Passes & Canyons Blog

I am frequently contacted by people offering me material to use on this blog, and most of the time it offers them some direct benefit if I do. Most of the time I just delete it because it’s not even relevant, but occasionally I’ll take a look and decide that it actually does have some value for motorcyclists.

With that intro you know what’s coming, right?

OK, so what we have here is what is called an infographic, that is, a graphic presenting information that, hopefully can be helpful and of use. This one is presented by Michael Padway and Associates, who describes himself on his site as “The Motorcycle Attorney.” It’s about riding in the rain: gear, safety tips, and checklist of things to have with you.

If you’ve been riding a long time there’s probably nothing on here that you don’t already know, but you never know. If you’re a new rider this is definitely good information. Because if you’re serious about riding motorcycles, you will ride in the rain.

So here it is; check it out. You just might learn something.

Biker Quote for Today

“The price of man in motion is the occasional collision. Motor racing is dangerous. In order to be competitive in this business it is necessary for both man and machine to operate at the outer edges of their respective performance envelopes. The closer we come to the edge, the greater the risk of falling off.” –Carroll Smith

You learn a lot in rider training classes; what you need to do then is put that knowledge to use.

I like to think I’m a pretty good rider. Not only have I been riding plenty for 25 years, I have also taken the Beginning Rider Course, the Experienced Rider Course, and the Rider Coach training to teach others to ride. So I’ve learned a few things along the way. Presumably I put at least some of what I’ve learned to use.

I was coming south on I-25 recently and traffic was middling thick. Apparently I wasn’t paying enough attention because all of a sudden I saw brake lights coming on in a hurry on the cars ahead and I was way too close to the guy right in front of me.

I went for the brakes hard and felt my rear tire lock up and start to slide sideways. I wasn’t overly concerned because I’ve experienced this before and reacted by pulling my foot off the brake. We had even practiced exactly this in a track day lesson I took one time.

This time was unlike any in the past. Whether it was because I was going faster, or I wasn’t as quick at getting off the brake, or whatever, when I did pull my foot off, the bike certainly straightened out and stood up right away but the front end also shook violently. I realized that that was exactly the sort of physics that would, under more extreme conditions, result in my getting through over the front end in a high-side crash. Fortunately, this time I rode it out.

That got me thinking about what we discussed in class. The general rule of thumb is that if your front end starts to slide you release the brake immediately. When the rear starts to slide the teaching is to ride it out, because if you don’t, you’re looking for a high-side.

But there seem to be discrepancies here. As I said, at a track day class we practiced braking till the slide started and then releasing. And that makes sense. If you don’t slide too much the counter action when you release presumably won’t be that great. Apparently, though, at higher speeds, and the further you’ve gone into the slide, the greater the counter action.

So what do you do in a case like the one I was in? In the split-second I had to think there was no thought in my mind of riding it out because I was pretty sure if I didn’t get off the brake right now that my back end was going to sweep around and I’d go down in a low-side crash. And I didn’t want to do that. So I raised my foot.

I don’t have the textbook answer as to what I should have done in this situation. I do know that what I did worked, so I have to think that wasn’t a totally bad response. But I’m thinking I need to discuss this with some of the very experienced rider coaches I know and get their thoughts. If I learn anything valuable I’ll let you know.

Biker Quote for Today

If you get it out of shape, gas it hard. It may not help but it’ll make it spectacular for anyone watching!

Everyone else on the road doesn't have to be your enemy.

Nobody tried to kill me this week.

I rode the Concours to work on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and every ride was uneventful. In thick rush-hour traffic. And not once did some idiot on their cell phone try to pull into my lane without looking. Or anything else. Amazing.

What was perhaps just as amazing was how I was able to observe a number of people really paying attention. Coming home on Wednesday, for example, I was headed south on Kipling and someone in the right-hand lane put on their turn signal to pull left. They were ahead of me and there was room for them to pull in but I backed off the throttle a bit to give them even more room. But this person knew I was there, and they were being very careful not to endanger me. They hesitated.

So I backed off even more to make it totally obvious that I was giving them space, and they finally did pull over. Hey, I’m glad to make room for you. You’re my friend. You looked, you saw me, and you were serious about not creating a hazard. I like you.

And there were other times as well. None quite as obvious as that one, but people really were paying attention. And nobody tried to kill me.

Oh yeah, it was also gorgeous weather to be riding. It’s hard to make going to work any nicer than this. Thursday was not a day to ride, for various reasons, but Friday may be. I just hope I can keep the string intact.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Only a biker knows . . .: Motorcycle with and wisdom, #34

Biker Quote for Today

“Do one thing every day that scares you.” — Kurt Caselli

Can you ride a U-turn on this road?

