I am not sure how to link to a specific post in Facebook, so I have copied here a post from Claude at Freedom Sidecars and am using this quote to then share some thoughts of my own:

=========

MIXED NUTS…

Did anyone ever notice how ones who ride different machines seem to
fit into a stereotype? Years ago someone wrote an article on this and
I felt it was quite amusing but it did hold a lot of truth.

Think of it…Harley riders with many dollars worth of leather on and a
thirty dollar helmet. They seem to wear the leather on and off the
bike too. Then there are the sport bike (crotch rocket) types who ride
with shorts, tank tops , sneakers and a four hundred dollar helmet. At
a rally you may see the BMW types who come in an Aerostitich suit or
the Ducati riders who will show up in full leathers dyed red. The
Goldwingers are known for wearing matching jackets and helmets with
the ever present headset mike projecting in front of their mouth…they
talk softly when on the bike if you speak to them so as not to blat
the ears off their color coordinated passenger. There are others for
sure if we dwell on this but that is not my point to make.

Sidecarists are, for sure, a mixed breed. Years back at the Cook
Forest USCA National (’93 I think) I was really taken off guard by the
comment of my solo bike friend who came along. He was totally amazed
that so many variations of rider `types’ would be at this rally. He
was more amazed that sidecarists tend to talk more about their
sidecars than the power unit that they are pulling them with. Kind of
neat situation isn’t it?

At one time I had a great love for mixed nuts. In the containers that
the mixed nuts came in it was always a real treat to pick out the
cashews. These were the cream of the crop in my book. The other nuts
were okay but for me the goal was to pick out as many cashews as
possible….yumm. A cashew man I was….if it wasn’t a cashew it was
second rate.

One day while in a store I was walking toward ‘nut section’ when in
the distance I noticed something that was unfamiliar to me. As I drew
closer this site began to come into focus clearer and clearer……
could it be…..is this for real? This site could not be taken
lightly. I stood in awe as my mind raced with wild anticipation. The
beating of my heart threatened to explode though my chest as I ever so
slowly reached forth a shaking hand toward the object. I knew it was
neither a mirage nor a dream as my hand touched the cool glass
container that was plainly labeled CASHEWS ! Yes…oh YES!! Cashews
and only cashews….No more mixed nuts….No more picking though the
walnuts and peanuts and Brazil nuts and all of the other stuff . This
was it…an honest to goodness jar of just cashews…..Life was indeed
good….the days of mixed nuts were over. Today was the beginning of a
new life for me. Me and my cashews…alone at last. No more mixed nuts
!!

Upon returning home with my newly found treasure I flopped on the
couch. I felt as though nothing in this world could ever take the
present satisfaction from me. Pure ambrosia..pure delight…it was
only my cashews and me..alone at last.

After a couple of hours of sleep that night I awoke with a bad case of
heartburn. The symptoms could not be ignored as the discomfort deep in
my chest worse and worse. Minutes became hours. The battle within me
raged on and on with no relief in sight as I drifted in and out of
consciousness. My body cried for sleep but it was not being realized
due to the discomfort within. Finally in my state of delirium sleep
mercifully overpowered me.

The light of the sun was breaking through the eastern sky as I slowly awoke.

It was a new day half opened eyes slowly adjusted to the light within
my darken room. The worst was over although as I saw the three empty
cans of cashews flashbacks of the night before attempted to take
control of my senses. I looked away from them quickly and these
feeling seemed to subside. Yes…It was a new day. Thoughts of the
night before were not clear but in a strange way were also so very
real. The experience was a only a haze but still was attempting to
control me.

Days passed and the memory of that fateful night ever so slowly faded
into a surreal memory.

It was a long time before I journeyed back to the store where the
cashews and mixed nuts were waiting to be purchased. Bit I did return
and, again, in the same isle I noticed them. There they were the
familiar ‘mixed nuts’ and right beside them the notorious cashews.
This time I reached up onto the shelf and confidently grabbed three
jars of ‘mixed nuts’.

