Passes & Canyons Blog

If you live in Colorado there’s a good chance you occasionally ride in Utah and Nebraska, east and west of us. This current legislative session they’ve both had some potentially good bills introduced that have to do with motorcycles, but it doesn’t look like anything will make it into law.

In Utah they have a bill that would allow lane-splitting. Lane-splitting is when bikes go down the road between cars when the cars are stopped or slowed way down in traffic jams. California is the only U.S. state that currently allows this, and it works fine there. More than that, the rest of the world does it and it works fine all over the world. Go to Paris or Rome or just about any place of your choosing and see how well it works. Why do we have to be the dummies who think there’s something wrong with this?

Well, Utah is going to stay a dummy. According to a story in the Deseret News, “Several members of the House Transportation Committee said they had safety concerns about HB281, and they voted 7-1 to table the measure until more study is done.” Can you say “dead”? Why this euphemism about “tabled”? Well the guy who introduced it–a Republican I will note–said he’ll reintroduce it next session. Till then . . .

Over in Nebraska they’ve been kicking around the idea of repealing their helmet law. I don’t care how stupid you might think anyone is to ride without a helmet, I simply believe it should be the rider’s choice. I always wear a helmet these days (not true in my younger days) and so this law would have no effect on me, but I just don’t think it’s the government’s place to forcing us to be “safe.” Why don’t they outlaw using cell phones when you’re driving? They’d save more lives that way, if that was truly what they cared about. Of course they’d save even more lives if they just outlawed motor vehicles. You know what they say: If it saves even just one life . . . !

So will you be able to ride lidless in Nebraska soon? Not likely. As in, fat chance.

They do apparently have the votes to make it happen, if it could just come to a vote. But guess what? The opponents are filibustering it. Who cares what the majority wants, if we can keep it from coming to a vote the minority rules! I couldn’t have been more pleased when the U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid changed the filibuster rules there. The Republicans screamed bloody murder but you better believe they’ll be overjoyed for what Harry has done the next time they’re in the majority.

But hey, it’s just like baseball: There’s always next year.

Biker Quote for Today

“The motorcycle, being poorly designed for both flight and marine operation, sustained significant external and internal damage,” police noted.

Have you scared yourself recently? On your bike, I mean?

I’m happy to say I haven’t–recently–but that doesn’t mean I haven’t scared myself to death a few times over the years. I think the improvement comes with a lot of experience, plus, taking some rider training courses didn’t hurt me, either.

I don’t think there’s anything that scares me more than getting leaned over in a curve and seeing an unavoidable patch of gravel, and then feeling that rear tire slip. There’s nothing to do at that point except ride it through, and fortunately that’s generally what happens. In less than a heartbeat you’re through the gravel and your tire hooks up with the pavement again. Whew!

Carrying too much speed into the curve is another situation where that adrenaline pump can kick in big time. It probably happens most often when you think you’ve got the speed judged well but then the curve gets progressively tighter and all of a sudden, oh my god, hang on! The saving grace there, if you have the guts, is that your bike and tires are capable of a lot more than what you generally call on them for. If you don’t do something foolish, such as deliberately laying it down, you can usually ride it through.

In later years I’ve taken to practicing leaning as far off the bike as I have the courage to, to the inside of the curve. The more you move your weight in that direction the more you are able to stand the bike up, and the more upright the bike is the more traction you have. You see the racers do it all the time but who among the rest of us schlubs has the guts to drag a knee? Not me, but I still practice it as much as I can so that if the need arises some day I will have as much going for me as possible.

The trouble is, though, that sometimes you can be doing everything right but you’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time. There was one time I was coming north on Federal and was stopping at a red light at Alameda. Taking it easy, no big deal, when all of a sudden the bike started going sideways. I hadn’t seen anything but apparently someone had leaked some oil on the road right there.

I threw out my leg and braced it and my foot hit the ground hard. It was just enough to bounce me back over the other way, at which point I threw that leg out and braced it and hit hard. That bounced me back the other way again and kept me upright and I was able to save the situation. Holy crap. It happened so fast, was over so quickly, and all I could do was thank my lucky stars and my reflexes. It’s probably also a good thing I was on a smaller bike, my CB750 Custom, or else there’s no way I could have stopped the fall. And that bike’s not light, just over 500 pounds, but at least it’s not 800 pounds or more like a lot of the bigger bikes these days.

