More Weird Stuff Bikers Have Encountered On The Road

November 15th, 2012
Motorcycles on dirt near Gunnison

Riding dirt near Gunnison.

Wow, it’s been more than a year since the last time I did one of these. The question posed in this thread on the Adventure Riders forum was, “What is the strangest thing you’ve ever run into on the road?” Here are some of the more interesting and oddest responses.
*************
I was on my CB1000, my buddy was on his Goldwing (1500?). Late at night on I-75 making tracks back to Chattanooga from British in the Blue Ridge. He tags an alligator with the chin spoiler of his GW. The gator flips up in the air all slow motion like. It’s comin’ right for me but I had no time to react. It went by my head at 75+ mph. Seemed like it was inches away, It may have actually been 2 feet. Either way the pucker factor was quite high.
*************
Doing a high speed run on my 87 GSXR907 Big Bore went through a flock of finches at over 170. Yeah I had some bruises.
*************
Couple of years ago…. large sheet of painter’s plastic in the highway, kicked up just perfectly by a cage in front of me. Hung there like a shower curtain as I plowed right into it. Had to move over three lanes blindly, through traffic, to get to the right hand shoulder and stop so I could peel it off of me and the bike.
*************
A whole flock of white leghorn chickens decided to cross the road. Left a LOT of white feathers!
*************
I was riding in a 35mph zone at the edge of town when I was sure I was about to hit a dove. We were on a collision course when a hawk swooped in and changed the dove’s course to parallel mine. The outcome for the dove was the same, but the hawk & I were happy.
*************
Four of us are riding along one day. I’m the second guy. We come around a curve and there’s this huge dead black snake in the road. I went to point it out with my right foot and inadvertently kicked it up. It goes sailing and wraps all over the guy behind me. He almost shit himself.
*************
Riding down through Pennsylvania to visit a friend in Bethlehem, a loud ‘thwack’ announced the impact of a firefly on my face shield, then two more. I shut the lights off for a moment to confirm that the green glowing effect all over my field of vision was not a hallucination.

Want one scarier? Similar road winding alongside the Big Thompson River heading up to Estes Park, Colorado. Something snapped across my face shield that left a respectable gouge in the plastic. Turns out it was a fly fisherman’s line with a fly & hook on the end of it!
*************
There must have been 50 geese crossing the road 3 to 4 deep. I came around the curve at 70 mph and there they were. I went thru them, but missed hitting any of them. They scattered around and went on off the road before anything else happened. The “Highway Grandfathers” were looking over my ass this morning.
*************
I was hauling ass down a fire road in my younger days, just about to run over a yucca stalk when it started wiggling. It was a friggin 6′ rattlesnake sunning itself on the road. I don’t think I helped it any hitting it square in the middle but I didn’t stop to ask if he was OK.
*************
Heading home from a long day in the saddle. Sun had just set and was pretty close to being dark outside. All of a sudden the rear of my bike rose up as if I hit a speed bump. The front tire never hit anything. It scared me, but after a few minutes I forgot about it. Until I got home that is. The stench of skunk all over my rear wheel was too much to take. I had to let the bike sleep outside that night. Never even saw the critter. Lucky my front wheel didn’t hit him!

Yeah, hey. The stuff that goes on out there! Ride carefully, OK?

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Women motorcyclist research project seeks participants

Biker Quote for Today

Trials is an amazing sport. You can get hurt really really bad without even leaving the campsite!

Tags: ,
Posted in Motorcycle Safety | No Comments »

Researcher Seeking Women Motorcyclists For Survey

November 12th, 2012
woman motorcyclist

Research study seeks women riders.

I announced this on Examiner but I figure I ought to go ahead and announce it here, too. Ginger Bucher, a Ph. D. candidate at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (I’ve never heard of that school, have you? That’s a little odd, isn’t it?) is conducting a study on women motorcyclists, both riders and passengers, and if you are a woman, she is looking for your input.

Here’s the letter she sent me:

Currently, I am collecting data as part of a dissertation through Indiana University of Pennsylvania. I am a rider, former MSF-certified RiderCoach and Assistant Coordinator of the PA Motorcycle Safety Program. In my role as an independent motorcyclist researcher, I am focusing on women motorcyclists both passengers and riders.

The online project began in October and continues through December, 2012. You can view the details at:
www.research.womenmotorcycling.org

To date, over 530 women motorcyclists from the US and Canada have completed the questionnaire representing over 3,000 individual comments and responses to essay questions. The online community and network of motorcyclists has made the response possible. I am reaching out to UK and Australian female motorcyclists as well.

I am asking for your help to increase awareness in the motorcycling community about the study. While I have an enormous amount of data to sort through already, I am interested in gaining the most complete picture that is possible in a short time with limited resources. The project is purely academic (i.e. self-funded) with no commercial or industry sponsorship.

