Passes & Canyons Blog

Motorcyclist are all bound together by a brotherhood tie through their love of the sport, and what difference does it make what make of machine he rides as long as he belongs to the clan. – Walter Davidson, 1920

Is it just me? And if there are others of you like me, is it just us, doing this to ourselves?

What I’m talking about is the feeling I got when I went over to Mile High Harley-Davidson last weekend for their Charity Bug Run & Summer Kick-Off Party. Of course I wasn’t on a Harley. I don’t own a Harley. But that wasn’t a big deal. Once I got off the bike no one knew what bike I rode in on. Plus, I had camouflage–I wore a Harley-Davidson cap I’ve had for years.

No, what I’m talking about is how I just felt out of place among all the heavily leathered, heavily tattooed, pony-tailed guys who fit the old Harley rider stereotype. I mean, we all know that many Harley riders these days are doctors, lawyers, and other well-to-do professionals. But I didn’t see many of them there. Maybe those people have little interest in coming to the dealership for events like this.

Again, it may very well just be me doing this to myself. No one looked askance at me. No one treated me rudely or as if I had no business being there. Heck, nobody really paid any attention to me at all. But I felt very stongly like I did not belong there. And consequently, I didn’t stay around very long.

It was totally different a week earlier when I went up to the Concours Owners Group rally in Frisco. Of course, I do own a Connie and I rode it up there so that had to make a difference. But once again, off the bike, it still didn’t matter. These were a bunch of guys who I could identify with, who I felt at home with. I stuck around a long time.

I don’t have any negative feelings about the Harley guys. I don’t have any tattoos but I have had a pony-tail and I do have leathers. Heck, I know most of these guys are just regular joes with families and mortgages like the rest of us. And I’ve never had any kind of confrontation whatsoever with any of them. So why did I feel so out of place? I don’t know. It disturbs me.

Biker Quote for Today

Sooner or later opinions fade, and the name on the tank matters not. I think that happens somewhere between 4th and 5th gear.

Did you know this? I didn’t. Heck, if you’d asked me I’d have had to admit I couldn’t even name the U.S. Secretary of Transportation. But I know it now. That’s her in the photo.

So Mary Peters has been making some news lately, and raising some hackles. In her efforts to promote motorcycle safety she is accused of ignoring the law that prohibits federal bureaucrats from lobbying for or against specific state laws. In the June 2008 issue of American Motorcyclist, the publication of the American Motorcyclist Association, they have this to say:

But that doesn’t appear to be stopping Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, who told U.S. senators and representatives she wanted to lobby states to divert federal money away from motorcycle safety training and awareness programs and instead push for mandated helmet use.

Here’s my take on this. She crashed on her Harley and escaped serious injury thanks in part to her helmet. Now she’s a helmet evangelist. I’ve seen this before. About 15 years ago there was a young woman who suffered a head injury when the guy she was riding with hit the median on Orchard Road while going about 70 miles an hour. This was the first time she had ever been on a motorcycle but she told reporters from her hospital bed that she intended to devote her life to making helmet usage mandatory for all motorcyclists all the time. The difference between that young woman and Mary Peters is that Mary Peters is in a position to do something about her convictions.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with advocating helmet usage. There is something wrong, however, with becoming focused so totally on helmets that you dismiss other, equally important safety factors. “Divert federal money away from motorcycle safety training and awareness programs”? I’ve made the point before that wearing a helmet is not a be-all and end-all in motorcycle safety. In the report I was discussing it said that “About 42 percent of riders killed were not wearing helmets.” And I responded that what that means then is that 58 percent were wearing helmets — and they were killed anyway.

That’s why I believe that diverting funds from motorcycle safety training to mandating helmets is wrong-headed. We all need to wear helmets at times; some of us wear them all the time. We should all also take an occasional refresher training course. The Motorcycle Safety Foundation and ABATE have expanded their offerings lately due to demand. What we don’t need is some bureaucrat, even one who rides, cutting training funds.

Oh, and by the way, if the law says bureaucrats can’t legally lobby for or against specific state laws, I suggest the Secretary of Transportation ought to obey the law.

