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.