Passes & Canyons Blog

I headed out to High Plains Raceway Saturday for the opening day of the Motorcycle Roadracing Association’s (MRA) 2011 season, and to do my first piece following racer Jon Kuo through the season. The weather was perfect and everyone was definitely jazzed for the season to start. The story and photos are available on Examiner.com.

I became acquainted with Jon because he is sponsored by ABATE of Colorado, of which I am a member. This year now, ABATE is sponsoring three racers, as well as the corner crews. To say that this is unusual is an understatement. In many states there is outright hostility between the sportbike crowd and the ABATE organizations. Terry Howard, Colorado’s State Coordinator, was there Saturday and she told me they caused quite a stir at last year’s Meeting of the Minds, the Motorcycle Rider’s Foundation conference, when they showed up with representatives from the MRA and the Colorado Sportbike Club as members of their delegation. Everyone was in awe and eager to hear how this came about. I’ll be doing a follow-up article that really digs into the story.

I was pleased to have the opportunity to meet Ricky Orlando, a local fellow who is an AMA racing champion and who now runs a riding school up by Frederick. If you’re into the racing scene I’m sure you are familiar with Ricky. I had spoken with him for the first time just a couple weeks ago when I was working on a story for RumBum.com about how kids can come up through the ranks of American Motorcyclist Association-sanctioned racing and become world champions. Ricky was very helpful and gave me some good quotes for the story, so it was an unexpected pleasure to actually meet him. Of course, he was there to race.

And lest we forget, there was the racing Saturday. When I had spoken with Jon a couple weeks ago he was sounding extremely optimistic about placing very well, maybe even winning a championship. Speaking with him before the race he had toned things down a bit, which I suspect was a result of getting out on the track in practice sessions and seeing other guys out-running him. At that point he said he just hoped to stay up with the fast guys and learn from them.

Jon placed 7th in his first race, the only one I was there for, and he was very disappointed. And this is where I start learning about racing. Jon told me his problem was that he doesn’t have the corner speed the top guys have, and it’s something he needs to learn. Riding on a 250cc Ninja, he said the bikes don’t have enough power to go really fast, plus they’re light, so you can–and need to–carry a lot of speed deep into the corner. The best riders hardly even brake in the corners, he said. And because you can’t make up much time in the straights, races are won and lost in the corners.

As I say, my education begins. It’s going to be an interesting season. It will be very interesting especially to see how well Jon does learning to corner faster. Stay tuned.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Kicking off motorcycle roadracing season

Biker Quote for Today

Motorcycle racing is 90 percent mental and the other half is physical.

This seems to be pretty typical of what I do. I’ve arranged with Jon Kuo, a motorcycle racer, to follow him through the season that begins this weekend. The idea is to see and present the day-to-day human side of what racing involves. And at this moment I don’t have a clue how I’ll go about doing that.

But that’s how I work. Make the decision to do it and just jump in. Learn to swim in the process.

I first met Jon two seasons ago when I learned that ABATE of Colorado had signed on as one of his sponsors. This struck me as surprising because I was aware that there was some animosity, at least in some places, between sportbike riders and ABATE organizations. In fact I did a whole series of articles about that animosity.

Fortunately, that animosity is not the norm here in Colorado. Here, ABATE and the Motorcycle Roadracing Association work together on issues that are of concern to all motorcyclists. United we stand, divided we fall, you know?

So I know I’ll be learning a lot about racing this summer about. Should be interesting. I’ll make sure to pass a lot of it along to you. Stay tuned.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Motorcycle thieves shown in action on video

Biker Quote for Today

If you can read this you must have a V-Max, too.

My life got complicated yesterday. I’ve been in touch with Ben Hochberg at ABATE of Colorado about taking their motorcycle trainer training so I can work as an MSF instructor teaching new and experienced riders to be better riders.

