Passes & Canyons Blog

If we feel vulnerable on our motorcycles, how vulnerable must scooter riders feel?

I have no idea what led up to this but I caught the very end of an ugly encounter on Wednesday.

Following my surgery in March I am now going to rehab sessions three times a week over at Porter Hospital. I was heading north on Downing, getting near Porter, when my eye was caught by the unusual motion of a scooter heading south.

The guy on the scooter was pretty interesting all by himself. He was wearing a helmet and for a jacket he wore a Mexican-style serape. Kind of odd looking. But that was not the point.

The point was that there was a pick-up right behind him, very close, and as I watched the scooter came to a very abrupt, very unstable stop, and as the pick-up blasted on past him the obviously angry rider threw up his arms in a middle finger salute. Holy crap, what just happened?

Of course the supposition is that the pick-up was crowding the scooter. Maybe he was not going fast enough for the pick-up driver’s sense of urgency or whatever. Whatever the case I’d say it’s pretty certain the guy in the pick-up was being a total jerk.

It wouldn’t be the first time. Heck, one time I watched as a guy in a pick-up deliberately pulled up slowly behind a motorcycle and tapped bumpers. The rider pulled forward and the guy pulled forward again and tapped his bumper again. Deliberately. Just being a jerk. Why do people do things like that?

I’ll never know the details of this vignette over by Porter but I will remember for a long time what I saw.

Biker Quote for Today

The only way to see the sunset is to ride into it.

What if that blue Honda suddenly–and quickly–moved into the lane to its left? That’s how it was for me except there weren’t all these other bikes ahead of me.

On Thursday last week I took my first ride after more than two months, thanks to bypass surgery, and it was not without its very own moment of excitement.

My timing (bad timing) was such that I was homeward bound up I-25 in the middle of rush hour. There was a bit of stop and go but mostly we were moving pretty well. Of course, you know how it is in that kind of traffic. If you want to change lanes you need to act quickly when the opportunity presents itself. And a woman in a Nissan Altima did just that.

I’m sure she looked in her mirror and saw an opening and jumped on it. What I’m also sure she did not do was to do a head check–turn her head to see for sure that the lane was clear and nobody was in her blind spot. And guess who, at that particular instant, was indeed in her blind spot.

So I’m cruising along trying to maintain a distance between myself and the car in front of me so I’m not constantly braking and accelerating and with no warning whatsoever this car next to me starts moving decisively into my lane . . . which is where I am. We were probably going between 30 and 40 miles an hour and I had to brake hard to let her get ahead of me. I braked hard enough that I nearly stalled the bike and with no speed the bike started to lay down, such that I put my left foot out to hold us up. Plus, this meant I was veering into the adjacent lane to my left.

I got it all stabilized and got moving again and I could hear the guy behind me blowing his horn long and loud. I knew he wasn’t blowing it at me, but at the woman who cut in on me. After a moment I was able to move into the right lane and I sped up to pull alongside her. I shook my fist at her and blew my horn, and meanwhile the guy who had been behind me–a guy in a CDOT tow truck–was right behind her blowing his horn. She just stared straight ahead: I see nothing. I hear nothing.

Then a minute later the tow truck guy pulled up alongside me and rolled his window down, yelling to ask if I was OK. I gave him a thumbs up and a nod of thanks.

So yeah, first ride after being off the bike awhile and already some excitement. I only wonder if I would have been more alert to the intention of this driver if I hadn’t been away from riding for so long. I’ll never know, but that’s all the more reason I want to get in a good 1,000 miles this month before we take off on this Canada trip. I always want to be at the top of my game when I’ve got Judy on behind me.

Biker Quote for Today

Don’t fear dying, fear not living.

What goes on under the gold dome affects us all.

An issue near and dear to the hearts of many motorcyclists is distracted driving. You know, those idiots in cars who are paying more attention to their cell phones than to the road and putting us, in particular, at risk.

Sen. Lois Court, Democrat of District 31 in Arapahoe County, had introduced a bill (SB18-049) this session to extend the current ban on all drivers under 18 from using their phones while driving to encompass all drivers. The bill would also have increased the penalty from $50 to $300 and would have extended the ban to cover all wireless devices, not just phones. Notice the use of the words “would have.” The bill died in committee.