When ready, I plan to report the findings in a wide array of settings. Given the level of interest from national organizations, I foresee the possibility of follow-on research to further explore the rich experiences of women motorcyclists.

Thank you for taking time to read about the study. I hope you will consider some options to get the word out. I welcome your suggestions and input.
Ginger Bucher
Indiana University of Pennsylvania

So, if you feel like adding your voice to her data, or know any women who might be, go for it. And hopefully, Ginger will be back later to share her results.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Only a biker knows . . .: Motorcycle wit and wisdom, #24

Biker Quote for Today

Bad decisions make good stories.

Tags: ,
Posted in Biker Issues, women motorcyclists | No Comments »

An Email Hello From Someone I Quoted

November 8th, 2012
dual-sport bike on gravel road

Gwen wouldn't think twice about taking this road.

If you’ve been reading this blog you know that I end each post with a “Biker Quote for Today.” I gather these quotes from a lot of places. Some I just run across; others I find by searching. One of my most fertile places to search is the discussions on Adventure Riders, or ADV for short.

More than most motorcycle forums, the ADV folks really get into putting cool, funny, interesting remarks in their signatures. Anytime I’m on the site I keep my eyes open to see what gems I can find.

One such gem was the quote I used on Oct. 22, at the end of my “Hoping For Warm Hands In Winter Riding” post. It read, “There’s no adventure in turning around. — Shoganai”

Well guess who I heard from: Gwen Phillips (aka Shoganai).

Gwen said she had been searching on Google “for an old thread I started on an old forum years ago” and lo and behold, “I was stunned to find something I said to Jim aka Drif10 this year when he came to visit our home.” So she was tickled and wrote that she was honored to be quoted.

And actually, I had heard first from Drif10. He noted in regard to Gwen’s quote that, “And she isn’t kidding about that quote, either. She’ll take a road bike places that make me think twice about taking my dirt bike into.”

Good for you Gwen.

This is actually the second time I’ve heard from someone I quoted. Believe me, I really enjoy getting these emails. And I really enjoy the quotes. Some day I’m going to put together a book with the quotes and pictures that match the quotes, more or less. Really, I am. I’ve already got part of it done. But at this rate it will be a few more years before I finish it. I guarantee that when it’s ready you’ll hear about it here.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Book review: How to Ride Off-Road Motorcycles

Biker Quote for Today

Bones heal, chicks dig scars, pain is temporary, glory is forever. — Evel Knievel

Tags:
Posted in Miscellaneous, Motorcycles | No Comments »

Getting Acquainted With United Dirt Bike School

November 5th, 2012
United Dirt Bike School

The banner on the United Dirt Bike School web site.

I’m not much of a glad-hander, so even though I’ve been an ABATE member for several years now and I go to my district’s monthly meetings as often as possible, I still don’t even know most of the people’s names, and I’ve never spoken to most of them. So I was very interested to figure out recently that one woman who has been coming for awhile, and whom I had never met, is Kathy Banning, one of the co-owners of United Dirt Bike School. And so at the meeting last Sunday I approached her afterward and we spoke.

If you’ve been reading this blog you know that for some time I have had a growing interest in riding off the pavement. I’m not necessarily interested in the serious, really difficult trail riding that some people do, I’m just tired of missing out on all these great roads that Colorado has that don’t happen to have asphalt on them. I’ve ridden a bit with Kevin Smith, of Colorado Mountain Moto, and Ron Coleman, of Western Dual Sport Motorcycle Adventures, but I want more. And most especially, I want my own dual-sport or dirt bike.

What I don’t want is to get out somewhere, all on my own, and get in trouble. Now, I’m a confident sort of person and I think I’m pretty good at recognizing my limitations, so I don’t really think that is all that likely. But what if it did? One way to improve my odds would be to improve my skills. I’ve taken the MSF Beginning Rider Course and the Experienced Rider Course, so why not take a dirt-riding course? And Kathy and her partner, Michael St. John, are both MSF certified to teach dirt riding. I told Kathy that I’m interested.

An interesting thing is that apparently, so are a lot of other people. They have limited access to the training course they use and from what Kathy tells me, they have a line of people waiting to get in their classes. That’s a good problem to have, I guess, though you would actually wish you could accommodate everyone who wants to pay for your services.

So I got the scoop on it all. They provide the bikes and the gear. You need gloves and proper footwear. A full-day class runs $175 if they provide the bike, $150 if you bring your own. Get on their email list and they’ll keep you apprised of class opportunities. And even with winter coming on, that doesn’t pull the plug on classes. As long as conditions allow it and they have interested students, they teach all year round.

I’m not saying I’m definitely going to do this, but I’m definitely thinking about it. And after working totally as a freelance writer for the past 3-1/2 years I have now taken an editor position, on contract, with the National Park Service, so I’m going to have some money again, at last. As always, you’ll read about it here if it happens.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
More articles published in Rider and Accelerate

Biker Quote for Today

Paved roads…… Just another perfect example of needless spending by the government.