Yeah, I haven’t been scared in quite a while. I do think it’s mostly because I’m a better rider, but I know some of it has to be luck. The fact that I may draw a short straw some day isn’t going to stop me from riding. But more and more I think it has kept me from riding stupid.

Biker Quote for Today

Nine mile skid on a ten mile ride. Hot as a pistol but cool inside.

We had our piano moved on Saturday and it was a spectacle of coordination and communication. These guys were pros.

They had specific terms for each move in the process and they were constantly checking in with each other. Not once did someone decide to push the piano some direction without first asking, “Can I come your way?” or whatever the move called for. Going downstairs they confirmed with each other step by step and had total control of this large, heavy burden with never any confusion at all. None.

I was fascinated. And I got to thinking how that was so not like so many group motorcycle rides I’ve been on. The worst case I can think of happened in our early days, a story I know I’ve told before.

Bill and John and I were going up over a pass in Utah, with me in the lead, and we were approaching a turn-out on our left with a great view. I decided to pull off but just an instant before I made my move Bill went shooting by me. He apparently was tired with my pokey speed and wanted to bump things up a bit. If I had moved an instant sooner we would both have been on the ground and not in good condition. We learned a lot from that experience.

It’s all about communication. Of course, back in those days there weren’t a lot of people who had communicators and those of us in the OFMC still don’t, except for the rider to passenger communicators Judy and I have and John and Cheryl have. But even back then there were hand signals. You just had to agree on what they meant and then use them. Of course, turn signals are good, too, and if I had used mine on that pass Bill might not have gone shooting by me. But they don’t do a thing for you if you don’t use them.

I know I did a post some years ago where I provided a link to a web page displaying a number of basic motorcycle hand signals. Well, I’m going to do it again here because this graphic includes several more, different signals that strike me as pretty useful.

This latest graphic comes from a blog by a guy name Michael Padway, a motorcycle attorney. You know how it is, these guys want to get your attention so if you have a crash you’ll think of them and give them a call. Sometimes in the process they really do create and offer materials that are worthwhile. I think this is one of those times. And apparently the guy does ride.

Actually I think both of these displays of signals is good because they both have at least a few that the other lacks. So point your riding buddies to both of them and then talk it over before your next ride. The skin you save may be your own.

Biker Quote for Today

You’re a biker wannabe if you’ve had to replace your tires, but because they were too old and not too worn.

So with the snow and cold weather just about one of the weirdest things you might have seen on the road lately was a motorcycle. No, I haven’t seen any in at least a week, have you? But the weather is warming up, our road is starting to show through the ice, and it looks like there will be riding to do this weekend.

Meanwhile, it’s time for another edition of what’s the weirdest stuff you’ve encountered on the road, courtesy of a thread from the Adventure Riders forum. Let’s not waste time.

• Here’s a new one, from today’s ride. I was motoring along home on a two lane highway and see what appears to be a short tree branch in my lane up ahead. I change lane position enough to miss it, and look down as I pass it. WTF? It’s a disembodied deer foreleg, perfectly intact and not missing any hair, from the hoof up to the knee. No deer carcass anywhere in sight, no grease spot or blood patch anywhere.
• The rider in front of me by about 15 feet did not put his hard box on right. That BMW pannier fell off right in front of me and I swerved so fast, I almost high sided. We were going about 70 miles an hour. Make sure they are snapped in place, folks.
• Years ago, riding down a back alley, only going about 15 mph, a little robin flew into my right coat pocket. I stopped and tried to find him, but couldn’t see a thing. Next thing I knew, the little guy popped out and flew off. It was the strangest thing.
• Hit a yellow jacket that landed just below my helmet. It didn’t die and quickly climbed into my helmet and proceeded to sting me. NOT fun.
• A house. First time on a bike (1973) on a Honda 50. Throttle stuck and I slammed right into my folks’ house. Rear tire dug up Mom’s flowers. They weren’t home and I wasn’t allowed to ever ride motorcycles. They never found out.
• I did deliberately run over a Barbie Doll that was lying in the street in my neighborhood, the head actually popped off and rolled under a parked car, leaving the headless doll body alone in the street for lookers by to ponder…”WHY?” – it was almost performance art…..
• I hit a police car with an angry policman in it. He took my bike and me to jail. Long time ago.
• I hit a large pine cone that was rolling across a bend in the road on a windy day. As it was moving I kind of target fixated on it, resulting in front wheel going over it whilst I was slightly leant over in the bend – very interesting “rodeo” moment not exactly sure how I stayed on the bike – especially as I had not been riding long at the time.
• Rode the the rotting carcass of a hog this week on the way to work. Somehow, by no fault of my own, none of the guts got on me. Thank goodness, that thing stunk!
• I intercepted a pinecone’s fall to earth with my face @ about 45mph.

