Going to a motorcycle rally, especially huge, popular ones like Daytona Beach or Sturgis, can be a lot of fun. These are the rare times that you can truly be among your own kind and network with bikers from around the country and, in some cases, even from around the world. While it used to be only bikers attended these rallies, today, there are family and even some people who just want to see what a biker rally is all about. Some attend just to hear the live entertainment that many rallies invite. But what this means is that while bikers used to always ride their bikes to a rally, that's no longer true. Families travel in cars, RVs, and campers to the rallies and tow their bikes behind them.
This has upset some bikers who consider themselves the 'true' bikers. They believe that if you're going to call yourself a biker, you need to actually ride your bike. That includes riding it all the way to a rally. Bikers who don't ride to a rally just aren't 'true' bikers. While they look down on these people, they seem to really scorn the bikers who pull their bikes behind their cars and RVs most of the way to the rally and then ride them the rest of the way. That's just faking it, they believe.
Bikers who believe this way will find 'I rode mine' patches at many different rallies. These patches say 'I rode mine to (whatever the rally name is)'. Bikers wear this as a sign of pride and think of it as a status symbol. They rode their bikes all the way to the rally, and that makes them the better biker, or at least they think it does.