Who can possibly believe it is OK to be using your cell phone while you’re driving. Oh, I don’t know, maybe a bunch of legislators who do this very thing themselves. “I can do this safely; it’s those other idiots who are a danger.”

Anyway, per Stump, the motorcyclist rights lobbyist representing ABATE of Colorado down at the legislature, Sen. Court and supporters of the measure are planning an open strategy meeting on how to work to get something like this passed. That meeting will be this Thursday at Racine’s, 650 Sherman, at 6:30 p.m. If you care about this issue you might attend. I may be there. If I am, I’ll report back to you on what transpires. (Later: Oops, no I won’t be going. That is the same time as my RMMRC meeting.)

Stump was telling us Sunday at the ABATE District 10 meeting that there are no bills in the legislature this session directly addressing motorcycles, although there are a number having to do with all users of the roads. It’s not for lack of trying. But to get a bill in front of the legislature requires a sponsor. Legislators are limited in the number of bills they can introduce so you have to find someone who is willing to address your issue.

Stump joked (half-joked) about trying to get Sen. Kevin Grantham, Republican of Senate District 2, south and west of Colorado Springs, to go big. Sen. Grantham is being term-limited after this session so Stump wants to suggest that he “go out with a bang.” How about an all-inclusive motorcycling bill addressing red lights that don’t recognize motorcycles, stopping profiling of motorcyclists for stops, and allowing lane-splitting.

Yeah, that would be great. Probably not going to happen but you never know. Stump can be pretty persuasive. Fun to think about but I’m not holding my breath.

On the other hand, this distracted driving bill has a dedicated sponsor. Maybe if enough people get behind it we can make something happen.

Biker Quote for Today

Don’t let my motorcycle ride interfere with the safety of your phone call.

After perfect riding weather yesterday, this is what today is like. That’s February in Colorado.

I turned over 29,000 miles on my V-Strom Sunday. It was a fabulous, warm day to ride and there were a lot of bikes out. Temperatures were in the high 60s and everywhere I went there were motorcycles. Now today, Monday, it’s looking like that photo above. That wasn’t shot today but it may as well have been.

So yeah, I turned over that thousand-mile mark. Back in November all three of my bikes were very near turning over one thousand or another and I decided I would make it a point to turn each of them before the end of the year. Then in December my Mom’s illness and death stepped in and the only bike that made it past that 000 mark was the Concours. Of course I rode in January and again earlier in February, but I never did make it to that roll-over on the V-Strom till yesterday. I still haven’t gotten there on the CB750.

I had one bit of a thrill yesterday. It wasn’t part of my plan but I have been needing to stop in at some antique shops on South Broadway and I found myself in the area so what the heck. I was cruising fairly slowly up Broadway and spotted a parking space open in front of the shops I was headed for. I braked to pull over and Whoa! My rear tire locked up and slid out to the left and as I quickly let go of the brake the bike righted itself and shook the way it does when you high-side. I maintained control because I just wasn’t going that fast but it was a big surprise.

After I got parked I went over and looked at the pavement but there wasn’t even a skid mark to indicate my slide. I wanted to see if I had hit a bit of oil or sand or who knows what but the road all looked clear and with no skid mark I couldn’t be exactly sure where the slide happened. Oh well.

Now, I’ve taken a number of rider training courses and I know when your rear wheel locks up you are supposed to hold the brake on until you stop. If not, the result can be a high-side. And while I’ve never been thrown, I have had the experience leading up to it on a number of occasions, but ridden it out safely. It seems to be something I just haven’t gotten locked in my brain despite the training.

I think the reason it doesn’t come naturally is that it isn’t natural. On Sunday it all happened so quickly that I had no time at all to think. But another time I recall, I did have time to think. I was on I-25 in fairly heavy traffic and the car in front of me hit his brakes. I hit mine–I didn’t think that hard–and next thing I knew my rear wheel was sliding out. Well, I had time to think about riding it to a stop but I was on the freaking interstate in traffic and coming to a dead stop didn’t seem like such a good idea. So I eased off the brake.

