Lakeshore and Leslie (aka L&L) has become one of the largest motorcycle meets anywhere in the Greater Toronto Area and it happens every week with hundreds of riders coming and going each Thursday night to the Tim Hortons/Price Choppers parking lot. It used to be a great meeting place for riders. A wide range of riders would show up to socialize and check out the other bikes which have ranged from average, to the exotic, to the obscure. Everyone was respectful of each other, the property and the neighbourhood. A friend of mine, who is known locally as Wobbly Cat, wrote a nice piece about the weekly meet up which can be found at http://wobblycat.blogspot.ca/2012/08/lakeshore-and-leslie-aka-l-torontos.html where he describes the humble beginnings of the weekly meet and how its grown over the years. As a photographer and fellow rider, he attends L&L frequently and his article has some great photos sampling some of the sites that can be found there weekly.

This year however, I think the the weekly moto meet has lost some of its luster. Not only are some exotic and farm animals now attending, so too in attendance are many more less respectful riders. Although the number of careless, reckless and ignorant riders are very few and far between in the general riding community. Although when they do hit the roads, they certainly bring a lot of negative attention to themselves, the venues they attend and paint all riders with the same tarred brush. Strangely though, they believe their behaviour is…cool. More and more people attending L&L seem to need a lot of attention. Perhaps its some level of  insecurity. Perhaps some level of narcissism. Whatever the reason, the amount of showboating is increasing and the level of respect is decreasing. The noise at the event has gotten to the point where neighbours are complaining, riders are tearing out of the area doing wheelies or redlining their engines and a failed burnout attempt has resulted in parked bikes being knocked over. Don’t even get me started on the animals. A goat? Seriously?

Is there really any wonder why the police are making more of an appearance? What started out many years ago as a weekly meet for friends to grab a coffee, catch up on life and talk about their riding adventures has now turned into a bit of a Gong Show. It’s only a matter of time before the land owners (who have been rather tolerant until this year) and local police crack down on the weekly gathering and start ticketing and/or arresting riders for even the slightest infractions of either the HTA or bike fitness. Now to my knowledge, there has never been any violence or rowdiness at the event but things do seem to be getting out of hand a bit in that riding hooliganism is becoming more common.

Personally I’m not one to regularly hang out at weekly bike meets, of which there are a few with L&L generally being the largest. However every once in a while, I like to show up and spend some time catching up with my friends whom I don’t always get to see on a regular basis. We all miss our mates and meets like this are a great way to see many friends at once. That was the whole point originally. Unfortunately, and eventually, the axe will drop on this weekly gathering and many riders will greatly miss it…all thanks to a couple handfuls of riders who have either forgot the meaning of ‘respect’ or never learned its meaning to begin with.

Perhaps we, the riding community, need to have a group discussion with the disruptive attention seekers before the cops have no choice but to shut the whole thing down. Since they do such a good job at alienating other riders, perhaps it’s time we alienate them.

Just my 2 cents worth. For those who disagree…keep the change.