Passes & Canyons Blog

Unlike a lot of people, Randy lost a leg but continues to ride.

Yeah, we’ve all been asked that question. Or else told by others, despite their dearth of experience, that motorcycles are dangerous.

Well sure, there is some danger but it’s not as if cars are totally safe, and yet these same people think nothing of driving.

But yes, we all know that riding motorcycles comes with its own unique dangers and we need to ride carefully. Despite all our care, however, sometimes bad things do happen. For instance, I have personally known two people who have lost a leg in a motorcycle crash. One is Randy, in the photo above. His loss didn’t stop him from riding.

The other was a guy named Warren. This goes way back, and it really leads me to my topic today.

I have told the story many times about how I was all hot to get a motorcycle when I turned 15, the legal age where I lived at that time. I saved my money and when I hit the age and had the money I announced that I was going to do this and only then did my mother say, “No you’re not. You’ll never own a motorcycle as long as you’re living under my roof.” Totally crushing my dreams.

What I find interesting is that no one has ever asked the question, well, assuming that you moved out of your parents’ house at some point, why did you not get your first motorcycle until the age of 38?

There were a number of reasons, really. For one thing I was extremely poor. By choice, mind you, but poor nevertheless. I got out of school and had no desire to get a job and go to work five days a week, 40 hours a week. So for a number of years I cycled through numerous low-paying part-time jobs that I worked just enough to pay the rent and eat. Heck, I never even owned a car until I was 25, and then I bought one for $250. And I only did that because by then I was living in Denver and hitchhiking, my main mode of transportation, was so abysmally bad in Denver. I couldn’t even hold some crap job if I couldn’t reliably get to it. So I bought a car.

But eventually I did get into working full-time for longer than a couple months here and there, and I even bought better cars. But no motorcycles. Why not?

This is where Warren comes in. I met Warren when I was a senior in high school. He was friends with a friend of mine so the three of us spent a good bit of time together. And Warren was cool. And he rode a motorcycle. Doubly cool.

But then I left town, only coming back to visit. And one time I came back and my buddy told me Warren had been in a crash on his bike and he had lost a leg. Yow! That really hit me. It didn’t stop me from riding someone else’s motorcycle any time I got the chance but it threw serious cold water on my desire to own a bike, at least for quite a while. It wasn’t until more than 15 year later that John got his Virago and started taking me for rides on behind that I got revved up about bikes again and finally bought my own.

So yeah, I know bikes can be dangerous. I totally understand that. But I also know you can ride safely, and I have taken numerous rider training courses to ensure that I do so. I just wish John had gotten that Virago a lot sooner.

Biker Quote for Today

Why am I wearing leathers? I’m just riding to the office.

In staggered formation the leader normally takes the left position in the lane.

I was on a ride with the RMMRC last week and, as has often been the case, Bob was in the lead. And then, as has often been the case, Bob did a couple things that I have wondered about. It dawned on me then what he was doing in one case but not the other, so at a stop I asked him about both.

The first question was one I’ve mentioned here before. I normally think of the leader of a group that is riding in staggered formation being in the left part of the traffic lane. The second person staggers to the right and the rest go back and forth. But on multi-lane highways Bob consistently positions himself, as the lead rider, to the right side of the lane. Why? I asked him.

I had my theory but it was wrong. I was thinking that if we were in the far left lane that he put himself on the right side of the lane so as to better see, in his mirror, traffic behind in the next lane over. Nope. He said he does it because he figures it’s safer when he’s passing someone in the next lane over. That they are more likely to see him in their mirrors if he is closer in to them.

There is some sense to that. The fact is that most people do not have their mirrors pushed out far enough, so the closer in line you are with their car the more likely they are to see you. Still, is that the best position? Bob said he didn’t know, that was just his presumption.

I did a little searching and came up with a different answer. In this article, for example, they argue that you’re better off in the left portion of the lane because that gives you more room to maneuver: “It’s best to stay out the side closest to the nearest vehicle. For example, while you ride in the far-left lane, you should stay to the left side of that lane. This gives you added protection and room to react if a car in the adjacent lane starts to creep over.”