Some of the OFMC took a fall ride in the hills recently and we ended up in a situation that really got me thinking.

We went up Golden Gate Canyon and there was a spot where we came to a dirt road that a friend of Bill’s lives up. Bill had said that if the road wasn’t too bad he wanted to take a quick run up there and see his friend’s place. So we turned onto the road and stopped to survey the situation.

Now, Dennis made it clear he had no intention of going up this road under any circumstances. Dennis is short and can barely get to the ground with his tip-toes on his big Harley, and he refuses to do any dirt, ever. He and whoever else would just wait for whoever did go to return.

I was on my Honda so I was game to go; would have been a different story if I had been on the Concours. That Connie hates gravel.

We checked it out, though, and right away there was a pretty good uphill. As Dennis said, if that was the worst of it, it wouldn’t be too bad. If that was the best of it, it would be terrible. Bill, on his Harley, decided not to try it.

So we needed to turn around and get back on the main road. You can see in that photo above where we were and what turning around would entail.

Now, none of these guys is a novice rider. They’ve all been riding longer than me and Dennis especially has probably logged more miles on a motorcycle than the rest of us combined. But I have one advantage over all of them: I have taken both the Motorcycle Safety Foundation Beginning Rider Course and the Experienced Rider Course (now called the Advanced Rider Course). Plus, I trained to become a rider coach, although I never ended up doing that.

So without saying anything to them, I decided I would go first and lead by example, doing a riding turnaround. You can see in the road ahead where it gets a bit wider, and I rode up there and then used trail braking to make a slow, careful U-turn and then cruised on back to where they were sitting, waiting for their turns.

And this is the thing. With all their riding experience, none of these guys knows anything about trail braking. I watched as each one rode up to the wide spot and started making a turn, then stopped, backed up a little, and then completed their Y-turns. Of course this was especially hard for Dennis with his short legs. Pushing back–on gravel–when you can barely reach the ground is not easy.

Hey guys, it might surprise you how much you could learn if you took something like the Advanced Rider Course. Did watching me not make you think at all about improving your riding skills?

So what is trail braking, some of you might ask. It’s really simple. As you go into a slow motion turn, you rev the throttle a little to keep the bike from stalling and–primarily–to generate some gyroscopic force to keep the bike upright. But of course the last thing you want to do is go fast, so you also apply gentle pressure to your rear brake. The result of all this is that you have excellent control of the bike while moving at walking speed and you just stroll right on around. It really is as simple as it sounds. And you know what? They teach trail braking in the Advanced Rider Course.

I didn’t say anything to anyone that day but at some point I will. Not that I expect any of them to take the course. These are old dogs who aren’t interested in new tricks. But maybe if I explain to them what trail braking is, they might try that on their own. Maybe.

Biker Quote for Today

“But officer, bikes fall over if they aren’t going fast.”

I'm betting this is not a quiet motorcycle.

My wife sent me a link to a story on the National Public Radio website that she figured I would be interested in: Vroom, Vroom, Hmmmm: Motorcycles As Literary Metaphor. While I found the story interesting, I also found the comments interesting, but not in what these people had to say.

What was interesting was how predictable it all was.

Right off the bat was this remark: “It’s difficult for me to appreciate this story since I find the noise pollution produced by lots of motorcycles to be abhorrent. ”

Yeah, right from the word “Go!” the battle was on. And just as predictably, the riders lined up on two sides crying that loud pipes save lives and that skillful riders don’t need loud pipes to ride safely. The main point in my mind was that both sides were spouting some truth and a lot of bogus garbage. For instance, in some back and forth on loud pipes, the noise proponent said it helped make people aware of him in traffic when he was in someone’s blind spot. The reply was a blasting about “What the heck are you doing in someone’s blind spot in the first place!!!”

Hey, I’m sorry, but when you ride in traffic, such as when you use your bike to commute, you’re in heavy traffic a lot and you are constantly in and out of people’s blind spots. It’s inevitable. A skilled, attentive rider will make a point to be aware and to spend as little time as possible in blind spots but you are in and out of them constantly, if only for a second or two.

Heck, just today I was riding home and twice had people start to pull into my lane because they didn’t do a head check and at the instant they decided to make their move I was in their blind spot. I pay a lot of attention to blind spots but they are unavoidable.

But here’s what I have new to add to the discussion. A few days ago I was in my car going down a similarly crowded multi-lane street, and I knew there was a guy on a bike a little behind me to my left. And from what I could tell, this guy was not paying attention to where he was in my field of view. You know what? He was on a Harley and even when I couldn’t see him in my mirror I could hear him. I knew he was there.