Wham! The bike stood up and shook violently, with the force that throws you forward and over clearly discernible. Again, I was able to maintain–or regain–control and I stayed up. But that was pretty scary. And what else could I have done?

I’m going to have to think this one over. Maybe I can contact some experts and get their thoughts. If I learn anything I’ll be back to pass it along.

Biker Quote for Today

Riding a motorcycle is 10% hands and feet and 90% mind and eyes.

Yeah, we did things differently way back then.

Do you ever ride stoned? I mean, hey, we can talk about these things. Marijuana is legal in Colorado. (Riding stoned is not!!)

We used to, some of us in the OFMC. A long time ago. Boy, you better believe we don’t any more. And I really don’t think it’s so much because we realized that riding impaired is stupid. I think it happened because we just got to where we couldn’t imagine riding stoned. “I can’t ride–I’m freaking high!”

But we used to. At least John and I. John had this thing where we’d head out in the morning but stop pretty soon, usually both to “drain the unit” and so John could pull out his pipe. Bill didn’t generally partake, but would on the rare occasion.

And then we’d get back on the bikes and head off again. It was not a problem. We never had a crash or any other issues.

Then I remember one time we were headed up to Encampment, Wyoming, and were in the Snowy Range and stopped at an alpine lake. Friggs surprised us by pulling out some weed that he told us his ladyfriend had confiscated from her son. Of course we were happy to toke at the kid’s expense, but a short time later I realized that wow, I was really stoned. And I wasn’t exactly enthused to get back on the bike.

But I did and we went on and all was fine. For me, I think that was the point where smoking and riding didn’t seem like such a good idea any more. I can’t speak for John on where it hit him but I do know that nowadays he just doesn’t even consider riding stoned, either. (Of course, John just sold his bike, so he’s not riding at all now.)

So am I saying it’s really cool to get high and ride, and you should just ignore all the “Ride Sober” warnings you see? Heck no, riding high is stupid. I know that now. Just like I know now that riding without a helmet is stupid, but I used to do that. Used to ride without eye protection. Just how stupid can you get?

I see this as proof that society does make progress. Or at least it can at times. I’m not anything close to the only one who used to do all these things. People learn. People change. Public attitudes change. It’s really not appropriate to judge ideas from an era long ago on the basis of current thinking, although a lot of people do. That doesn’t mean some of these ideas were any less wrong then than they are now, but they were prevalent and accepted. We’ve gotten smarter. Now they’re not accepted. But they were then.

Is there a point I’m making here? I had to ask myself that question. Maybe this: You had an excuse before; maybe not a good one but an excuse nonetheless. You don’t have any excuse now. Get with the century. Welcome to this century.

Biker Quote for Today

Bikers don’t go gray, we turn chrome.

You go where you look.

Whatever you do, don’t think about pink elephants. Ha! Right, now there’s no way that you can’t think about pink elephants even though they were the furthest thing from your mind a moment ago. OK, try this. You’re putting down the road on your favorite two-wheeled iron steed and there’s a big pot hole up ahead. You really, really don’t want to hit that pot hole, so you keep your eye on it very carefully, but inexorably you head right for it, and Whump!, you bounce right through it. Dang, what just happened?

Welcome to target fixation.

The very simple fact about target fixation is that, whether you’re on a motorcycle, in a car, or whatever, you will go where you look. I know. I’ve seen the truth of this up close and personal more than once.

The first time was years ago when I was learning to fly a hang glider. I launched off the low hill we were using for training, with the simple intent of flying forward as far as I could. I got lucky and hit an updraft that popped me up nicely, so I was in for a good little ride. As I approached the landing area I saw the 10-foot aluminum pole stuck in the ground with a flag on top to indicate wind direction.

“Definitely don’t want to fly into that,” I thought.

