket, so I guess I can't really blame that on the lack of black-eyed peas before the magical hour of midnight on New Year's Eve. However, I am huge on keeping traditions, like decorating to holiday music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I like the Chinese New Year superstition. On New Year's Eve, all cleaning gear is packed away. Sweeping or dusting isn't done on New Year's Day so that good fortune isn't "swept" right out the door! (Personally, I'm for anything that forbids my having to clean on any day of the year.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In England and Scotland large bonfires are built to usher in the beginning of the New Year. Gifts are exchanged on New Year's Day in France and in some countries children go door to door to get cookies and cakes, sort of like Halloween here in the States I suppose. In Japan, beans are placed on the floor in the four corners of the house. This is supposed to drive evil spirits away during the New Year. (I guess evil spirits are afraid of beans; I'm not sure. But I think if you tried that here in Texas you would have a family of fire ants lugging them home.) It seems everyone has some special way of welcoming in the New Year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This got me to wondering. I speculated whether many bikers include their rides in their New Year traditions (or superstitions if you like) to welcome the next year. I asked around and I discovered some of us do indeed include our bike in starting our New Year. And to many of the people I spoke with it isn't even an option on whether or not they ride to welcome the year. They consider it an opportunity to start the year out properly and it is mandatory, no matter the weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Members of a touring group based in the North have over 20 years of riding in cold weather; so riding on New Year's Day is no big deal. However, the ride coordinator said the New Year's Day ride seems to be more attended than any of their other rides throughout the winter. As they say in Texas, "BRrrrr, y'all!"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One rider told me that no matter what the weather is, he rides his bike to a certain location each New Year's Day. It's a restaurant he happened upon one year when he went out riding around alone on New Year's Day. He was looking for someplace to eat and it was open. He has made this trip every year since then, 21 years now. I asked what would happen if they ever closed the place and he didn't really know, but he said he would "probably just pick a new place" and start over. He has been doing it for so long he doesn't even consider not riding every 01\/01 to jump-start his new year. He rides the solitary ride to this establishment and remembers the previous year and plans on the incoming one. This is his tradition. Since it began, he has married, had children who have grown up, gone to college or married. Though the world around him changes, his long, lone ride to welcome the year never does. He says it brings him a kind of peace and wouldn't even consider starting the year any other way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A relatively new rider of just a few years, one lady told me she has not made it a true tradition yet, but plans to, beginning with 2005. She considers that starting the year with a great ride will then bring wonderful rides all year. She is anxious to embark on the ride that she and friends are mapping out now. They want to do it in a group every year, making it no longer than a 4-hour round trip ride with about a two-hour stay at the destination of choice. They have yet to decide if it will be the same ride every year. She says that will be a decision they make at the end of New Year's Day 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another get-together of riders meets up on New Year's Day, rain or shine. However, this group never has a destination in mind. "It's just to start the year out right," declares one of the riders. They don't know why or when or even who started it but it continues each year. Some riders drop out and others join in. Some years it has been as few as three and other years as many as twenty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a post on a Biker AA Recovery site I read where one Austin biker posted to the question about New Year's and motorcycle riding traditions, "New Year's Eve is usually pretty lo-key. We might have dinner with friends, or just hang out and watch a movie." However, every New Year's Day "I go for my traditional New Year's Day motorcycle ride (to make sure the new year starts off properly!)"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many parts of Texas, riding on New Year's Day isn't necessarily out of the question like it may be for our brother and sister riders in the North. I found that riding tends to be what most bikers who drag themselves out of bed on New Year's day are inclined to do. But I only found a few who say they really take hold of the year and make it into a New Year's Day special event. Fewer still turned it into a tradition. But those who do said it was the only way to start the year right and they wouldn't give it up for anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What's your New Year's Biker tradition?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Carmen JuchLoneStarBiker \u2014 Texas Independence TrailPages 30-31 By Carmen Juch Warning: This article is based on opinion. It can contain sarcasm, derision or incongruities. Protective clothing may be necessary when reading. Traditions. Superstitions. There are some people who absolutely will not start the year without black-eyed peas. Others won't begin January first without sauerkraut … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":900704,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[151],"tags":[88,332],"class_list":["post-63460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-lsb-texas-independence-trail-2005","tag-s115"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63460"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":900479,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63460\/revisions\/900479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/900704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}