Now, I’ve always been more inclined toward the skilled-riders-don’t-need-loud-pipes position. I have three bikes and they’re all quiet. Somehow I’ve never been in an accident; must be skill or attentiveness or something. And I know that most of the noise a bike makes is heard behind it, not in front of it where it matters most. But there I was, hearing this guy even when I couldn’t see him. I just don’t think you can deny across the board that no, loud pipes don’t save any lives ever. Maybe not as many lives as some people would like to think, but I suspect they do save a few.

Is that justification for making a lot of the non-riding population hate us by blasting them with mega-noise? Absolutely not. I didn’t say this guy was really, really loud, he was just on a bike that does make some noise–a good bit more than the Kawasaki I was on today. And that was enough. Just because some noise can be a good thing, that doesn’t imply that absolutely deafening noise is a better thing.

How about if we all just use common sense? You guys who want your bikes loud, don’t go overboard. Don’t go making us enemies everywhere you go. And you guys who think loud pipes are worse than useless, it won’t hurt you to admit that there’s probably at least a kernel of truth in the claim. And how about if we all make it totally clear to the real offenders that even other riders don’t care for the black eye they’re giving us all?

Personally, with those guys I really don’t believe that safety is the issue at all. They’re just using that as an excuse to hide the fact that they’re too self-centered to care about anyone but themselves. Don’t let them get away with it.

Biker Quote for Today

Turns gasoline into noise without the burdensome byproduct of horsepower.

You don't see these guys using their cellphones but how much do you want to bet that people in cars take this road while using theirs?

I see that the American Motorcyclist Association is endorsing “Cell Phone Courtesy Month,” zeroing in on the “Focus on Driving” item in the list. Great idea, but we all know just about how much impact it is likely to have.

Just for background, Cell Phone Courtesy Month is something created by “etiquette expert Jacqueline Whitmore” and frankly it strikes me as being as much a promotional ploy for her business as anything, but if she gets some traction on it, good for her. Most of the items in her list have nothing to do with driving or motorcycles; they’re just common courtesy items that we probably all wish people would follow. Things like “Keep it private” and “Avoid ‘cell yell'” that we are all too familiar with.

But item number 12 is this:

Focus on driving. Practice wireless responsibility while driving. Don’t make or answer calls while in heavy traffic or in hazardous driving conditions. Place calls when your vehicle is not moving, and use a hands-free device to help focus attention on safety. Always make safety your most important call.

Wow, don’t we wish!?

Of course, Colorado has a law against texting while driving and we all know how that has totally brought an end to that practice, right? Yeah, right.

Meanwhile, people don’t have to be on their cell phones to create hazards for motorcyclists. Once again just this week I had the opportunity to loudly announce to someone wanting my lane that “Hey lady, I’m here!!!” She wasn’t on her cell phone; she was just annoyed at the slow driver ahead of her and wanted to zip around. Probably even checked her mirror, too, but did not turn her head to do a head check. Typical.

So I’m not going to get excited but it sure can’t hurt. What the heck, maybe it will make your next dinner in a restaurant more pleasant.

Biker Quote for Today

ATGATT: If you don’t think you need a helmet, you probably don’t.

Monday is Ride to Work Day. Let's flood the streets with motorcycles.

I would normally publish on Monday but then there would be no lead time. So today is Sunday and I’m alerting you that tomorrow, Monday, June 16, is Ride to Work Day and if you can you really ought to ride your motorcycle to work. I will definitely be doing my part.

We’re in luck, too, because it is supposed to be a gorgeous day. Warm, sunny, and little chance of rain. Just no excuses.

Of course excuses are way too easy to come by. I generally go to the gym after work on Mondays and Thursdays and it gets a little tight trying to fit my briefcase, my rain gear, and my gym bag all into the bags on my bike. There’s plenty of room for two of the three but getting all three in is pushing it. So the lazy side of me says, “Oh, forget it, just drive.”

The biker side of me, however, says, “No, no, no. Too many years you have missed this either because you were off on vacation on this date or because you had no regular office-type job to ride to. This year you can actually do it and by golly, you’re going to!!”

Of course, this year it will be easier, too, because now that I have the V-Strom with two huge side bags as well as a top bag, getting it all in won’t be a problem. So look for me on the road tomorrow.

And just in case you’ve never heard of Ride to Work Day (where have you been living?), it’s a day for motorcyclists to show solidarity and make the non-riding public aware of just how many of us there are out there, and that they need to be aware that we are there.