Update
I’ve written three follow-up posts on this subject:
Revisiting Mary Peters, Biker and DOT Secretary
Follow-up on Mary Peters, Secretary of US DOT
DOT Sec. Mary Peters Good for Bikers, Wrong on One Priority

Biker Quote for Today

Everyone crashes. Some get back on. Some don’t. Some can’t.

Riders for Health is an organization that provides money and motorcycles to transport life-saving medical supplies to remote African villages. Adventure Riders is a web forum for motorcyclists who are “generally long distance and adventure oriented enthusiasts.”

The Adventure Riders have organized a fund-raising event to benefit Riders for Health and that event is coming through Colorado June 7-9. As the group’s letter of intent states, the goal is to gather sponsors and contributions to riders.org while riding in and through:

• Each of the United States
• The Canadian Provinces and Territories
• New Zealand
• Australia
• India
• Turkey
• Scotland

Riders participating in the event are passing off a “baton,” which is a waterproof case containing a “mascot,” pictures, logs, and other items.

This relay starts May 16th 2008 at one of our Rallies in North Carolina with the US and Canadian legs finishing in August of 2008 and will continue on to many other places. During each leg of the relay, riders will take photographs, write online journals, log points of interest or include something about their region or the ride; Motorcycle rallies and enthusiast gatherings get special attention. These photos and stories will be prominently featured in an accompanying thread.

The baton is scheduled to enter Colorado on June 7 for hand-off at Burlington. It will come to Denver and on June 8 make its way to Buena Vista and on to Ridgway. On June 9 it will go to Pagosa Springs, where it will be handed off to New Mexico riders. Go to this thread on the Adventure Riders forum to see the whole route.

If you want to help out, here is the info on donations:

The ADVRider Relay, including the volunteer rider’s expenses, is completely self-funded. 100% of the donations less PayPal expenses or other funds transfer fees are forwarded directly to Riders.org. Please donate via Paypal at advriderrelay@aol.com or contact us there for other options.

I think I may be taking a ride on Sunday, June 8.

Biker Quote for Today

It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end.

I don’t have details yet but will pass along this warning that just came to me:

Please inform your readers, Berthoud is in extremely poor condition. Rode it today, and even had it not been raining and snowing, the road would be very bad!

I replied asking if the problem is that the pavement is in bad shape, or what. I’ll add that info when I receive it.

OK, here’s additional info:

The road was in terrible shape. Lots of potholes, cracks, and still a lot of sand all over.

So there you go. Be careful out there.

Continuing something of a theme I’ve been developing this week, I want to talk now about hypothermia. As in getting really, really cold in an unsafe manner.

Hypothermia: An abnormally low body temperature, often caused by prolonged exposure to cold.

I wrote a on Monday about my day riding Motorcycle Lead for a bicycle race. The wind started blowing and the temperature dropped and it started to snow. By the time I got off the bike I started to shake and shiver uncontrollably. That was the beginning of hypothermia. Then on Wednesday I wrote about fairings and how they do so much to keep you warm. This was not planned but I might as well round out the discussion.

The first time I got a taste of hypothermia was on one of the earliest rides I did with my buddies John and Bill in our group that we call the Old Farts Motorcycle Club. We had been down in New Mexico and were headed back into Colorado when we got caught in a cloudburst. We didn’t have rain suits back then, we just got wet. At the time it didn’t seem like such a big deal. In Colorado it is common to have brief rain showers, and then the sun comes out and all is fine. We didn’t get drenched or anything, and we just kept riding.

Awhile later we reached Alamosa and, stopping at the first traffic light in town, agreed unanimously that we really wanted to find a coffee shop before we did anything else. We were cold.

We got to a coffee shop and ordered a pot of coffee and started shivering and shaking. A lot. A whole lot. Over the course of the next hour or so we probably drank eight pots of coffee but just kept shivering. Somewhere along the line we realized that this was hypothermia. We had gotten wet, but the wind dried us out when the rain stopped, but with the moisture it also extracted a dangerous amount of our body heat.

Hypothermia can be dangerous. It can cause you to become mentally confused, which can lead to dangerous or deadly mistakes when riding a motorcycle. It’s not a good thing.