Tags:
Posted in ABATE, Colorado motorcycle rides, Dirt biking, Dual sport bikes | No Comments »

ABATE, COC Finding Common Ground?

November 1st, 2012
A Beginning Rider Course

Rider training has been an issue between ABATE and the COC.

Continuing what I was saying earlier, Terry Howard, ABATE of Colorado‘s State Coordinator, was telling us on Sunday about how there is a move to bury the axe between ABATE and the Colorado Confederation of Clubs (COC). The bad blood has existed for some time, and Terry said there have been previous unsuccessful attempts to put it to rest, but maybe this time.

The possible rapprochement got started when representatives of both groups were attending the Motorcycle Riders Foundation‘s Meeting of the Minds. According to Terry, a couple of the COC folks came up to her, saying, “We need to talk.” So they did.

Terry’s speculation is that some of the COC folks had an eye-opener when they looked at the list of training organizations that were in violation of MOST regulations and found that ABATE was not on that list. In discussion, she said, it came out that ABATE has an issue with one person in the COC and the COC has an issue with one person in ABATE. Fine, let’s leave them out of this.

The COC wanted to talk about how the two groups can work together for the common cause. Specifically, they were interested in three things.

  • They want to ensure that if the MOST program continues that it is not cut back to simply forcing motorcyclists to pay extra for safety programs that other motorists don’t pay extra for.
  • They are also looking for riders to work with them in an effort involving blow-test devices that are used on the vehicles of people convicted of DUIs. Colorado currently allows this but has no provision for doing so on motorcycles. The result is that a rider automatically loses the privilege of riding their bike. Other states allow this, and Colorado’s legislation does not disallow it, but there are issues that need to be worked out. The COC wants as many riders as possible to ride with the devices on their bikes to do testing so these issues can be addressed.
  • The COC also wants help in addressing the issue of police profiling of motorcyclists. If you’re speeding, you’re speeding, no issue. But if you get stopped apparently just because you’re on a bike, they want to know about it and get the details. The idea is to build up a base of information about such incidents to see if there is a pattern or whether there really is even a problem.

So maybe the past can become history and, moving forward, these two motorcycle rights groups can work together for the common good. Keep your fingers crossed.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
More articles published in Rider and Accelerate

Biker Quote for Today

Learn to ride a motorcycle, it will help keep you sane.

Tags:
Posted in ABATE, Biker Issues | No Comments »

New Threat To MOST Program Draws ABATE, COC Together

October 29th, 2012
Diablo and Tiger at the MOST hearing in February 2012.

Diablo and Tiger at the MOST hearing in February 2012.

The Motorcycle Operator Safety Training (MOST) program is in danger once again. And this time the Colorado Confederation of Clubs (COC) and ABATE are on the same side of the argument.

Let me make it clear before I go any further that this is not a news report. If it was I would need to do a lot of research and pull together information that I frankly am not inclined to devote the time to. So what I’m passing along here is simply what Terry Howard, ABATE’s State Coordinator, told us at yesterday’s ABATE District 10 meeting.

I knew there was a meeting scheduled for Oct. 18 on the changes to be made to the MOST program, and while I considered going, I didn’t get around to it. In retrospect, I wish I had gone. What Terry told us about the meeting was totally unexpected.

It appears that the legislative committee working on the issue came to the conclusion that the extra amount motorcyclists pay when they renew their licenses should be reduced from $4 to $2. Now just to refresh your memory, the extra charge is to pay for MOST, which was created as a way to lower the cost to riders when they take approved motorcycle training courses. The idea is that better-trained riders will be safer riders and suffer fewer fatalities and other crashes.

Along with the fee reduction, the committee was proposing this: The subsidy for rider training would be eliminated, and the remaining $2 would be used solely to fund rider safety programs along the lines of the general motoring programs to discourage drunk driving, get people to wear their seat belts, and such.

Whoa nelly! That would essentially eliminate MOST and have us paying extra for the same sorts of programs that car drivers pay nothing extra for.

“You’re gonna have a fight on your hands if you pursue this,” is what Terry said she told the committee members. In short, ABATE would rather see MOST eliminated entirely than have the training subsidy ended while we continue to pay extra.

Not surprisingly, the COC feels the same way. That group worked against continuation of the MOST program back in February and you can bet they feel this sort of change would make a bad situation much worse. Terry said ABATE representatives and COC representatives have met to discuss this and other issues and it appears there may be a thawing in the chilly relations between the two. I’ll have more on that later.

So we’ll see what happens next. This will be interesting.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Book review: How to Ride Off-Road Motorcycles

Biker Quote for Today

What are you doing to protect your right to ride?

Tags: , ,
Posted in ABATE | 2 Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »