Passes & Canyons Blog

On the road to California.

Colorado has a newly instituted law prohibiting hands-on use of a cellphone while driving and from all accounts it is doing some good. Distracted driving is of great importance to motorcyclists because we know far too well how easy it is not to see us even when you’re not distracted.

Well guess what. That’s just as true on a motorcycle as in a car. Case in point:

On this recent (aborted for me due to sickness) RMMRC California trip we immediately got separated from one guy. Alan, who was leading, pulled off at Idaho Springs to try to find out where he was. He called and found he was in Evergreen so we just agreed to meet up at lunch in Eagle.

In order to make this call, Alan pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant and we all followed him. I tend to be fairly conscientious and so as not to take up a lot of parking spaces in this small parking lot I pulled into the same slot as Alan, a bit behind him.

Alan got on the phone and made his call and got the matter settled. At this point he was in communication with the other guys because we all had Cardo communicators but we had been unsuccessful earlier in trying to get me paired into the group. So I was not connected.

Well, Alan was so involved in making his call and then talking to the other guys that he apparently had not noticed that I was behind him. So we’re ready to roll again and I started to roll back but Alan came rolling back faster than me and though I scrambled to get out of his way he backed right into me. Down I went.

Now, there was no damage and I was not hurt but my point is, he was busy on his phone–his communicator in this case–and not paying attention to his driving. What if instead of me on my bike, there had been some person walking to the restaurant behind him? That person could easily have been hurt. Or heck, I could have been hurt. I wasn’t, but I could have been. Clearly he wasn’t looking very carefully where he was going.

So yeah, hang up and drive. Or maybe just look where you’re going. It applies on a motorcycle as well as in a car.

Biker Quote for Today

As long as you are on planet Earth, you’re not lost.

Riding with buddies means you have assistance if you drop the bike. But sometimes you’re not with other riders.

One of the most annoying – not to mention embarrassing – things you can do is drop your motorcycle in front of the whole world. I’m not talking about going down, which is when you wipe out at speed. Dropping the bike usually happens in a parking lot as you’re trying to turn sharply with almost no speed. You lean the bike a little too far and suddenly 600 pounds of falling motorcycle overrules any thoughts you had of remaining upright.

The good thing about dropping the bike in a parking lot is that you have friends or at least helpful strangers to help you lift the bike back up. But sometimes it’s not that easy.

When friends can’t help

We were out on the first day of one of the early OFMC summer trips, and John was riding his brand new Honda Shadow. Bill was in the lead and as we passed a lake he spotted a dirt road running down to the lakeshore. Figuring it to be a good place for a break, he turned in and John followed, with me behind.

The road quickly got steep and rutted, not the type of thing we like doing on street bikes, but at this point we were committed. It was easier now to go forward than try to turn around.

Then John started losing it in a rut. The Shadow was leaning precariously and he had his foot down trying to keep it from going any further.

“Ken, help me. Help me!” he yelled frantically but I was dealing with ruts of my own and before I could do a thing to help John I first had to stop my bike in a stable location and get the kickstand down. John dropped the bike.

Fortunately I was there, we righted the bike, and rode on down to the shore, where Bill was wondering what was taking us so long. Riding back up we managed to avoid any mishaps.

When You’re Alone

Friends are great to ride with but sometimes you ride alone, at least I do. I was crossing Nebraska one day on U.S. 34 and spotted a farm road heading north from the highway that looked like a good place to stop and stretch my legs. I knew it had rained the night before but the ground look dry and firm. What I could not see was that it was only the surface that was dry, while underneath the earth was soaked.

There was solid gravel for about 20 feet away from the main road and rolling at about 3-4 miles per hour I hit the end of the gravel and my front tire splooshed into deep mud beneath what had appeared to be firm. In slow motion the wheel slid to my left and the bike and I went down to the right, with me dumped into the mud hole. There was no one else around.

Now, I know how to pick up a bike and I had done it before. You cock the handlebars as far as you can to the side it’s laying on, back into the saddle and tank, grip the hand grip and whatever you can get a hold of with your other hand, and then stand up carefully, lifting with your legs.

But I was in a mud hole. Have you ever tried to get firm footing in a mud hole? The first few times I’d start to stand up and my feet would slip and down we’d go again. I finally dug my heels down far enough to reach something a little more solid and did get the bike upright. I was now standing in a mud hole with my back to the bike. I had to very carefully turn around, very carefully throw my leg over the seat, and then hope the bike would start. It did and I inched my way toward solid ground until I could finally relax.

Then I turned around, got back on the highway and stopped at the first town I came to. I got a motel, ran the bike over to a car wash to get the mud off, and spent a good part of my evening cleaning mud off my leather jacket.

Given the choice between annoyance and embarrassment, I guess I’d choose the embarrassment. At least then you have someone to give you a hand.

Biker Quote for Today

Instead of trying to blend in and be like everyone else, I became a biker.