So what should a motorcyclist do to avoid hypothermia, and what do you do if it happens anyway? First off, don’t drink coffee. Hot coffee may seem like just the ticket but you would do a lot better to drink hot cocoa or have a bowl of hot soup. Something with calories. Of course, if coffee is the only warm thing around, as was the case for me at the bicycle races, do what you’ve got to do. Wrapping up in a blanket or sleeping bag is a very good thing, too. If the hypothermia is serious you should not hesitate to call for emergency medical care.

It’s better to avoid hypothermia in the first place. The first line of defense is the proper gear. Carry a good rain suit and don’t delay too long in putting it on. Use your electric vest if you have one. Heated grips would be good. I swear by the fairing on my Concours, and the windshield on the CB750. Wear plenty of layers. Stop frequently and get warm in a convenience store/gas station, cafe, or rest stop. Wear synthetics or wools that don’t hold the moisture in direct contact with you skin. Avoid alcohol if you’re going out somewhere where you’re likely to get cold.

Mostly it’s just common sense: stay warm in whatever way you can. Don’t be an idiot. It’s better to arrive late, or call off the ride, than never arrive again.

Biker Quote for Today

Never be afraid to slow down.

I’m going to state my preference right up front: I wouldn’t have a bike without a windshield or fairing. My Honda CB750 Custom has a windshield and my Kawasaki Concours has a full fairing. I love them.

Most of my friends don’t have either. We’ve swapped bikes at times and they’ll comment how nice it was not to have all that buffeting, but they don’t add windshields to their own bikes. I, on the other hand, am always relieved to get back on my own bike and out of that blast. There have been times, riding without a helmet, when I’ve been nearly blinded by the way the wind made my eyes water. How do you guys do this?

I especially appreciate a fairing when I ride in the winter. Oftentimes I’ll take both my bikes out for a spin back-to-back on a nice winter day, and it’s amazing the difference between that fairing and the windshield. How much colder would it be without either?

Don’t get me wrong, I have winter gear. I have thinsulate-lined gloves and an electric vest, full leathers, and a good helmet. Heavy, knee-high motorcycle boots help, too. It still gets cold. But at least some of the wind is blocked.

Of course in summer the cold is not an issue. But the wind sure is. I spent some time in California awhile back, riding a bike with no windshield and wearing a helmet, as per the law there. After riding all day my neck would be aching from struggling all day as the wind tore at my open-face helmet. I’m sorry, that is not fun.

So OK, I know a lot of you are saying I’m a big wussy. Go ahead and say it. But what I’d really like you to do is tell me why you prefer to ride without. I just don’t get it but I know way too many guys who prefer not to have a windshield or fairing. For some it’s an image thing–they just prefer the look of their bike without. Me, I’m not into image; I’m into comfort.

So what are the other reasons? Help me understand, OK? Because right now I just don’t.

I got the obligatory newspaper clipping from my mother the other day. You know, the one that talks about how motorcycle deaths are up at the same time that some states are relaxing their helmet laws.

Let’s face it, moms are just being moms when they send these things. They would rather you didn’t ride at all because “it’s too dangerous” but if you’re going to ride “you’d better wear your helmet every time.” They also tend to believe strongly that all states should mandate wearing helmets all the time.

I disagree. I do wear my helmets (I have several) a lot of the time. But there are times when I do not, and I would argue that I know more about the risk I am taking than someone who has never been on a motorcycle in their lives. I’m also a registered Libertarian, so obviously I believe the government has no business telling me I have to wear a helmet.

So let’s look at the information this particular article presents. It came from the Gannett News Service so presumably it appeared in a number of papers, maybe yours.

I’ll give them credit, it talks about deaths rising on the basis of per 1,000 riders. So many such articles say simply that deaths are up, but fail to mention that the number of riders is up as well. And if deaths per thousand riders are increasing then that is definitely of concern to us.

My issue is with the interpretations that people put on the statistics. They’re much too simplistic. Helmets are not some miracle cure for motorcycle fatalities. For example, the article states that “About 42 percent of riders killed were not wearing helmets.” What that means then is that 58 percent were wearing helmets — and they were killed anyway. It also implies that some percentage of those helmetless riders who were killed would have been killed even if they had been wearing a helmet. To me that says the cause of the accident should be more the focus than the gear the rider was wearing.