So that’s not necessarily the indisputable answer but it is a different idea to also consider. But anyway, that’s why Bob does it. Question answered.

The other is a really interesting idea. There have been times, strictly on two-lane roads, when Bob has moved over into the center of the oncoming lane and just cruised there. I had always assumed he was doing that so he could better see the riders back at the tail end of the group. This time it dawned on me what he was up to, and he confirmed my conjecture.

We had gotten behind a very slow-moving vehicle, some piece of construction equipment. He and a couple others passed when they could but the rest had to wait. Bob moved into the oncoming lane. It dawned on me: by placing himself there he was making it absolutely clear to those behind that there was no oncoming traffic at that moment. If there was, he sure as heck would not be there; the fact that he was there was intended as a sign that it was safe for the others to pass, even if they couldn’t see what was up ahead. Brilliant!

So. You learn something new every day. Or at least you should try to.

Biker Quote for Today

100 Reasons not to date a motorcyclist: There’s a fine line between confidence and cockiness.

Cars and motorcycles really can coexist on the road–you just have to pay attention.

The light turned green and both lanes of traffic pulled forward and then left. As I swung my Kawasaki Concours from the right-hand lane of one street through the arc and into the right-hand lane of the other I saw a common sight. A driver in the left-hand lane swung through the curve but then started moving to the right.

Of course he didn’t turn his head to see if the lane he was moving into was clear, and of course it wasn’t. I was there. I made sure to get out of his way and blared my horn at him. He looked in his mirror to see this motorcycle right at his rear bumper, realized what he had done, and waved sheepishly in apology.

Just another day on the road for me. I’ve had this particular situation occur at this particular intersection more times than I can count. That’s not to say it doesn’t happen at other intersections as well. It does. It also happens driving straight down the road. People think it’s sufficient to check their mirrors, and that a head check is not necessary, and they are wrong. Bikers learn that they need to ride as if they were invisible, because they might as well be.

The problem is blind spots. Everyone knows you’ve got a blind spot where a vehicle pulling alongside you is not visible in your mirrors. And every motorcyclist knows that their bike is small enough to get completely lost in that blind spot. We compensate by throttling through it a quickly as possible, keeping a close eye on the vehicle we’re passing in the process, ready to react at the slightest indication of trouble.

But sometimes that’s not an option. Sometimes you’re on the highway in rush-hour traffic, creeping along with cars and trucks on both sides. In that situation you’re constantly, inevitably in and out of somebody’s blind spot almost all the time. And when this dude to your left decides he wants to be in your lane and doesn’t do a head check to see if the lane is really clear, you’d better have good reflexes. By the time you’ve grabbed the brakes, swerved to safety, and then gotten stabilized it’s usually too late to blow your horn so the fool doesn’t even know he almost killed you. He’d just wonder, “Why is that guy on that bike blowing his horn?”

I know a lot of riders who respond to this by simply not riding in traffic unless it’s absolutely unavoidable. They’ll get on their bikes and head straight out of town. You call them up to go for a ride and they’ll only agree to meet you somewhere that does not involve them coming across town.

That’s not me. I ride everywhere, on all kinds of roads, in all kinds of traffic. You’d better believe I ride defensively. And if someone encroaches on my space I’m quick with the horn. I want them to know they screwed up. In that situation at the intersection, that driver and I were going the same route for several miles. In the repositioning that constantly goes on in traffic we found ourselves a few miles later with me in the left lane and him in the right lane. I was watching him closely and I saw that he wanted to move left. I also saw that he turned his head to see where I was, turned on his turn signal, and then waited until I slowed down to open up space for him before he pulled over.

That wasn’t so hard, was it?

Update
I had intended to head out to the Dirty Dogs Roadhouse on Saturday to check out the first of these monthly swap meets but then Sunday morning as I was thinking about what I would write about this week it dawned on me that I had totally forgotten it. Oops. I’ll try again next month.

Biker Quote for Today

Riding a motorcycle is like flying. All your senses are alive.

A rider on Tenderfoot Pass. Where is that, you say? I’ll get to that some other day.