My interests are numerous. First, I’m trying to make a living as a motorcyclist, primarily by writing about motorcycling for any publication that will pay me. Being an MSF instructor doesn’t pay a lot but I’m in an every-little-bit-helps situation, trying to piece together a bit here and a bit there to equal a living wage.

Also, being an instructor would undoubtedly provide me with a lot of material for my writing. Heck, just taking the training course will provide me with material even if I never teach a class. Plus, taking the training and teaching the courses would inevitably make me a better rider myself.

And third, I enjoy teaching. I’ve had a few jobs over the years where part of what I did was to train others and I find it very rewarding.

So what’s my dilemma? Well, Ben told me yesterday the dates of the class, two weeks in June, and those are the same two weeks in which I was planning to do a motorcycle trip to California with some friends. Dang!

Of course that trip would also be fodder for my writing, and I don’t take vacations, so I’d be cranking out articles for Examiner.com and RumBum.com and others the whole while I was gone. But it would still be play as work, whereas doing the training would be more work as work. And who wouldn’t rather play than work?

I know the logical choice here is to stay home and do the training. Both the training and the trip would cost me money, some of which I would recoup through my writing, but the potential earnings of becoming a trainer far outweigh what I’d earn from the trip. And paying the bills is a nice thing to be able to do.

But I’d rather go on the trip. Wouldn’t you? Gosh, it just sucks to be me, doesn’t it? Don’t I wish I just had some job sitting at a desk and pushing papers all day! Yeah, right.

So anyway, if you have any thoughts to offer me on this decision I’d be happy to hear them. It just had to be those two weeks, didn’t it?

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Electric superbike to compete in 2011 season against gas models

Biker Quote for Today

I’m a highway junkie! Lord, I love a white line!!!

I spent much of the day yesterday with a lot of other ABATE of Colorado members handing out free food to needy families. At least some of them were needy.

This event arose out of something my ABATE chapter, District 10, did back in December. Working with an organization called Feed the Children, as well as several other groups and agencies, we distributed a semi-load of food packages to needy families at Christmas time. The Feed the Children people felt we did such a good job that they came back and asked if we’d now like to do eight truckloads.

That’s a much bigger job to organize so the job was taken on by the state organization, ABATE of Colorado, along with the Motorcycle Roadracing Association and the Colorado Sportsbike Club and various social services agencies. And yesterday was the day.

Working through the agencies, 3,200 vouchers had been handed out to families and they were responsible for coming to pick up the goods. We had been alerted to expect perhaps 20 percent no-shows, but yesterday’s weather was pretty crappy so that number was much higher. After an initial flurry of activity things died down and there were a whole bunch of us sitting around with a heck of a lot of food waiting to be claimed.

I don’t want to make unfounded assumptions about some of the people who were given vouchers, I’m sure many had perfectly valid reasons they couldn’t show up. But I have to believe that for many of them, if they couldn’t be bothered to come get free food, they must really not be all that needy.

So what ended up happening is, they put out an announcement over several radio stations that there was free food waiting for anyone who was in need who wanted to come get some. After awhile there was a lot of traffic again, but looking at some of these cars you had to wonder. Yes, most of them were beaters, and those people really seemed like they could use a helping hand. And then there were the ones in cars way more expensive than what I drive.

And while most of the people who answered to radio announcement came and got their food and left, there were some who obviously figured this was worth a scam. We were particularly amused by the two young guys in a nice car who came through the line and when we asked them to pop the trunk, there were food boxes already in there. They had apparently just gone through a different line than ours, went around again, and came back through again. We gave them one more box and sent them on their way, but somehow I don’t think they were particularly needy.

The bottom line to it all is that yes, we did help out some folks who could use some help. And a few scammers got some free food. In the meantime, there were a whole bunch of ABATE members who gave freely of their time, many taking time off work to do so, to help other people they don’t even know.

These are some good people.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
AMA Grand Tours Series might add a spark to your motorcycle touring plans

Biker Quote for Today

I spent most of my money on beer, bikes, and bait. The rest I wasted!

