Passes & Canyons Blog

Jon Robertson, the author of this book, Rebel Without a Clue, contacted me asking if I’d like to review it. It’s about a great motorcycle adventure he took many years ago, plus a lot more, he told me. Of course I’d like to read it and do a review. Well, here we are.

First thing you have to understand about this book is that while the central focus is on this nearly 10,000-mile, two month 1970 trip, there is indeed a lot more. In fact, as I was telling Judy, it’s really like four books packed into one. The first part is about a fairly remarkable childhood, which set the stage for part two, the trip. Part three is Jon’s life since the trip and part four is Jon’s philosophical musings on a variety of topics. All tying back to the trip in various ways.

I have to say, because Jon and I were born the same year there is a lot in the first part that I found quite interesting because it was his experience of many large cultural events that I was experiencing in much the same way. That is, I could really identify very personally with him through it all. Whether that makes this portion interesting for you could be another matter. Still, the first part sets the stage so to understand it you really should read the first part. Plus, I referred to his “remarkable childhood.” Maybe I really mean the teen years. Whatever. But I can guarantee Jon’s teen years were nothing like yours or mine and it just makes for interesting reading.

So what’s the deal with the trip? Jon and his friend Tom set out from Los Gatos, California, and rode across the continent to New York and the east coast and then back. They had never done a trip anything close to this; heck, Tom wasn’t even an experienced motorcyclist.

Along the way things went right, things went wrong, good things happened, bad things happened–pretty much what you would expect. But let me ask you: how could anyone do a 10,000 mile motorcycle trip and not have all kinds of fun and interesting stories to tell? I don’t think it’s possible, which basically means there’s a bunch of good reading here.

Once the trip is over there’s a bunch of book left with one central question hanging over it all. Jon gives a capsulized account of the rest of his life and then voices some opinions that you may or may not agree with. And there’s that question hanging.

I’m not going to spoil it by telling you the question or the answer but Jon strings you along right to the very end before you get the answer. You do finally get the answer.

This is not the book it would be if it had been put out by some major publishing house, with top professional editors guiding the author and perhaps significantly reshaping the overall book. It’s self-published on Amazon but Jon is highly literate and very good with words, not to mention grammar, spelling, and punctuation. I’ve read several in-process books by non-professionals and I can assure you that grammar, spelling, and punctuation have not been any of those authors’ strengths. As I have said at least a thousand times (Judy will confirm), everybody needs an editor. Yes, I highlighted a number of things as I read through, but Jon is head and shoulders above these other authors whose works in progress I have read. If your skills in those areas are weak you probably won’t even notice.

So would I urge you to click on through that link to Amazon and buy this book today? If you’re into motorcycles I think it’s a good bet you would enjoy it. And as a digital download (Kindle) it’s only $7.98. I enjoyed it. I’m glad I had the chance to read it. And if you do read it, let me know what you think. I’d be interested.

Biker Quote for Today

And then we were gone, moving through the air like two acrobats on metal horses. — Jon Robertson

This is not the bike I was on but this is one of places I went.

If you’re going to ride your motorcycle at this time of year you have to take your opportunities when they arise. Tuesday the forecast was for a high in the 60s will full sun. There may yet be an even better riding day this month but I was not going to let this one go by. Plus, I have two bikes that I ride each and every month and as yet I had not been on either.

I took off on the V-Strom and I very quickly discovered that other motorcyclists also read the weather forecast. There were a lot of us out that day! Cool.

First I had a couple errands to run, so I quickly got those out of the way. Then I needed gas. Can you believe I paid less than $2.50 a gallon? Wow. Now I was ready to really ride. But I wondered how far.

As I said previously, at this time of year I set objectives I try to meet, in particular turning the odometer over to a new 1,000. Starting out on the V-Strom I was only about 70 miles from 48,000 so knocking off those miles would have been a no-brainer. Except that I don’t trust the weather at this time of year and I worried that if I did not ride both bikes this day I might not be able to ride the Honda the next day. And would it be getting cold already if I rode the V the full 70 before getting on the CB750?