Later that evening as I opened one of the jars and began to eat I
found that the nuts that I had typically rejects in days gone by were
much more appealing to me. Yes…I did still eat the cashews but no
longer ignored the other nuts in the jar. Everything, cashews and
mixed nuts seemed to taste better than ever….wow…life was now
better than ever even with all of the nuts.

In my world, and in yours, we may tend to look at the cashews as
something special. Some of us are cashews and some of us are various
other mixed nuts but we need to learn that if we were all cashews life
would probably give us a lot of heartburn. It is people, the mixed
nuts that they are that we can learn so much from. It is people, the
mixed nuts that they are, in which we can learn to enjoy life to it’s
fullest. Sidecar people indeed cover the spectrum of what may be
described as ‘mixed nuts’. The old saying that says ‘it takes all
kinds’ is many times thought of in a negative way but it does ‘take
all kinds ‘ to make life what it is. If we want to rise to the
potential that we have it is a good policy to make it a goal to enjoy
the mixed nuts…after all folks …we is one.

Claude

============

Claude’s post on Facebook caused me to start thinking about the “Mixed Nuts” that come riding with us every July on the “Sidecar Circus” which is organised by the HMCCQ.

Every year the Sidecar Circus has been organised by Don Nicol, but Don having passed away after a fight with cancer just last month, it will now have to be organised by other club members.

The sidecar Circus is open to all riders with sidecars, whether they are historic bikes or not, so we get a few modern bikes along as well.

Now for a few photos with comments (quite a bit of this content is stolen from http://www.disciplescmc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4701 where I wrote about a Sidecar Circus four years ago):

On Sunday 10th July 2011 we took part in the second annual “Sidecar Circus” organised by the Pine Rivers Area of the Historical Motor Cycle Club of Queensland (HMCCQ).

This was the weekend following the 100th official meeting of the local HMCCQ branch so was a special ride for the solo bikes as well. We had 11 sidecar outfits and 18 historical solo bikes along to act as marshalls and photographers, etc.

I got up early and checked all the oils, tyres, etc., and set off at about 07:00 on a sunny winter’s morning. The temperature just before I left home was about 8 degrees so I was rugged up like the Michelin Man!

At Young’s Crossing, a causeway across the North Pine River, I hit a huge pothole and heard and felt spokes breaking in my back wheel. As it was only about 500 metres to the gathering point, I kept riding, although the rear end had developed its own erratic wandering feeling – sort of like having two-wheel steering.

I arrived at our gathering point at the Petrie Markets and proceeded to put my spare wheel on the sidecar, my sidecar wheel on the rear, and my damaged rear wheel on the spare wheel mounting on the boot lid of the sidecar.

By the time I had done the three wheel swaps it was time to leave on the “Circus”.
We went straight out Dayboro Road to Dayboro where Gaven Dall’Osto took many excellent photos

From Dayboro, we turned left onto Mount Sampson Road and then right onto Laidlaw Street. From there we were guided up through some glorious mountain scenery over some truly excellent back roads. It was a pity we couldn’t stop anywhere to take photos.

Giving hand signals instead of flashing turn indicators means that the indicator doesn’t get left on after completing the turn.  Or else your arm gets very tired!

For a while we again followed the Mount Samson Road, but turned right onto Gibbons Road and travelled via the back roads to Undambi where we had our Morning Tea break. Our hot tea or coffee was accompanied by yummy snack and even hot cheerios sausages.

During Morning Tea, I took some photos of my own instead of relying on Gaven’s.

Enough photos for today, we shall continue tomorrow!

We truly were a bag of mixed nuts all rolled in together on that circus. Older bikes, newer bikes; bearded, clean-shaven; old farts, young blokes; full-face helmets, jet helmets, pudding-basin helmets (definitely a mixed bag of helmets!); full mittens, leather gloves, cotton gloves, no gloves; leather jackets, fabric jackets, kevlar jackets, all sorts of nondescript jackets; some very talkative fellows, some silent types: really a bag of “Mixed Nuts”!