Passes & Canyons Blog

This year’s Ride to Work Day logo.

I feel like I beat the same dead horse almost every year when I do this post promoting Ride to Work Day. Nobody cares. And yet, I have always thought it was a great idea.

You know, why not, once a year, have a day when everyone who rides motorcycles rides to work or wherever, just to show our numbers to the rest of the world? This year that day is Monday, June 15. A week from now.

For one, think of the shock to the non-riding public to see just how many bikes and riders there are. And if that strikes them then it is at least possible that they will think to themselves, “gosh, there are lots of motorcycles out there, maybe I ought to pay a little more attention when I change lanes to be sure there isn’t one in my blind spot.”

Or, as the official ride to work people say on their site:

Ride your motorcycle or scooter on this day to demonstrate:

• The number of motorcyclists to the general public and to politicians.
• That motorcyclists are from all occupations and all walks of life.
• That motorcyclists can reduce traffic and parking congestion in large cities.
• That motorcycles are for transportation as well as recreation.
• That motorcycling is a social good.

Come on–do it this year. I’ll be out riding somewhere. Join me.

Oh, and a quick, unrelated aside: did you experience that extreme weather that swept through on Saturday? I was at home and I looked at the sky and decided I should cover the bedding plants we had just bought and barely 30 seconds after I did the sky opened up with winds that the weather service said exceeded 80 mph and hail came pounding down. Then it blew right on past in about three minutes.

Can you imagine if you had been on your bike when that hit? If you didn’t get blown over the whole thing would have gone past before you even found a sheltered place to pull over. It was crazy.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker when you know what a grasshopper feels like at 100 miles per hour.

Curves are fun–until you see that gravel directly ahead.

Have you ever seen someone on a motorcycle go down? I only have once, and it was a minor get-off, but it’s an amazing thing to witness.

What’s amazing about it is how quickly it happens. My buddy John and I were up in Laramie, it was late at night, and we were headed back to our motel. We cruised down the main street till we reached the corner to go left to the motel, John in the lead. He started to turn but hit some gravel and he went DOWN! I mean, right NOW! Instantly. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

You might think when something like that happens that you’ll have a moment to react, either to try to keep the bike up or to at least think about getting your leg out of the way so the bike doesn’t come down on it. Forget it. This was literally blink-of-an-eye fast.

Now fortunately, John wasn’t hurt badly. He just had a little road rash on his butt and he broke the windshield on his bike. He was just as amazed as I was.

I was talking about this sort of thing awhile back with Zigy Kaluzny, whose world travels I’ve written about a couple times here. His experience has been the same. As he put it, “There’s no transition. I’ve been down twice. There’s no transition. It’s just astonishing. In Italy once I was cranked over, going around a turn, a nice turn, probably going 55, 60, I don’t know. And next thing I know I’m sliding down the road on my back and I’m watching the motorcycle slide along with me, with the footpegs sparking everywhere.”

Zigy, of course is very much an ATGATT (All The Gear All The Time) kind of guy and he was fine.

“The bike was fine. I got up and rode. It freaked me out for a long time.”

Freaked him out, huh? Well yes, I guess. I don’t know how you have the courage to get back on that thing and just ride off after something like that happens. Fortunately I’ve never had that experience.

And it can happen at slow speeds just as easily as when you’re going fast. Zigy also told me about one time when his wife at that time went down.

“We were coming up to a stop sign. She wanted to move over to my other side, and as she crossed a line of some sand or gravel in the middle, she crossed the gravel and touched the brake and of course she was down in a heartbeat. Luckily I had bought her a pair of armored Dainese pants in Italy. I heard that crack as her helmet hit the ground, and she was fine.”

There’s a saying among motorcyclists, at least those who don’t think of themselves as immortal, that “You dress for the crash, not the ride.” Once you see a rider go down you know exactly what that means.

Biker Quote for Today

Top 10 signs that a computer is owned by a Harley rider: 08. There’s an oil stain on the floor just below the computer.

Bikes going up Pikes Peak.

As a casualty of the Covid-19 disruption the Colorado legislature was recessed and, now back in session, is killing bills wholesale so as to focus solely on those must-pass bills such as the state budget.

One casualty of this mass slaughter is SB-65, which would have made it illegal for drivers to operate cellphones or other electronic equipment while driving unless they were using a hands-free device. The bill had passed the Senate but did not make it through the House. Maybe next year.

Unfortunately, the bill to extend the MOST program is among those being pushed forward. The bad news and the bad news–there is no good news in this area.

But wait, there’s more. At the national level, the highway bill has had language proposed that would boost states that have mandatory helmet laws for riders under 18. Here is what the Motorcycle Riders Foundation has to say about this.

The Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) was alerted by our contacts in the U.S. Senate regarding a proposed change to the dedicated 405 Motorcycle Safety funds in the National Priority Safety Programs that is authorized through the Highway Bill. The proposed change to this program would add another criteria for states to qualify for motorcycle safety funds. In order to qualify, states have to meet two of the six current criteria. In addition to the current criteria, the additional qualifying area would add a category for states that have a mandatory helmet law for anyone under the age of 18. While meeting the under 18 helmet law is not mandatory to receive these funds, we at the MRF oppose any such change. We cannot allow any amount of erosion of our rights on this issue. The MRF is adamantly opposed to any federal law that would require the use of a helmet, apparel or conspicuity standard.

I guess we’ll see what happens there.

Biker Quote for Today

Top 10 signs that a computer is owned by a Harley rider: 09. System sound effects now play a Harley kicking over when a program starts.