Passes & Canyons Blog

I’ve mentioned here before the danger inherent in the push to make failure to wear a seat-belt an offense the cops can stop you for. Right now in Colorado they can’t do that, but if they stop you for another reason and you’re not wearing one you can get a ticket. The Legislatue is now working to change that.

What concerns me is that any group of legislators that would make that change is likely to want to mandate wearing motorcycle helmets at all times.

Let’s get this clear right now: I understand that helmets and seat belts frequently save lives. I also know that in less frequent situations they do more hard than good. I just don’t think it’s government’s business to tell me which odds to play. Don’t make that old argument about being a burden on society. I have insurance. Not only that, I often wear a helmet. But sometimes I don’t, and that’s my decision to make. As for seat-belts, I was out one night with a bunch of legislators just after they passed the original seat-belt law and I told them then that they could shove it, that I would continue not to wear one. That was almost 20 years ago. I finally got ticketed for not wearing my seat-belt just two weeks ago. I was speeding, but so was everyone else. And the patrolman only cited me for the belt, not speeding. While I appreciated not getting a speeding ticket I have to suspect he really stopped me for the belt, and speed was just his excuse.

Anyway, none of that matters now because just last week I got a new car and it’s one of these that has a system to totally annoy you if you don’t wear a belt so I’ve finally been beaten. I now wear my seat-belt every time I drive.

But let’s get back to helmets. I hadn’t heard anything about helmets in connection to this proposed seat-belt law, but I know the connection. Well, in this morning’s Rocky Mountain News, Mark Wolf ran five quotes from the forum they run. All five of them said the same thing I”m saying, that it’s no one’s business but mine. One person did say not wearing a belt gives kids the idea of not wearing a belt, but other than that he said it’s nobody’s business. And three of them said the same about helmets.

I was afraid of this when the Democrats took the Legislature and governorship. I firmly believe divided government is best; it provides the best checks and balances. I used to be a Democrat but I changed my affiliation to Libertarian a number of years ago for exactly this sort of reason. I may have to vote Republican two years from now to help break this imbalance.

This is too good not to come back to. I told last time about some flying objects I’ve encountered and the whole topic was raised by a posting I saw on a motorcycle forum. Here’s a link to that forum. You’ll find it just as fascinating and entertaining as I do:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=145779

Here’s a sampling of what you’ll find:

I would have to say bats. Three of’em so far, #1 hit under the right edge of the bill on my MX helmet. #2 hit me dead center of my full face, almost went down on that one. #3 hit my left mirror then slid down the post and just sit on my hand hanging on for about 1/4 mile before it fell off.

1. an entire pallet of canned Coke in the fast lane when I lived in China.
2. a bale of straw in the fast lane on 287 around NYC at about 70 mph.
3. a front bumper off a 78 T-bird in the middle lane of 287.
4. a guy taking a dump beside the road in WVa. He was in the apex of a real nice curve…
5. another rider… I was working thru traffic, passing buses, etc in the Alps. I thought he saw me, but he didn’t. His helmet caught my hand gaurd on the GS with a slight tap. His eyes were about as big as saucers. I shouldn’t have been in his lane, but I thought he saw me. Assume….. makes an ASS out of U and ME.

I was riding south on I-77 behind a pickup truck when the mattress that was in the bed of the truck flew up and over my head. whew!

1) A live turkey, back roads, Austell, GA. Spun me around but I did not go down.

2) Aluminum Ladder, I-285 Atlanta. Kinda jumped it, should have wrecked but didn’t.

3) A steel nut, about 2 inches in diameter, straight to the chest (thought it stopped my heart it hit so hard) I-285 Atlanta

4) Muffler and attached exhaust pipe, 575 near Canton, GA. No wreck

5) Water melon, I-75 near Valdosta. Almost, and I mean almost but no wreck.

6) Wooden pallet (empty) East/West Connector, Austell, GA. Scared me shitless.

7) A helmet, unstrapped and blew off another rider in front of me, Daytona. No wreck.

8) German Shepherd, near Bo-Bo’s house. No wreck but torn up a guys fresh grass stopping it.

