5154 less motorcycles on the road

Good morning all,
This morning on CNN the bubbly news personality reported that automobile fatalities were down again last year. Then added that motorcycle deaths are up for the tenth straight year. That was all. A little digging was in order (no pun intended).

USA Today, Healthlink, The New York Times and more all have the story. Motorcyclist deaths are up 6.6%. 5154 died last year. Why? There are lots of things to look at.

Starting with motorcycle registrations, up 75% compared to 10 years ago. The average age of the motorcycle buyer has risen from 24 to 38 since 1980. In the past, 47 states required wearing helmets, today only 20 require helmets. Average size of a motorcycle has gone from 769cc to over 1000cc since 1990 and horsepower figures have just gone sky high. Older first time buyers, big engines, no helmets, no education = trouble.

With gas prices on the rise (here in the USA we're just now starting deal with prices that the Europeans have been experiencing for years) motorbike usage is also on the rise. Guys are dragging their old bike out of the back corner of the garage, and more often than not, not upgrading the tyres, brakes, cables, etc. And more importantly not upgrading their helmet from the old 1979 model. Scooter sales have shot up. My friends at Cal Coast Motorsports in Ventura can't keep them in stock. There is even a GM dealer I saw on the news that has given up it's Hummer dealership and brought in small electric cars and scooters!!! Good for him.

Now, I'm going to step on my soapbox again. Hey, blogs are for opinions right?

I believe in wearing a good full face helmet...ALWAYS!!! A good jacket and good gloves. Quality boots too. Training. Before you are allowed to get a motorcycle license you must pass the MSF riders course. No exceptions. And if you're really smart you'll go to a another school, Keith Code's California Superbike School, Reg Pridmore's CLASS or another.

Next, I do believe in a 'graduated licensing program'. It works in Europe. Being in the motorcycle business, I have a lot of friends in a lot of dealers around the country and I hear stories all the time of guys (women don't too often do this) buying big bikes and asking the salesman, service tech or lot monkey teach them how to ride it!? And the fact that the dealer guys would do that blows me away as well. A sixteen year old kid with no experience should not be buying nor should be sold a 1000cc Sportbike. The same goes for the 45 year old who has always wanted a Harley but has never ridden anything bigger than a moped when he was in college. Note here, I'm not picking on Harley Davidson, but...that is Harley's customer. You don't hear the phrase, "I've always wanted a Honda VTX".

Starting on smaller displacement motorcycles works. You can develop skills, confidence and enjoy riding the motorcycle without being intimidated. The are plenty fast, they come in all flavors (sporty, cruiser style, plain) and colors. They're not too expensive and if you decide that two wheels really isn't for you, well, you're not going lose thousands of dollars. If it does fall over, you can pick it up. A good thing, because ain't nobody else going to help you, they're too busy laughing.

That's enough for today. Next is what the government can do to help the situation. Lets, make the roads more '2 Wheel Friendly'. Teach car drivers to see motorcycles...on and on.

Ride safe, I'll see you on the road.
Paul

Go to school

Time to go back to school. Riding school. I know some of you think I should go to writing skool but my grades aint gud enuf. Oh well.

A lot of years ago I attended the Original California Superbike School run by Keith Code out at the now long gone Riverside Raceway. It was a great day. I was just making the transition from desert racing to roadracing and what an eye opener it was. The day was spent on a Kawasaki KZ550 and in a make shift classroom. At the end of that day I had my AFM roadracing license in hand. I also had a head full of info that I still use to this day.

Years later, a lot of years later, I put my son in Superbike School. He was a good rider when he went in, he came out a much better rider. He too went on to roadracing with some moderate succeses...he and I and a couple of friends got 3rd in Middleweight Superstock at the WERA 24 Hour race at Willow Springs.

At this years MotoGP race at Laguna Seca I ran into Keith and told him how much I remembered and still use from his school...27 years ago!!!...he told me that he had met a couple others that had attended the school way back when. He was pretty stoked. Before we parted I told him about our podcast and asked if we could get together for an interview, he was up for it, I gave him my card and hoped for the best.

The Tuesday after the race my phone rings and on the other end is Keith Code. "When would you like to get together for an interview?" "Whenever is good for you" says I. A couple of days later I spent the morning with Keith at his home office. I took the picture of me at school that day back in 1981, he was pretty surprised. I was riding bike #5..he told me that they had recently found and bought bike #1 from back then.
We had a great interview, a great time and I truly believe I have made a new friend.

Keith Code is a very interesting man. He is constantly thinking of ways to improve the Superbike School and riders riding skills. His greatest joy is the success and happiness of his students. I admire Keith Code a lot, I have for 27 years.

Monday Madness

Once a motorcycle racer, always a motorcycle racer. Some sort of genetic defect I guess. I went from desert racing to enduro's, back to desert racing and then on to my real love, roadracing. I had hurt myself pretty badly in a desert racing get off and bouncing around the puckerbushes was no longer an option for me. Thats Ok..it's too hot in the desert anyway, well except in January and February when it snows.

In 1981 with my friend Ted Toki, it's off to the original Keith Code California Superbike School at Riverside Raceway. At the end of the day we were whooped but we had our AFM racing licenses in hand, thank you Keith and crew. Now came the hard part...roadracing ain't cheap. It was a great time to be racing, heck, they still had a 50cc class!!! So many interesting bikes, crazy ass modifications and a lot of fun.

Fast forward into the mid nineties, after a taking a few years off to raise a couple of kids on my own, the urge was back. Off to Willow Springs I go, piloting a... Honda Ascot??? Hey, it was kinda cheap (the race motor cost four times as much as the whole bike!!!) and a lot of fun. Singles racers are a very weird bunch, a close knit family and all families are weird. But in that group I developed some very close friends. We all raced WSMC, AHRMA, AFM and CCS. So what has that got to do with the title of this post you ask... sit right back and I'll tell you a tale, a tale of a crazy group...that started on a Monday night...OK, sorry about the Gilligan thing.

A little while back we all seemed to semi retire from roadracing...businesses, families, paying for kids college educations..you get the picture. But, we're all still racers, it's that right wrist thing...
Our friend and fairly close neighbor Jay, has a five acre hunk 'o land and a couple of Honda XR100's. A frenzy of tractor work, buying up more XR100's...let the fun begin!!

Monday Madness was born. During the 'Daylight Savings Time' period, our group of ex-racers and a couple of other friends would gather at Jay's, on Monday's, for some slidin' around the track, good food and of course...good beer. Hey they're only 100cc bikes, we're not going that fast, it's only a sixteenth of a mile oval...we won't get hurt. Thats what we told the wives. Uh, yeah. Remember, we are racers and we have to win, friends be damned. Bumping someone off the course, sure. Running over someones foot, natch. Cutting the corner, wouldn't you? Hitting someones kill switch at the start, yeah. All in the name of friendly competition?!

Very large contusions (read..really big nasty bruises),some painful sprains and a couple broken bones (small ones)..hey, thats what beer is for..pain killer. Well, after a couple years of that, the wives got a bit tired of playing nurse when we got home. We had big smiles on our faces, and the women just shook their heads.

Monday madness came to an end a while back, recovering from all that racing was starting to take a little too long to heal, we do have jobs to go to on Tuesday. A number of us took our newly discovered flat tracking skills to a real flat track race, vintage bikes and us, vintage riders. We all went with two goals in mind..don't fall down and don't be last. We all succeeded.

Heather and I were sitting in bed last night and somehow Monday Madness came up, I got a big smile on my face and surprisingly, so did she. I miss Monday Madness...I'm still a racer.