So with my eyes locked on it, to my horror, I kept heading directly toward the pole. Just before I would have hit it I pushed out on the bar to flare the glider up and over it. That was successful. But at the slow speed I now had I had initiated a stall, and as soon as I got over the pole the nose dipped sharply down and I dove into the ground. I was a little banged up but the glider got it much worse than I did.

The next time was on my Honda CB750. After another, much more serious crash on my hang glider I sold the glider and used the money to buy the bike. I was out with the OFMC on one of our first summer trips and we were coming down some canyon road. There was a rock I’d judge to be about 5 inches square lying in the middle of my lane.

“Definitely don’t want to hit that,” I told myself. And then I proceeded to run right over it, bouncing the front wheel high in the air for the only wheelie I’ve ever done on that bike.

It was after that that I finally learned about target fixation. You will go where you are looking. If you want to avoid a hazard you MUST look away from it, not at it. Look to your escape route, not at the hazard.

The trouble is, it’s not that easy to do. Your natural instinct is to look at the object–let’s face it, you’re extremely interested in it because it is a definite threat. You’ve got to have the presence of mind to overcome that instinct.

Fortunately, with discipline and practice you can train yourself. Now, periodically when I’m riding, I’ll look ahead and pick a spot on the road that I designate as a hazard and then select another spot that I designate as safe. I keep my focus on the “safe” spot, steer through it, and avoid the “hazard.” Then when I come upon a real pot hole or rock or object lying in the road, my instinct to look at it is not as strong, and my brain can take charge.

Be careful out there!

Biker Quote for Today

Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall. Torque is how far you take the wall with you.

Helmet protection is seriously reduced when you don’t connect the strap–but you knew that.

I never go for a ride without encountering something that sticks in my memory, at least for a while. Some are more memorable than others.

I was headed to my ABATE District 10 meeting on Sunday and the first thing that hit me was that, oh my gosh, I forgot to attach the strap on my helmet. I had just gotten onto I-225 so it wasn’t like I could just do the strap at a stop light or something. Helmets don’t really work very well if they’re not attached so I figured I’d better take things pretty cautiously. And in the meantime I was strategizing about grabbing for my head in case something bad happened.

Of course nothing did, nothing ever does (knock wood), but you bet it had my attention.

Then as I proceeded up I-225 I was in the center lane and two guys on bikes came up on my left. One was on a sportbike of some kind and the other was on a Harley Sportster. Just ahead of us there were cars in both lanes. We were going 70. What did these guys do? They just blasted right up between the two cars and shot on out of sight. OK, I’ve done some lane-splitting, even on rare occasions in Colorado, but never when traffic was going 70. I don’t think I want to go for a ride with those guys.

Then in the stretch between 6th Avenue and Colfax, where I get off when going to ABATE, I encountered–as I always do–what I consider a true hazard on the road. For most of that stretch there is a gap in the pavement about two inches wide separating the lane of continuing traffic with the lane of exiting traffic. Two inches is a big gap!

I always very deliberately cross it at as sharp an angle as I can and it’s never an issue because I do this. But what would happen to a bike if the rider wasn’t paying attention–or maybe it’s dark at night–and you let your front tire drop into this groove? It would have to be scary at the very least and could very easily be a lot worse than scary.

I really don’t understand how CDOT can allow this sort of thing. The fact that it is unsafe goes without saying. But they do, and this is not the only place I’ve seen this sort of thing. A two-inch gap in the pavement when traffic is going across it at a right angle is one thing. Running parallel with traffic is something else entirely. Just be forewarned if you’re riding this stretch of road.

Biker Quote for Today

“Sometimes this place is like watching a truck left turn in front of someone you’re riding with.” — JonnyLotto

Riding with friends doesn’t mean riding just like your friends.

Motorcycle riding, like so much else in life, is a matter of learning by doing. The following are a dozen lessons learned through more than 25 years and 100,000 miles on two wheels.

1. Get yourself some friends
If you’re not carrying a passenger, riding is a solitary activity at its core. You can be with other people but when you’re running down the road you’re all alone on that bike. That makes it all the more enjoyable to have friends with you when you stop. “Wow, did you see that bald eagle on top of that tree?” “Did that jerk come as close to running you off the road as it looked like from my view?” “Which direction do you think we ought to head now?”

