Arnold goes for a ride

In December, Charlie LeDuff of the local New York Times bureau rode the L.A. River. In a story today, he rides Harleys with Arnold Schwarzenegger as the governor leads James Cameron, Tom Arnold and some other Hollywood friends up PCH to the biker-landmark Rock Store for breakfast.

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...

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 NYT website put up a slideshow of Monica Almeida's photos of the event. (p.s., the Guv paid the breakfast bill and Cameron left the tip).