Freedom of open road still beckons these two

Usually, Jack McLaughlin says, no one notices him when he pulls into a gas station on his motorcycle.

“Until I take my helmet off. Then, invariably, somebody will wander over and strike up a conversation about the weather or something, but I know what they’re really curious about.

“I’m 82,” I tell them.

Which should make him the oldest member of the American Legion Riders from Lynchburg Post 16, except for the presence of Mac McCarthy, 85.

“He’s my mentor,” McLaughlin says of McCarthy.

“I call him ‘kid,’” McCarthy replies.

The two could be brothers — in spirit, if not in appearance. Both grew up in upstate New York, served in the military (McCarthy in the Army Air Corps, McLaughlin in the Marine Corps) and resumed riding motorcycles after a hiatus.

“It was a 20-year break for me,” McLaughlin said. “Then, about four years ago, I got interested again and won a bid for a motorcycle on eBay. I had to go to West Virginia to get it.”

Now, he sits astride an 850-pound Goldwing. McCarthy rides a Yamaha 1100.

“The good thing is, I still have my reflexes,” McLaughlin said. “When those go, I’ll know, and I’ll get off the bike. Riding a motorcycle is defensive driving at its best.”

Those reflexes have served him well over the years. Asked for his closest call, he remembered a harrowing few moments in Montana — a state which, at the time, had no speed limit and an “open range” policy for livestock.

“I came around this long, sweeping curve, moving along pretty good,” McLaughlin recalled, “and all of a sudden, there’s a line of cattle across the road. There was no way I could stop, so I aimed for a cow that looked like the softest one. Just before I got there, her eyes got as big as saucers, she turned sideways, and I shot through the gap.

“’That’s strike one,’ God said.”

 McCarthy once collided with a pickup truck in Florida.

“The driver looked right at me and still pulled out in front of me,” he said.

Both riders have their share of old “road rash,” McLaughlin pointing to a long white scar on one forearm.

“I got that up on Afton Mountain last year,” he said.

“The problem with getting older,” McCarthy said, “is when I lay my bike down, I can’t pick it up by myself anymore.”

Although McCarthy and McLaughlin are the only Post 16 riders over 80, 77-year-old Jimmy Carson took a ride to Alaska last year and joined Steadman Gray and Warren Watkins — also in their 70s — on a 2,700-mile trip with 300-plus other military veterans through the upper Midwest this past summer. A number of other members are in their 50s and 60s.

“Mac and Jack are the ones who are really amazing, though,” said Gray.

The American Legion Riders, formed several years ago, are part of a national organization. They participate in parades and other patriotic events, occasionally provide an escort for service personnel heading overseas or returning, and gather for social rides on weekends. Several of the riders are women.

“It’s a good bunch of people,” said McLaughlin. “We enjoy ourselves.”

“Parades can get a little tiring, though,” said McCarthy. “You spend a lot of time stopping and having to balance your bike, and I get so I can feel it in my legs.”

But not enough to even think about quitting.

“My Dad told me once never to stop getting out and doing things when I retired,” he said. “So this is what I do.”