OLD BLASTARD: Godspeed to Megatron and us all

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Street Thundercats prepare to say goodbye

I close my eyes for a moment and they're gone, the dozen or so riders who have parked up the Raven's Roost overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway to say goodbye to a local transformer.

I see Corey Guthrie with his odd and pointy beard. He's big, tall and a bit goofy, seriously likable. He's sitting at a table outside of Wild Wings on West Main Street at a Bike Night.

I see him again standing outside of Wild Wings with Big Ron, in shock at the death of a club member.

I see him laughing at a recall of some strange incident that occurred on the Street Thundercats Motorcycle Club, Charlottesville Chapter trip to Daytona Bike Week.

Corey "Megatron" Guthrie

I see the place where he lost his life. I see the flowers and the poem pasted on the guardrail that was bent about and the stains where his Raven-edition Yamaha R-1 skidded down the street, leaking its fluids along the roadway.

He passes before my eyes, a curiosity.

I open my eyes and see club members standing on a rock at the roost, struggling to open a metal urn containing Corey "Megatron" Guthrie's ashes. They succeed and, as the wind blows hard, sprinkling Guthrie into the rocks, the ashes blow up

and around the roost.  Ash to ashes, funk to funky. All we are is dust in the wind.

Aaron Boyd and his wife Brandie

Pastor Steve from the Iron Horse Ministries spoke before the sprinkling. He said God is in control. We may not see it. We may not understand it. We may only see accidents and crashes and misfortune, but God is in control.

I won't argue with Pastor -- he's a wise and likable man -- but I often wonder how much control is exerted by God and how much by free will.

Some crashes seem to be our own free will. Megatron died in a single-vehicle crash when he failed to negotiate a turn in the road early in the morning. STC rider Aaron Boyd was struck by a vehicle after being thrown off his bike on Interstate 64. Victor Shifflett also died in a single-vehicle crash.

Other crashes seem to the result of somebody else's free will.  The 17-year-old kid who

Victor Shifflett

pulled out in front of Cecil Eugene Welcher and killed him; the man charged with vehicular manslaughter after allegedly driving drunk, losing control of his car at about 80 mph on Earlysville Road and tagging SOB, wine maker and track day rider Dan Neumeister.

Things seem to be crazy lately. A lot of good folks have gone down. Maybe it's just my perception, being as in the past 21 years of regular commuting I've spent most of time riding lone wolf, but it seems more dangerous today than yesterday.

Maybe not. Like Bee Johnson says, motorcycling is a singular activity conducted in groups. We're in charge of ourselves, even when riding in a pack. In the past two years, I've gotten to know more folks, gotten out a bit more. On the other hand, I've been involved in riding for awhile and never have I seen so many fall in such a short time.

It's a bit nuts. It takes me awhile to process it.

Dan Neumeister

I watch the S-Cats pour the past president into the wind. I look around at the wide variety of riders who came to say goodbye, including Bacon and Igor from the Pagans MC and a plethora of independents.  Zixes, Gixxers, Yammies, even an odd Duc, FJ, V65 and P3 are in the mix with some Shadows and Royal Stars and Street Glides.  Megatron was a big part of the Bike Night program sponsored by Jarman's Sportcycles and he helped bring a lot of riders together and the ride shows it.

These are good people on the mountain today. They cared about the man now gone and the folks around them. It may not be a touch-feely kind of caring, but these people would stop on the road to help you get your scoot going. They'd loan you $5 for gas, if you ran out. They understand.

Megatron is gone. He's scattered. All that's left is a quick ride down the parkway, a quick parking lot shot of Jagermeister and lunch at the Devil's Backbone for some brews, burgers and chat.

It's a safe ride up. It's a safe ride down.
Through God's will and our own, may the rest of our rides be safe.