Fill those spots!

Cruising through a couple of cities yesterday, I noticed that most of the motorcycle parking spots are empty. They're so empty you can hear your voice echo. Of course, the weather yesterday might have had something to do with it. High winds and heavy rains don't make ideal inducements to ride.

I had an early morning appointment in downtown Portland yesterday. Following that I ski'd, I mean rode, back to Salem. I saw only three other bikes actually being ridden. One was a big BMW GS dual sport, the other two were being piloted by motor officers. Duty calls despite the weather, I guess.

Speaking of weather, the weatherman on TV likened us to being at the end of a fire hose. Fast moving jet streams were dumping tropical moisture on us from some Pacific island chain. We had wind gusts of 30 some miles per hour. A couple hours NW of us, Astoria on the coast got nearly four inches of rain. To top off the day, our neighbor's giant Weeping Willow tree finally gave up the struggle last night. Somewhere around 11:30 PM I awoke to what sounded like fireworks. Fortunately, the tree crashed to the ground without hitting anything vital.

With weather like this, you know I just had to ride. It's an ego thing, I admit. The last thing I want said about me is that I am less than a hardcore rider. Call me juvenile, but I'll probably still be trying to prove my Road Warrior status until I can no longer move. Katie was kind of worried about me riding. I think the prospect of the heavy, gusty, wind on top of the heavy rain shook her up a little. Especially since my itinerary called for around 250 miles. She's my best friend and deeply loves me. I know she wanted to keep me from riding but didn't want to deny me what I needed. That's true love. I love her, too, but I needed to ride. It's who I am. It's what I do. I just hoped she didn't have some premonition of my impending doom. Her slightly frightened look haunted me all day. Just to end the suspense, things turned out well yesterday with no close calls.

Finding a place to park nearly drove me crazy. Which spot to choose?!! Hmm. This one's nice, but that one has a better view. Oh, not that one. It's under a tree full of birds. Ok, how about this one? Well, the one next to it is a little cleaner and the stripe's brighter. Aaargh!!

This spot is usually crammed with bikes during the summer. The lack of other riders is sort of bittersweet to me. One the one hand, I like the feeling of being one of the "crazy ones" who rides all year. People never know how to take you. Yesterday, for example, I was walking on the sidewalk in my wet gear, helmet in hand. A guy passed me going the other way. He caught my eye and I knew he wanted to say something. So I decided to humor him and act like I might be interested.

"Getting wet, huh?", he says, with entirely too much pleasure, I thought. Of course, I think I'm much more manly than him since I'm the one with the wet motorcycle gear. So who cares what a lightweight like him thinks, eh?

Here's another empty space at the Community College. More fodder for my ego. Which brings me to the other side of the coin. I've thrown my loyalty behind Andy Goldfine's Ride to Work campaign. Notice that it doesn't say Ride and Build Your Ego. Drat.

Not everyone can ride to work all year, I know. Little things like snow, for example, get in the way. Around here, however, snow and ice are less frequent. It's certainly not as much fun to ride in our Winter, but certainly something that can be accomplished. Not everyone wants to ride in bad weather, either. I'm okay with that. However, there's some who would probably want to ride more, they just need a little help to get there. Here's a hardy soul who rode yesterday. The birds are acting like they hope the rider left their lunch bag out somewhere.

My challenge to everyone is to help fill these empty spots as much as possible. Just across the street is another example of empty motorcycle parking.

In nicer weather, there's at least two bikes here. Sometimes up to four. Yesterday it was being used by a UPS truck. Nothing against UPS. They do a great job and I'm always glad to see their trucks roll up to my door. However, there's six tires on this truck. Those tires should be split among three bikes!

New riders are often looked down on by more "experienced" riders. Notice I put the word experienced in quotation marks. Real experienced riders are mature enough to reach out to new riders. Help them find the right gear to cope with the elements. That alone goes a long ways towards keeping them riding.

Help them think like motorcyclists. This includes realizing they can still be safe in wet weather, they just need to go about things a little differently than in a car. Here's a classic example I encountered yesterday.

I was in the lane where the white van is now. Notice the railroad tracks? These run along 12th street in Salem. 12th is a busy North-South route that skirts the downtown area. A lot of traffic comes and goes from the downtown core along streets that intersect the railroad tracks. Rubber pads separate the rails. When it's wet, everything's slick. I had to make a right turn. That's what this van is going to do. The van driver is going to start the right turn while still on the tracks. There's not much room to make the corner as you can see in the next photo.

By the way, I hope you appreciate these pictures. Each photo is taken while standing in the rain and trying to hold the camera still against the wind!

Leaning the bike to turn while on the tracks isn't a good idea, as you know. A new rider can find themselves in the middle of a heart stopping moment. These kind of things can make people swear off riding real quick! Teach them the tricks like crossing the tracks straight up, then making a quick right turn. Little tips make big differences.

Teach new riders about the wonderful treachery of wet leaves. On the way home I snuck out on some back roads high up in the hills. Miles of twisty roads to play on. Yesterday I found myself riding very carefully. Those big leaves are pretty to look at but deadly. In some places there were literally only the wheel tracks open among the leaves. Here's a place where I came down off the hills onto River Road.

Yes, it's awesome riding up in these hills. Except for the leaves of course. You can kind of see some leaves still on the sides of the lanes. At the bottom of the hill a rider's going to have to stop. Not a big deal? Check out the bottom of the hill.

Surprise! Of course, it shouldn't be. There's that thing called looking well ahead and getting critical information early. This situation isn't an issue under those circumstances. Get the information early. Plan and adjust the braking point early. Remember that other motorists can be having traction issues at the same time. Stay alert. These aren't things we can assume new riders will just automatically know. That's where we come in.

Rather than letting newer riders get scared off, or leave frustrated, sharing some of our hard won experience can help them embrace the challenge. A little knowledge can spell the difference between giving up or feeling empowered. Helping others avoid the hard lessons we've learned doesn't cheapen our own image. I know that some feel like everyone should have to learn on their own. In the long term that's counterproductive to our goal of making motorcycles everyday transportation. Freely sharing will make us all better off in the big picture.

My goal is to help fill these empty motorcycle parking spots. Are you in the mood to join me?

Miles and smiles,

Dan