Totally undecided, I just rode. I headed south out of town, wandering around, following my nose, as I do when I have no destination. And sometimes on roads I’m not completely familiar with I end up in different places than I expected. Which is OK, which was good, because that did happen. That’s how you learn your way around better.

I started heading back eventually but I could see I would end up short of 48,000 if I went straight home, so I turned again. One more side route and when I got home my odo was sitting at 48,001. Mission accomplished.

And it was still warm so I immediately climbed on the Honda and took off. I didn’t need to put a lot of miles on this bike this day; this was just an insurance ride. Besides, that bike is now 838 miles away from the next 1,000. That’s not going to happen.

But I do like having an objective, a target goal. I didn’t remember how far I was from putting 1,000 miles on the bike this year (373 now) but I thought maybe at the least I can put more miles on it this year than I did last year. But I didn’t know that number either. So I just went for a spin, maybe 20 miles.

Well now I am home and can look at the numbers and I see that if I just ride that Honda another 46 miles this year I’ll pass last year’s mileage. OK, I’ve got a goal. And in fact the weather is looking pretty nice for at least another few days. I’ve got more riding to do.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker when you cry on the first snowfall.

No speeding going on here.

I was on the Adventure Rider forum and ran across an interesting post. Apparently it was in reply to a previous post but there was no link so I did not see what exactly the discussion was, but just the reply was of note. Here is the full post. (I hope I’m not violating some kind of copyright law putting this in here.)

Section 42-4-1101 Colorado Revised Statutes state that exceeding a posted speed sign is “prima facie evidence” and subsection (4) thereof states in part:

“prima facie evidence” means evidence which is sufficient proof that the speed was not reasonable or prudent under the conditions then existing, and which will remain sufficient proof of such fact, unless contradicted and overcome by evidence bearing upon the question of whether or not the speed was reasonable and prudent under the conditions then existing.(emphasis added)

Note too that section (7) states that any “city or town” may adopt “absolute speed limits” and (8)(b) makes 75 absolute everywhere in the state.

And yes, I’ve seen people get off on that (the ones I know of were usually in the category of being in traffic all of which was flowing faster than the posted limit. But if it’s just you vs the cop, good luck!

Oh, and yes, it’s illegal for cops to speed without using their emergency signals unless in “actual pursuit” but only “so long as such pursuit is being made to obtain verification of or evidence of the guilt of the suspected violator.” So if he is just cruising at 70 in a 65 it must be “reasonable and prudent” to do so, eh? I know one guy who got off because he got the cop to admit that he had been cruising at 80 in a 65 when he passed the “speeder” who was doing 75. “Officer, did you know you were driving in excess of the absolute maximum speed in this state? (embarrassed) “Yes.” Did you believe you were driving, nonetheless, at a reasonable and prudent speed?” “Yes”. Speeder found not guilty.

So what makes this particularly interesting to me is that I was once on a jury and we had a case where this was exactly the defendant’s argument.

This was in Adams County and the bust happened up on North Federal in the Federal Heights area. It was late at night, around 3 a.m. as I recall, and this guy was going higher than the posted speed. He got pulled over and cited both for speeding and for . . . I can’t remember, either an open container of some alcoholic beverage or for drunk driving. Probably open container.

I’m not sure why he contested the alcohol charge because that was pretty cut and dried, and we convicted him on it.

On the speeding charge, however, he made the plea that the letter of the law–taken literally–meant that going faster than the posted speed limit was not technically speeding if he was going a reasonable and prudent speed. He argued that at 3 a.m. there was no other traffic at all and the road was in good shape, he had plenty of visibility, all driving conditions were good, and so his going a little over the posted speed was in fact reasonable and prudent. There was absolutely no danger to him or to anyone else.

This was a novel concept that none of us on the jury had ever heard of but because this reading of the law was not contested by the prosecution we figured we had to accept that it was valid. And we acquitted him on the speeding charge.

So there you go. It’s good to know the law. Especially if you’re getting on the wrong side of it.

Biker Quote for Today

What kind of sound does a motorcycle of a pirate usually make? It goes like “Ruuum rum rum rummmmm.”