_______________________

OK, enough for now. More to follow, sooner or later.

Biker Quote for Today

In your helmet, no one can hear you scream.

I got the update on Sunday as to the revisions in the MOST legislation that are in the works.

MOST, as you may recall, is Colorado’s Motorcycle Operator Safety Training program and it has been under attack from various sides for a variety of reasons. Most recently the issue has been that the state administrators of the program have wanted to direct most of the money to motorcycle awareness programs and the like, away from the rider training programs for which MOST was created.

After attempts to bring about changes administratively, it was decided that the only way to deal with the situation was through legislation. According to Terry Howard, state coordinator for ABATE of Colorado, all of the training organizations who work with the MOST program, “including one of our enemies,” as well as the Colorado Confederation of Clubs, have agreed on some proposed wording for revision of the law. Now the folks who work to ensure that language is right before it gets enacted into law will take a crack at it and it is hoped that two legislators, a Democrat and a Republican, will introduce the bill in the two houses of the legislature.

Here are the changes, as proposed. I have put the new language in italics:

In the paragraph where it spells out the purpose of MOST, language would be added to say “that promotes motorcycle safety awareness including but not limited to, share the road and impaired riding programs and supports courses . . .”

Next it tweaks the mandates for how the money will be spent. The strike-out represents a change to the current language:

(e) The office shall not expend more than fifteen twenty percent of the total cost of the program for administrative costs, and not more than ten percent for promotion of motorcycle safety.

A new paragraph would be added that reads:

(f) Seventy percent of the total program funds shall be used for tuition subsidy for all MOST-approved courses, with the intent of keeping training accessible and affordable, thereby enabling more persons to enroll in and complete such safety training and to encourage persons to seek continuing training.

So now we’ll see where this effort goes. Terry says that, being bipartisan, there should be no reason it fails to pass, but who knows about anything these days.

Biker Quote for Today

We can’t crash an infinite amount of times, so you better learn from every one!

ABATE of Colorado hasn’t given up on the badly crippled Motorcycle Operator Safety Training (MOST) program yet, despite its being twisted out of shape by the bureaucrats charged with running it.

ABATE State Coordinator Terry Howard told me Sunday that “the program is a mess.” She said they have cut reimbursements for riders seeking training and the person charged with overseeing the program has been burdened with so much paperwork that they don’t have time for any quality assurance visits that are the key to ensuring that the program functions as intended.

In discussion with Sen. Lois Tochtrop, a close ally of ABATE, the idea of lobbying for removal of the $2 per year fee that each of us pay when we renew our plates was dropped because that would mean no program at all. Of course, I thought killing the program was about the point Terry had gotten to in her thinking but I guess she’s not ready to give up.

Instead, the plan now is to work with the legislature to try to mandate how the money is spent. According to Terry, the folks at the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) are saying the 15 percent of the dollars that are now allocated for administration are not enough to do what is needed. The bill that ABATE hopes to have introduced by Democrat Tochtrop in the Senate and by a Republican member in the House would mandate 20 percent of the money go for administration, just 10 percent for motorcycle awareness programs, and the other 70 percent for rider training cost deferral.

Of course, the whole point of the MOST program from the start was to make it less expensive for new riders to take training classes, thereby–hopefully–resulting in better riders and fewer motorcycle fatalities on Colorado roads. But the way things have gotten twisted, very little of the money now goes for that purpose, which is why the people who have always backed the program are so upset. CDOT wants to use almost all the money for motorcycle awareness programs. Never mind that similar programs for people in cars and trucks do not get paid for by extra fees on car and truck license renewals.

What’s going to happen? Who knows. Stay tuned. But Terry hasn’t given up hope.

“We’ll fix it one way or another,” she assured me.

Biker Quote for Today

The most dangerous times on a bike are the first month when you don’t know what you’re doing, and the fourth month when you think you do. — Bill