Another factor noted is the increase in the age of the average rider. Decreasing physical dexterity and slower reaction times are listed as the suspects.

Then it goes on to say that “Half of motorcyclists killed between 2002 and 2006 lost control and crashed without colliding with another vehicle.” This is what I’m talking about above. How did these accidents occur? Surely some involved other vehicles that may well have been the cause but were not involved in any contact. But in other cases, what we are talking about is rider error. This calls for better training but, again, has nothing to do with the gear the rider is wearing.

The article goes on to say that southern states have higher death rates, and they attribute that to the longer riding season. More time on the road equals more opportunity for accidents. That makes sense.

Then it talks about how the National Transportation Safety Board has taken the unprecedented action of unanimously recommending that all states mandate helmets at all times. Their justification for this is that “Medical and other costs for unhelmeted riders involved in crashes are staggering.” OK, then how about this: Let’s require all drivers and passengers in cars to wear helmets. There are a heck of a lot more of them getting into accidents and surely the costs are mega-staggering. Race car drivers wear helmets. Why shouldn’t mom and pop and the kiddies? Of course I’m sure they intend to imply that motorcyclists who do wear helmets and get in accidents cost the system nothing. That is what they’re saying, isn’t it?

And then finally, at the very bottom of this 51-inch article, they mention that, oh by the way, the two states with no helmet laws of any kind, Iowa and New Hampshire, have death rates of 3.5 and 3.0 per 1,000 respectively. Meanwhile, for example, Mississippi and Maryland, which require all riders to wear helmets all the time, have death rates of 20 and 12 per 1,000 respectively. Of course these numbers are discounted, and are explained away saying that in New Hampshire the riding season is short and in Iowa the ground is flat and visibility is good.

So thanks for caring Mom, I love you, too. But I’ll continue to make my own decisions and I’ll continue to belong to the American Motorcyclist Association and support their efforts to protect our right to decide.

Biker Quote for Today

Gray-haired riders don’t get that way from pure luck.

OK, it took a new battery to get me running again. That’s after having put in a new battery in October. That’s just wrong.

Unfortunately, all the issues did not get answered. The first question is why did this new battery go dead after just five months? Then, why didn’t it take a charge at home? Why did it take a charge in a shop but then turn up dead again a few weeks later?

I bought the previous battery from Pep Boys in October. That store closed so I took the battery yesterday to a different Pep Boys. There I was told 1) anything sold from the other store was on an “all sales are final” basis since it was closing. 2) The battery had only a three-month warranty so they had no obligation to do anything about it. 3) We’ll be happy to sell you another battery.

Thanks but no thanks.

So I went to Performance Motorcycles down the street and described the situation. The very savvy woman behind the counter said what I was describing said that the battery took a surface charge and that was what got the bike started, but why it was then dead a couple weeks later. She also said this Energizer battery was a low quality battery compared to the Yuasa battery that is OEM on Hondas. So I bought a new Yuasa. It has a one-year warranty.

Then things got complicated when I got home. First I discovered that my battery charger somehow got switched from 12 volt to 6 volt. That could explain why the battery wasn’t charging properly, if in fact it was not defective. And then I found that I did not have good contact between the cables and the battery previously. The way it works, I have the cables coming to the battery posts, and then I also have the wires for my trickle charger and my electric vest to hook up there as well. When I removed the battery in March, the first time I had the problem, I did not connect the vest wires because it’s getting warm now. But what I discovered is that that meant the screws I used were too long, and when screwed in as far as they would go did not snug the contacts up to the posts.

So between 6 volts versus 12 volts, and not a good connection, it is no wonder that I couldn’t give it a charge, or even that it went dead between rides. That Energizer might have been perfectly fine after all. Except that it had gone dead the first time. No new battery on a bike that has been regularly ridden should be dead.

That means I’ll never know what the true situation was. But what I do know is that I’m running again and went for a ride yesterday. That’s what it’s all about, right?

Biker Quote for Today

A bike on the road is worth two in the shed.