There was a wise crack going around some time ago about a particularly grisly motorcyclist death where people were saying, “Thank goodness he was wearing a helmet.” That’s pretty much where this latest thing from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) fits in.

I saw this report, with the title “NTSB calls on states to mandate motorcycle helmets in wake of deadly New Hampshire crash involving impaired West Springfield truck driver” and it’s the same sort of thing. It appears a drunken driver of a pick-up pulling a flat-bed trailer crossed into the oncoming lane and killed seven motorcyclists.

So what does the NTSB do? After investigating they issue a report calling for mandatory helmet laws in every state. Like that totally makes sense.

Don’t get me wrong. I believe in wearing a helmet and always do. However, I also believe in leaving it to the rider to decide. I just don’t think this is the kind of thing government should be dictating. As it was, 12 of the 18 riders in this group were wearing helmets. And the article states that, “NTSB investigators could not conclusively determine the effectiveness of the helmets used by riders in the New Hampshire crash. But the board still voted to recommend that states review and implement motorcycle helmet laws.”

I translate that as “probably most of these people would have died anyway but let’s use this tragedy to push our point of view.” Or, thank goodness some of those dead people were wearing helmets.

The NTSB chairman, Robert Sumwalt, is quoted pulling out the old canard that “someone’s right to ride without a helmet ends at my wallet.” The report says, “NTSB staff and board members also emphasized the societal costs of motorcycle fatalities, citing nearly $9 billion combined in medical costs, lost productivity, EMS services, insurance administrative costs, property damage and workplace losses that may have been avoided in 2017 through universal helmet mandates.”

That argument totally ignores the fact that there are countless things that each and every one of us do that contribute to those same costs, from eating unhealthy food to not exercising to just plain walking down the street. You might get hit by a bus where the driver had a heart attack and the bus veered off onto the sidewalk you were on! Taking that walk was an avoidable behavior that resulted in your injury! Maybe you should have been wearing a helmet when you took that walk.

I say back off. It’s called life.

Biker Quote for Today

They say stress kills. Well, I found the cure. Ride motorcycles.

This is the kind of situation where these systems would kick in.

I’m writing this on Sunday and there is an article in today’s Denver Post that really caught my eye. Maybe you read it, if you subscribe, but it seems most people don’t these days so I figure it’s worth pointing out. The article is titled “Smart cruise control comes to motorcycles.” (It’s actually reprinted from the New York Times.)

According to this article, both BMW and Ducati are introducing this system on bikes. The system controls throttle and braking.

No surprise to any of us, the challenges of creating something of this sort for motorcycles is vastly different from creating the same for cars. As the article notes, “because motorcycles don’t have automatic transmissions, they could stall or even fall over if the technology were allowed to bring them to a complete stop.” So these systems only work if you’re going more than 20 mph.

The systems use radar sensors to keep track of vehicles ahead of you. Mainly they will latch onto a vehicle in front of you and match your speed to that. If there is no vehicle ahead of you it will cruise at whatever speed you set it for, up to 100 mph.

The systems are only programmed to pay attention to vehicles in your lane moving in the same direction. If you’re at an intersection and someone pulls out in front of you it will not register, so hit your own brakes!

According to the article, the project manager at Ducati said the system “is a convenience system, not a safety system; it is there to enhance comfort during highway travels.”

Obviously, the fact that motorcycles lean makes for big differences than systems for cars. BMW’s director of product development is quoted saying that “the system must be able to detect cars and other motorcycles while it is leaned over.” When you’re leaned over above certain speeds both systems will slow you down, with Ducati pushing that point all the way to 50 degrees of lean.

So that’s just a brief overview. If you’re interested I would definitely recommend you read the whole article.

Biker Quote for Today

I Googled my symptoms . . . turns out I just needed to go ride.

Tires are pretty important, do ya think?

At our last stop one year, as the OFMC headed toward Espanola, NM, I had mentioned to Randy that the tread on his front tire was getting pretty thin and he’d be needing a new tire by the time we got home from this trip. He shrugged it off, saying he figured he’d let it go till next spring because after this trip he wouldn’t be riding that much more the rest of this year.