Lord knows the non-riding public needs to have their awareness raised. The last two times I’ve ridden to work I’ve had to dodge three drivers who decided they wanted to be in my lane and never bothered to see if perhaps that lane might be occupied. Yeah, they may have checked their mirrors but we all know that’s not enough. They need to turn their heads and look–do a head check. In once case the driver started moving into my lane but apparently managed to spot me and swerved back.

In the other two cases, they didn’t see me at all and when I blew my horn long and loud they were totally startled and waved their hands apologetically. I did use the horn for an excessive amount of time because I really wanted to make the point that it was not OK.

So come on, let’s make people wonder where the heck all these motorcycles came from. Ride to work tomorrow.

Biker Quote for Today

My first car was a motorcycle.

At least in Florida they warn you what to look out for -- panthers.

It seems apropos to revisit this thread from the Adventure Riders forum, “What is the strangest thing you hit/almost hit?” The weather is warm, there are lots of bikes out on the road again, and at least many riders have had the bike put away for the winter.

So this is a cautionary tale, a reminder that stuff happens out there, often when you least expect it. Here are a few things that other riders have encountered.

• A big fat woman in short shorts, about 11 pm doing her best Jesse Owens sprint across the highway. Missed her by a foot probably. Her drunk boy friend was on the other shoulder telling her to get across the road.
• Last week on my way home from work at 3am the road was on fire. 2 small patches about 5 inches each and about 3 feet apart. And not another car to be found anywhere. Was too weird to even stop, went around and kept on heading home. Strange.
• One time coming around a corner in some twisties I came across a sheet of plywood – it was too big to avoid, so had to go over it. As I went across, it started to slide, I started on the inside of the corner and came out near the gutter. I was still maintaining traction, kept my line and everything was normal…it was just that the the road I was on moved 3 feet.
• I was on the Causeway (24mile bridge) coming back from NoLa, and someone threw a dirty (poop-loaded) diaper out the window – right in the face-shield, glad I had leather on that day.
• An unidentified glob of gelatinous goo the size of a small pumpkin off the back of a garbage truck when it went over the railroad tracks. Hit me dead center in the chest. Had to throw away the riding jacket because I couldn’t get the horrible smell out. (even tried the pressure washer at the car wash).
• Traveling down W bound I69 into Flint Michigan, someone had lost a load of pallets in the road. I choose a clear path and thought I had it made till the woman in the van next to me decided my lane looked better than hers. I took the shoulder and a pallet square on. Stayed up, but sent wood and splinters everywhere.
• On I270S heading towards Washington, DC during the morning commute I saw a large wedge of geese heading east. There was a drainage ditch on the east side of the highway that they seemed to be aiming for. Unfortunately, the tour buses that were also heading south did not fit into their computations. The geese hit the buses and soon dead or dying goose missiles were coming at me from all angles. I do not have any idea how I managed to avoid getting hit. I just ducked (hah!) and rode through the onslaught.
• Earlier this summer I hit a black garbage bag kicked up by traffic in front of me. It hit my handlebars and stuck there, flapping right in my face so I couldn’t really see anything at all. Not really a strange thing to hit, all things considered, but definitely not a pleasant thing to hit. At least it wasn’t something heavy or solid, I guess.
• As a teenager years ago I was woods riding with a couple friends when a large black snake dropped from a tree ..and wrapped around my neck. I screamed like a girl, let go of the bike and was ran over by my buddy. Got a couple scars from that one.
• I hit a muffler and later a Porcupine on the same night. Made me start riding a little slower.
• A Dragonfly…well didn’t hit him but it came under my helmet and got trapped inside my face shield…..I couldn’t get it opened fast enough. Pretty weird feeling having a dragonfly bouncing off your face.
• I was riding home from work on 66 from the beltway around D.C. I saw a 5 gallon paint bucket fall off of the back of a paint truck. It started to spin and bounce and I did what I have always heard, aim for it and by the time you get there, it will not be. It just caught my foot peg and broke open. I got just a little on the bike, but the car behind me caught almost the whole bucket worth on his windshield. Wipers didn’t do much and he wound up into the guard rail. I stopped to give my testimony to the Police. That one was pretty wild.

And wow, I didn’t see it coming, but this is the end of this thread. I guess it will be quite awhile before I pull stuff off this one, until a whole bunch more people tell their stories.

Whatever. Be careful out there, you never know what you’ll run into.

Biker Quote for Today

After reading through this thread I’ve come to the conclusion that more people cruise the internet looking for reasons why X bike won’t work in Y scenario rather than actually riding their motorcycles. — RyanR