Plus, if you go down it’s awfully nice to have friends to come to the rescue. Riding buddies are a good thing.

2. Signal your intentions
Cagers (people in cars) are generally the biggest threat to bikers but sometimes your buddies can be a threat, too. Does that pull-out on the left have a great view? Fine, pull off, but don’t assume the guys following you know why you’re slowing down. Signal your intent. For all you know, the guy behind you is impatient with your slow speed and is just about to pull around you to pick up the pace. If you make a left just as he twists the throttle your trip could come to an unpleasant end. Don’t let that happen.

3. Ride your own ride
Next to brain-dead cagers, the majority of motorcycle accidents are of the single-vehicle variety. That frequently means the rider pushed beyond their ability. This is the kind of thing that can happen when you’re riding with others and the leader is setting an aggressive pace. You may not be comfortable taking these tight turns at this speed but you want to keep up.

Bad idea. You can always catch up later. Don’t put yourself at risk when safety is at stake. Ride your own ride.

4. Don’t hesitate to go it alone
As enjoyable as it is to ride with friends, sometimes they’ve all got other plans. If you take off on your own you may find the freedom to stop when you want, go where you want, and do whatever your heart desires to be downright addictive. Of course it doesn’t hurt to have a cell phone with you in case you have trouble, but don’t pass up a great riding day just because you can’t find someone to join you.

5. Make like a Boy Scout and always “be prepared”
Sure, the sun is shining and it’s warm now, but don’t let that persuade you that you don’t need rain gear or warm clothes. It’s guaranteed to be very unpleasant if you find yourself out miles from anywhere and the skies open up. Particularly if you have saddle bags, there’s really no excuse for not carrying the gear you might need at all times.

6. Know your bike
Modern motorcycles are extremely reliable but user error can thwart the best technological design. Here’s a real-life example. Most bikes have petcocks that switch between the regular fuel supply and the reserve. On most bikes, the three positions for that lever are “Open,” “Shut,” and “Reserve.”

On some Kawasakis, however, the positions are “Open,” Reserve,” and “Prime.” Perhaps you don’t pay attention to this difference, and, after filling up, switch from Reserve to Open–you think. But in fact you have switched from Reserve to Prime. The next time you start up the bike it barely runs. Why? Because with that petcock in the Prime position it has been dribbling fuel into the cylinders continually, and that fuel has been seeping past your rings into the oil pan. Bikes don’t run well with their oil pans full of gasoline. (Hint: I did this twice before I figured it out.)

Get thoroughly acquainted with your motorcycle and everyone will be much happier.

7. Get schooled
Numerous studies show that the majority of motorcyclists who get killed on the road have not taken any sort of rider training. What more do you need to know?

8. Assume you’re invisible
The most common phrase spoken by a cager who just hit a motorcyclist is “I didn’t see him.” It doesn’t matter why this is, it matters that you take it to heart. If you pretend to yourself that you are invisible, and ride as if that were true, you’ll make decisions that will usually negate that driver’s inattention.

9. Take your time
Sometimes the best part of the trip is the unplanned, unscheduled stop or sidetrip. If you’re in too big a hurry to stop and enjoy the trip you might as well go by car.

10. Lean into adventure
This goes hand in hand with taking your time. The best motorcycle roads are the ones less traveled by cars, trucks, RVs, and the like. Don’t look for the shortest distance between two points, those roads are straight. Find the roads that curve.

11. Be opportunistic
“If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.” Numerous parts of the country claim this line, and it’s something to take in consideration. If you want to go for a ride today and it’s gorgeous right now, go right now. You just don’t know what the sky will look like two hours from now.

12. Pick it up!
Amazing as it may seem, even petite women can pick up huge, heavy motorcycles laying on the ground. It’s all a matter of technique. Use the wrong technique and at best you will fail, and if it gets worse you may get a hernia. Learn how to pick up your machine and you won’t end up looking like a fool – or worse, in the hospital.

Biker Quote for Today

Why motorcycles are better than men: Motorcycles don’t insult you if you are a bad rider.