KING ARNOLD'S RIDE WITH CAMERON!
Arnold rides with buddy bikers!
Reported By: TheARNOLDFANS.com Staff
Monday, February 16, 2004

Schwarzenegger, wearing his T3 jacket, recently had a relaxing ride with good friends James Cameron, Stan Winston, Tom Arnold and other friends. Don't get your hopes up thinking Cameron, Winston and Arnold are talking T4 or TL2. These close buddies ALWAYS go out for their monthly joyride and have been doing so for years.

Budget Woes to the Wind as Schwarzenegger Takes to the Road By CHARLIE LeDUFF
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 12 ‹ Tom Arnold, the television personality, was philosophizing on the shoulder of the Pacific Coast Highway, sitting on his motorcycle, waiting for his pal Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California, to arrive.

"The thing about politics," Mr. Arnold offered, "is that men lose their masculinity and women lose their femininity. But Arnold is holding on to it."

Mr. Arnold smoothed his leathers and tugged up his gloves, rodeo style. Sufficiently arranged, he said: "Arnold does like to shop, though. He's probably got an outfit all picked out for today."

And a few minutes later, at precisely the appointed hour ‹ 7:30 a.m. ‹ Mr. Schwarzenegger turned his gleaming Harley-Davidson onto the highway. He sat tall and ramrod-straight, made no movement, gave no expression, holding the handlebars as if they were the reins of a parade chariot and he Ben Hur. He was tailed by two cars with plainclothes California Highway patrolmen, who were earning overtime.

Tom Arnold was right. The governor was dressed in neat leather pants, polished leather boots and a scratched leather jacket, black gloves, black sunglasses, black helmet. His handshake was firm and his nails were manicured.

"A metrosexual," Mr. Arnold said.

The nation's other governors might have been home at that moment, lingering in bed with their spouses, cocooned in their blankets. Mr. Schwarzenegger was up and out, doing what he does best ‹ being himself. In allowing a reporter to come along for the ride, on his own Harley, the governor was making sure the public saw him.

Mr. Schwarzenegger knows that his personality and his legions of fans are the root of his uncommon political successes. Though he holds an office that can require remoteness and restraint, Mr. Schwarzenegger has abandoned neither his old friends nor his old habits, like the Sunday motorcycle ride from the Pacific Palisades here into the Malibu Canyon, something he has done for 20 years. He wears a big blue ring, his language is the stuff of the barracks and he drives a loud bike.

And so, Mr. Schwarzenegger the governor is careful to make time for Arnold the swashbuckler. With the state's finances in disarray and a $15 billion bond measure going before the public that could make or break the world's fifth largest economy, and with a debate raging over an execution then scheduled in less than two days (it was later postponed), Mr. Schwarzenegger was busy instructing a newspaper photographer where she might position herself to get the best possible pictures.

With seven people and four plainclothes men waiting, the governor took time to listen to an old sunbeaten man tell him about the time he was attacked by sharks.

"That's a truly fantastic story," the governor said in his chunky accent. "Really." He patted the man on the back and mounted his bike.

Though the men who ride with him are wildly successful in their own rights ‹ among them were James Cameron, the director; Stan Winston, the special effects wizard who built the Terminator robot; Charlie Temmel, the ice cream king; and Kenny Fleiner, the auto body man ‹ Mr. Schwarzenegger is their commandant, and they his batmen. He rode lead the entire way.

Mr. Schwarzenegger is a competent biker. Steady and sure, a model of precision. Through Malibu and into the canyons, he never put a foot on the pavement, never signaled with a hand, never turned his head. He smiled once for the camera.

As he and his entourage arrived at the Rock Store, a place deep in Malibu Canyon where old men take their new bikes, the crowd lunged before composing itself, going from giddiness to indifferent manliness.

"He's my kind of guy," one graybeard said over his coffee. The men at the store had seen Mr. Schwarzenegger many times before, and they tried to behave as if having him in their midst was no big deal.

The governor and his men sat at a table in the back near a window. The rest of the bikers kept a respectable distance, though someone shouted, "You're doing a great job, Arnold."

Mr. Cameron asked him how governing was going.

"They're really shaken up up there," he said of Sacramento. "It's a trip. You should see it."

"When the breakfast was finished, Mr. Schwarzenegger paid the bill and Mr. Cameron left the tip."

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TheARNOLDFANS.com Staff