Weirdest I have heard, guy from Earl Smalls Harley Davidson in Marietta, Ga was headed to the Hard Rock Cafe in Atlantawith a group of bikes. I-75 south after dark. He hit an upside down wheelbarrow tub that already had the wheels and supports knocked off. Was almost a perfect ramp. Said he was about 8 feet off the ground, got some good distance and landed without crashing. LOTS and LOTS of damage to the bike.

OK. You get the picture. Go check it out!

Every one of us who ride motorcycles hits or gets hit by things. Bugs are an obvious one, and if you ride without a helmet at times you’ve certainly been smacked in the face more than 101 times. Sometimes, as unlikely as it seems when you consider just how perfect conditions have to be, you’ll even end up with a bee or wasp getting scooped right up your sleeve. That’s one time when you stop and get off in a real hurry!

But what about other objects in the air? I encountered the question recently on a motorcycle forum that I frequent and figured I’d share here what I posted there.

Just last year, my friend Bill and I were coming down into Kremmling over Rabbit Ears Pass and a bird dove in close to his front wheel. Well, when we got to Kremmling and stopped for gas we found the bird stuck in right at the pivot on his kick stand. Extending the stand pinched it in and made it impossibe to remove so I had to hold the bike while he removed the oozing mess. This was not even the first time Bill has hit a bird. I’ve never done that.

Another time we were heading north from Laughlin, NV, and I was in the lead. We were pulling up on a semi and about the time I got close enough to think about passing one of his tires exploded. Big chunks and little pieces were flying everywhere but no one got hit by any. Very loud bang! Very scary to see big chunks of tread in the air.

Here’s another. John and Bill and I are the original three of our group, the OFMC, who first started riding. John and I were in Denver, heading over to Bill’s to start out on one of our very first week-long summer trips. On the way we were passing a golf course when a golfer hit his ball off the course in our direction. I was behind and I watched while it bounced off John’s rear wheel, right back onto the course. He didn’t even know it happened.

A year ago I decided I was interested in tracking how much I ride my motorcycles. So, on New Year’s Day, I jotted down the mileage on both bikes and my car as well. Now it’s January 1, 2007, and time to see what the year was like. Here’s the scoop.

I started 2006 with 76,820 miles on my Honda CB750 Custom. This is the first bike I ever owned and I’ve been riding it for about 17 years. I put 2,410 miles on it in 2006, ending at 79,230.

I started 2006 with 18,515 miles on my 1999 Kawasaki Concours and at the end of the year that was at 19,011. That’s barely 496 miles for the year. It would have been more — and the Honda less — except that I took the Honda on our trip to the Sturgis rally this year. Still, I’m surprised that’s all I rode that bike.

For the sake of comparison, my 1988 Honda Civic car started the year at 196,093 miles. At the end of the year it had 206,173 miles, for a total of 10,080 miles in the year.

Altogether, I drove or rode 12,986 miles in the year 2006. Of that, 2,906 miles, or 22%, was on my bikes. So although I didn’t put nearly as many miles on my bikes as a lot of people do, or as I would have liked to do, the bike/car percentage is still pretty good. What it really comes down to is that I don’t cover that much ground on or in anything. I know there are plenty of people out there who put a minimum of 20,000 miles on their cars each year.

This year will probably be different. I now have a job that is quite a bit further from home so that overall figure is likely to go up by at least 50%. What I really want to do is make sure that the bikes get their fair share of those extra miles. Therefore, my new year’s resolution, if you want to call it that, is to ride my bikes to work more often. They say people who establish goals accomplish more than people who don’t, so I’m looking to put at least 2,000 miles on the CB and another 2,500 mile on the Concours. And I hope to limit my car mileage to no more than 12,000. I’ll check back in in a year.

When my parents moved into a well-to-do development in South Carolina about 18 years ago I remarked that perhaps I’d ride my bike down to visit them there. They informed me that motorcycles were not allowed in this gated community. Of course I was indignant. The reason was noise, but as usual the community had not attacked the actual problem — noise — they had attacked what their preconceived notions focused on. That is, motorcycles.

Never mind that plenty of cars, trucks, delivery vans, and lawnmowers make a lot more noise than my 1999 Kawasaki Concours or my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom.