We pulled over for another break at Ojo Caliente and he apparently took second look, and also checked his rear tire.

“I’m concerned,” he told us. “I’ve got another 500 miles to ride to get back to Denver and I don’t think my back tire’s going to make it.”

We crouched down behind his bike to inspect the tire.

“It looks OK to me,” said someone.

“Roll it forward,” I said. “Let’s see the whole tire.”

Sure enough, as we saw the whole tire, there was a spot about 2 inches by 3 inches where there was no rubber at all, just the steel belt showing through.

“You’re not going home on that tire,” I told him. “You need to ride the extra 25 miles into Santa Fe and have that replaced before you do anything else.”

I knew the situation Randy was facing. Once before, at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, I had noted to the other guys that my tread on my rear tire was getting pretty thin. And then when I checked it again the next day it was almost nonexistent. We had gasped at how quickly rubber can be worn away when a tire is ready to give up the ghost. Then in April of this year I had ridden down to Scottsdale expecting my tires to get me home and found myself immediately hitting a shop there for new ones as the tread vanished before my eyes on the way down.

With the tread completely gone, Randy had no business going anywhere except straight to the nearest shop. But he had other ideas.
Maybe Santa Fe was only 25 miles away, but, he said, it was in the wrong direction. He made some phone calls and found a shop in Alamosa, back in Colorado, where they had the right tire in stock and could take care of him as soon as he arrived. Never mind that it was 115 miles away.

Long story short, he made it OK. Friggs went with him as a back-up but the tire got him there. Was there more belt showing when they reached Alamosa? You better believe it. I would never have ridden that far on that tire, and I thought Randy was an idiot for doing it, but fortune was smiling on him that day.

They say it’s better to be lucky than to be smart. Me, I’d just as soon give my luck a helping hand by making wise choices.

Biker Quote for Today

Why motorcycles are better than women: Motorcycles’ curves never sag.

Sadly, someone obviously did not ride this poor Harley safely.

“Have a safe ride.”

That’s an admonishment we’ve all heard countless times and my standard weak-joke response is along the lines of, “Oh darn, I wasn’t planning to, but I will if you insist.”

It’s not that we ever plan to have an unsafe ride, but then, that’s why they’re called “accidents.”

At least many people use that word, but among those serious about motorcycle safety, the preferred word is “crash.” The point being that a crash does not happen by accident, it is allowed to happen by riders who fail to remain alert and to engage in basic crash-avoidance practices.

Don’t get me wrong. Anyone who rides knows that the primary scenario for motorcycle crashes is when someone in a car pulls out in front of you or turns left in front of you. It’s their fault.

Or is it? Is it entirely their fault if you could have done something to prevent the crash? (Within reason: You could stay home and never go anywhere and that would prevent a crash, but that’s not reasonable.)

More importantly, does it matter that it’s primarily their fault if you’re the one with the concussion and broken bones? I have a friend, Jungle Fuhrman, who argues that without exception, if you are involved in a crash, you screwed up. I tend to agree with him.

When I was preparing to take RiderCoach training several years ago, the program put together by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) for training the people who train new riders, I rereading the Basic Rider Course (BRC) Rider Handbook, which is the study manual given to all the beginning rider students. (Which is to say, I had taken the BRC myself some time before that.)

The BRC focuses on both riding skills and the rider’s mindset. One key point they make is that crashes seldom have one specific cause; in fact, they usually have several. They call this the Crash Chain, and use an illustration of a motorcycle chain looping around two sprockets, connecting one sprocket (you) to the other (the crash). Each link is a factor that contributes to the crash. Break any one of those links and the crash is avoided.

So now that idiot talking on his cell phone is turning left in front of you. Is it foreordained that you will T-bone him? Are you traveling at an excessive speed? Were you day-dreaming as you approached the intersection? Were you not thinking about the fact that the setting sun is directly behind you, making it difficult for him to see? If you answer yes to all those questions then yes, you may indeed be irretrievably headed for a crash.

But you had it in your power to break that crash chain, and didn’t. He’ll get the ticket but you’re the one who will pay in pain.