It was just a year ago when I went on my first ever poker run, except no one rode motorcycles. It was the ABATE District 10 Coffee Run and the weather was miserable. Well, the Coffee Run for 2010 was held this past weekend and this time the weather cooperated. We rode bikes.

There was a lot of interest for me in this run because of all that has happened in the past year. A year ago I was a new ABATE member and when I showed up at this run I didn’t know anybody. I’m not an overly gregarious person and it can be hard for me to mix comfortably with strangers. But I learned long ago as a newspaper reporter that as long as I assume a role I can play that role instead of being simply me. So I shifted into reporter mode and talked to a bunch of people, got a lot of good story ideas, and felt pretty good about it all.

This year was so different. I walked into a crowd of people I knew, greeted and was greeted, and was happy to see some folks I hadn’t seen in quite awhile. Folks I met last year at the Coffee Run, as a matter of fact. I didn’t have to play a role, I could just be me. And of course, as I always do, I did come up with some good contacts for some story ideas. Any journey starts with the first step. It can be hard to take that step but once you do you’re on your way and from then on it just gets easier.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
MSF President Tim Buche discusses motorcycle safety studies

Biker Quote for Today

Crawl, walk, ride

ABATE of Colorado needs volunteers to staff a huge food giveaway on May 12. Working with the Feed the Children organization, ABATE will be distributing eight truckloads of food to needy families. That’s going to be require a lot of bodies to unload the trucks, manage traffic, and pass out the food boxes, and just generally do whatever is necessary.

Distribution will take place in the parking lot of Invesco Field at Mile High. Anyone interested in helping out can contact ABATE at abatecoevents@yahoo.com.

ABATE District 10 did a similar food distribution back in December, distributing just one truckload of food. Feed the Children was very pleased with the organization and execution of that effort so they contacted ABATE to do it again, in a much bigger manner.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
MotoAdventureGal update: Hard decision not to go to Ushuaia

Biker Quote for Today

Why? Because dinner always tastes better with helmet hair.

OK, this is just a fun story I want to pass along. Thanks go to Mike Landon, who sent the link to me.

It seems there were these folks living in this Chicago-area nursing home who regularly passed a biker bar. They grew interested in the bar and decided to pay it a visit. But they didn’t just drop in. First, they did themselves up with tattoos and biker costumes, and rolled in as a “biker gang.”

They were welcomed and members of the local Latino American Motorcycle Association and ABATE chapters have agreed to take them all for rides on their bikes.

It’s a really fun story. Worth your time to read it here.

Biker Quote for Today

If your mind wanders, ride after it.

Motorcycle groups are known for their generosity, especially around Christmas time. Toys for Tots rides are common as well as a variety of other similar events.

I spent a good part of my afternoon today with other members of my ABATE District 10 as well as members from other districts and other organizations unloading a truck with food enough to feed 400 families for a week. The $11,000 to pay for it all came from ABATE fundraisers as well as events put on by the Frontier Club, VFW Post 3631, and the Friends of ABATE.

The event is officially the ABATE District 10 Erica Reyes Kids Without a Christmas. This is the second year D-10 has done this. The Aurora Police Department and the Aurora Fire Department will handle selecting the needy families and distributing the goods. In addition to food, this year there were two pallets of winter coats donated and Avon donated a large quantity of their products.

ABATE D-10 also shared some of the food with D-5 to help them out in their own charitable efforts. Altogether, approximately 40 people from D-10, D-5, the APD, the AFD, and the local Star motorcycles owners’ group gathered to greet and unload the truck.

Randy Savely, D-10 Representative, said, “It’s been great. We enjoy it. We’re letting them know we’re not all bad guys out here.”

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Motorcycle crash expert Harry Hurt dies

Biker Quote for Today

don’t care ’bout going fast…just want to go far…