Apparently I wasn’t the only one who found this offensive, and while change takes time, change does occur. A few years passed and my father, who was the editor of the homeowner’s association newsletter, sent me a copy of the latest issue featuring a story about half of dozen residents who had ridden their bikes on a 5,000 mile journey. No Hell’s Angels, these retired engineers, accountants, lawyers, etc. And the community was pleased to see their neighbors having such a good time.

We just got back from there — Keowee Key, on Lake Keowee, outside Clemson, SC — yesterday. We went down for Christmas with Mom and the rest of the family. As my wife and I walked around one day I was pleased to notice a motorcycle in an open garage. Then the best of all was as we were leaving yesterday for the airport. Just as we were passing through the exit gate four leather-clad riders came up on their big cruisers and passed unheeded through the entrance gate. Things do get better.

I know this is a little early but I just want to remind everyone that in 2007 Ride Your Motorcycle to Work Day is set for July 18.

You are familiar with Ride Your Motorcycle to Work Day, aren’t you? If not you should be. Here’s your chance.

On one day each year all motorcyclists are encouraged to ride their bikes to work. The idea is to get as many of us out there at the same time in order to make everyone else aware of how many of us there are. Also to make it clear that we are there and folks in cars and trucks need to drive as if we are there. Because we are. I don’t need to go into a discussion of the bazillion times every one of us has had to dodge someone who didn’t realize we were there.

So anyway, I’ll be mentioning this again several times as the day draws closer. In the meantime, you can find out all about this national event at the website: www.ridetowork.org.

Ride safely. Ride.

The days are truly gone when anyone riding a motorcycle was assumed to be a bad dude who you wanted to avoid. We all know this already anyway, and Hollister and the bad old days are very much in the past. Still, it is amusing where bikers show up these days.

For example, in the Business section of the Sunday Denver Post, in an article reprinted from Barron’s magazine, there was an article about how Duke Energy is spinning off a natural gas outfit. What does that have to do with motorcycles? Beats the heck out of me, but here’s what they said:

The split-up is the brainchild of Duke’s chairman, Paul Anderson, 61, a no-nonsense motorcycle enthusiast.

That’s it. Nothing else about bikes or riding in the article. What really makes this amusing is that long ago, when I was a newspaper reporter and editor, it was a given that you did not give particular information about a person unless it was central to the story. The prime example was that you did not identify someone by race unless race was part of the story. You would not say “John Jones, a black man, was honored for his contribution to the community.” You would, of course, say, “The alleged rapist was identified as a white man about 5 foot 9 and 190 pounds with a scar on his left cheek.”

So what does Paul Anderson’s passion for motorcycles have to do with the rest of this story? As I said, beats the heck out of me. But hey! We’re everywhere.

I really tip my helmet to the folks who rode their motorcycles in the 21st Annual Toy Run to The Children’s Hospital yesterday. It wasn’t just that it was cold. There is snow and ice on the streets, too. I admit I wasn’t planning on going on the ride anyway, but if I had been there’s no way I could have gotten out of my neighborhood.

This is the season for opportunism. When you have the opportunity you better take it or you’re likely to regret it. I make it a point to ride both my bikes at least once every single month of the year, and there are times when that has had me out in some pretty cold weather. I have an electric vest and I’m not afraid to use it. I also have thinsulate-lined gloves. And I don’t hesitate to put on seven layers of warmth. But here in Colorado you generally have decent opportunities to ride pretty regularly, if you just take advantage of them.

People who don’t live here really don’t understand about the weather here. My wife told me of a couple guys she had business dealings with who, finding themselves in Colorado in ski season and with time available, decided to hit the slopes. They were down in Denver and the sun was shining and it was comfortable so they left half their warm clothes in the hotel room. Bad choice. Go up another 4,000 feet in elevation and a warm 45 degree day in Denver turns into about a 10 degree day in the mountains, with strong winds.

At this time of year I’ve learned that if it’s Saturday, 30 degrees, and the roads are clear, I’d better go ride. Chances are it will get nicer, but if you don’t go now you have no one to blame but yourself when the clouds come in an hour later and the temperature drops 20 degrees. Or you figure you’ll ride tomorrow and overnight a foot of snow comes down.

Nope, you’ve got to do it when you can. No rain checks. What the heck, that’s why you bought the bike isn’t it?