Some highway safety agency used a catch-phrase years ago that has stuck with me and I think it bears repeating here: Safe driving is no accident. For motorcycling I’d go with that times 10. Have a safe ride.

Biker Quote for Today

Why motorcycles are better than women: You don’t have to deal with priests or blood-tests to register your motorcycle.

Keep the rubber side down, OK?

What else can we glean from the 2020 annual report of Colorado’s Motorcycle Operator Safety Training (MOST) program?

How about this. Bullets copied from the report with my comments added in parentheses.

Motorcyclist Fatalities – 2019

• 103 motorcyclists were killed in motorcycle crashes in 2019, 92 were male, and 11 were female. Ninety-three were motorcycle operators, and ten were motorcycle passengers.
• Motorcyclist fatalities represented 17.3% of Colorado’s total traffic fatalities (103 of 596). (Yeah, and we sure aren’t 17.3% of the vehicles on the road.)
• The number of motorcyclist fatalities remained the same in 2017, 2018, and 2019 at 103.
• 71 motorcycle operators involved in fatal crashes were determined to be “at fault” in the crash.
• 43 of the fatal motorcycle crashes involved only the motorcycle and no other vehicle. (Can’t blame someone else, at least in most of these cases. There’s always the possibility a rider swerved to avoid an idiot and paid with their life.)
• In 2019, 24 motorcycle operators killed in a fatal crash were suspected to be impaired by alcohol and/or drugs.
• 48 motorcycle operators killed were not wearing a helmet. (This means 55 who died were wearing helmets. Helmets are good but don’t let anyone try to tell you they’re a cure-all.)

Of 1,965 motorcycle crashes tallied, where did they happen?

Non-intersection: 1,022. At intersection: 595. Intersection related: 160. Driveway access related: 114. Ramp: 42. Roundabout: 19. In alley: 11. Parking lot: 2.

So OK, we all know the dangers of drivers turning left in front of you, but apparently the majority of crashes don’t even occur at intersections. What causes these? I think we’ll start to get some answers in the next section.

What was the “First Harmful Event” as the report terms it?

Overturning (non-collision): 548. Collision with curb/median: 136. Front to rear collision: 134. Other non-collision: 90. Side to side collision–same direction: 86. Collision with wild animal: 48. Collision with other object: 41. Collision with parked vehicle: 29. Collision with embankment: 27. Collision with guard rail: 26.

So overturning (non-collision) is the top event? What caused that? The top violations of at-fault riders again helps explain. These are apparently what the riders were actually cited with after the crashes.

Careless driving: 469. Driving under the influence of alcohol: 48. Reckless driving: 47. Following too closely: 45. Improper driving on mountain highway: 21. Failed to drive in designated lane: 12. No insurance in possession: 12. Unsafe lane change: 8. Improper turning left: 8. Improper passing on right: 8.

So careless driving is a really big factor. That’s worth noting. Next we have top contributing human factors of riders at-fault.

Driver inexperience: 224. Driver unfamiliar with area: 73. Driver preoccupied: 51. Evading law enforcement officer: 16. Illness/medical: 7. Driver fatigue: 6. Distracted by a passenger, food, objects, etc.: 4. Driver emotionally upset: 3. Physical disability: 1. Other: 453.

So in other words, with 453 “Other” there must be an unknowable number of human factors that, under the right combination of circumstances, can lead to a crash. Next is top movements of at-fault riders.

Going straight: 603. Making left turn: 89. Slowing: 69. Changing lanes: 58. Making right turn: 56. Passing: 41. Weaving: 35. Avoiding object in roadway: 28. Making U-turn: 7. Entering/leaving parked position: 3.

There it is! That’s what causes motorcycle crashes! In 603 cases the riders were going straight! Don’t these people understand you’re supposed to ride the curvy roads? OK, yeah, I’m funny.

Hopefully there is some tidbit of information here that strikes you and that you will incorporate into your mindset when riding to make you a safer rider. Something like, wow, most crashes don’t even happen at intersections, I guess I’d better be more alert all the time. And maybe not; well, I offered it to you.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if you can’t figure out why the battery on your new bike won’t stay charged.