More Chicago photos.

I started the post on tactical mindsets for motorcyclists. Partway through I decided to postpone it a bit. I'm way behind on reading everyone else's blogs. So I am going to post a few photos from my return trip then go read blogs. Look for the other post tomorrow or Saturday.

Chicago's O'Hare Airport is huge! We got to the airport a couple of hours early. So I wandered around with the G11. The Chicago Police Department patrols the airport. I took several photos in front of a uniformed cop so I have to presume I managed to look like a tourist and not a terrorist.

I know who Wolfgang Puck is. I have also heard that he has a frozen pizza line, now. It was interesting to see his place in the airport. I thought this was a Chicago thing. However, when I got to Sea Tac Airport in Seattle I saw another one. Although not as fancy as this one.

It was a cloudy day with frequent heavy rain storms. There's a lot of glass in the terminal hallways. I thought this abstract looked kind of cool. This is the actual lighting. No Photoshop conversion here.

This hallway was a bit more festive than the others, for some reason.

You see, there is motorcycle content in this post! This is inside a secured terminal. I'd expect this in Milwaukee ( See, I got the two e's Krysta! ). No bikes, just accessories. Wonder what some of the loud pipes would do to all that glass?

My cigar tube with wings is rolling up to the gate. One group off, one group on.

I did manage to get a few decent shots out the window with the G11. These were over the Washington Cascades.






The best photos would have been coming into Seattle proper. We were low to the ground. The Space Needle, Qwest and Safeco fields with the roofs open, and other great stuff begged to be photographed. That announcement about turning off anything with an off and on switch is annoying. I was tempted to sneak some photos anyway. Several pilots I know tell me that a digital camera would not interfere with the navigational instruments. I decided not to try it. Flight crews are getting pretty touchy about these kind of things. I was much more interested in just getting home without too much hassle than sneaking photos.

Miles and smiles,

Dan

Ride to Work (tm) Day

The first day of summer arrived early this morning with a bit of promise. I looked out my front window at 5 AM. As I did I felt like a teacher looking at a struggling student. This has been the wettest June on record. Like a pupil that you just know has the potential to shine, this day could turn out all right. My optimism was rewarded. After riding under grey skies in the morning, the afternoon's return journey was done under mostly sunny skies. Yes, I think Spring is finally going to graduate into Summer.

Not only is today the first day of Summer here, but it is also Ride to Work Day. Andy Goldfine's great idea for promoting the use of motorcycles for practical transportation. Not only that, but it's a show of force at work places. Take us seriously. Work with us. We're motorcyclists. On top of that we are fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, and so on. We're the valuable employees that contribute so much to the success of the companies we work for. Celebrate the fuel efficiency and smaller demands on the earth's resources with us. Give us parking spaces close to the buildings. We don't take up much room. Give us our own space and you'll have more parking left for those still piloting the cages.

I'm afraid I fell a little short in that particular effort. You see, I have no office or place of employment to commute to. There are no fellow riders to join up with in the parking lot. Riding by myself for work doesn't seem to constitute a show of force. Although there are those who would argue that point. I've been called a Force of Nature. Those less kind say I'm a Freak of Nature. Whichever.

So I rode for work on Ride to Work Day. I had a meeting scheduled with the Director of Security at Warner Pacific College in Portland. Since this was a new contact for me, I decided to make the first impression one of a motorcylist. Thus I showed up on the bike in full riding gear, including my TEAM OREGON retroflective vest.

My instructions were to show up at the main entrance and call the guy on his cell phone. Good plan. Although, as I explored the lot, I discovered that all the parking spots required a student parking permit. Visitor parking was up the hill. Elvira is parked right in front of Building 12 shown in blue on the sign. Visitor parking is up the hill, or towards the top of the sign. So I mounted up and parked up there. Which meant I needed to walk back down the hill. This has a point to it. I'm getting there now.

As I'm walking back down the sidewalk I call the guy I'm supposed to meet. He's nearby. In fact, while he and I are talking he says that he thinks he sees me. "Are you the guy in the vest walking down the sidewalk?" he asks.

Mission accomplished. His first impression of me was exactly what I was aiming for. A security professional who happens to ride a motorcycle.

It's a beautiful campus, by the way. The header photo is one I took from the opposite side of Elvira.

From here I figured the best thing I could do was ride around so as many people as possible could see me on the bike. Tough job, but we all need to sacrifice for the cause, right? Hey, that's harder than it sounds. It meant I actually had to be riding, not holed up in a Starbucks! Somehow it took twice as long to get home as it did to get to the meeting. Weird how that happens. The total for the day was 164 miles so I figure we got a bit of exposure.

On Highway 99 there's a very small town named Aurora. I had the urge to tour the museum but it was closed. There was a small colony of settlers here originally. Sometimes one of the hardest tasks in life today is to keep perspective. Wandering around this museum and the old shops out back help me do just that. We have it pretty easy these days. Too cold and wet to ride? How about a long ride on a horse with just a rain slicker and no electrics? When I get home I park Elvira and retreat into a warm house. Back then I'd still have to take care of the horse first. Things aren't so bad after all. Perspective is a wonderful thing to have in any aspect of life.

It felt like everybody and their spawn were out on the roads today. Freeway or back road, it was busy. Had I not been on my toes I could easily have been taken out at least once and probably twice. That got me to thinking about some tactical training I participated in recently. Suddenly I had this connection to something we discussed there and motorcycling. The next post will deal with Tactical Thinking for Motorcycists.

While I was on the road I heard my cell phone's text message alert go off. Later on I took a look. My son Clinton had sent me a text. At the risk of embarrassing him, here's what it said.

"Rode the bike to work today, I'm the son of iron-rider, I had to!"

Dang. We strive so hard to set ourselves apart. When we succeed we feel pretty good. Suddenly we have to ask ourselves what we're doing to our kids!

I sent Clinton a reply.

"Sorry. Being the son of a legend must be tough."

Let him deal with it. I still have dragons to slay!

Miles and smiles,

Dan

Business trip.


It's a good news / bad news thing. The good news is that I'm not chained to a desk. The bad news is that travel is required that's too far to ride a motorcycle! I think I went to Chicago but there's not much to affirm that. All I really saw for the week was O'Hare and a hotel. Corporate made sure we were occupied the whole time. The G11 came along for the ride. Thought I would share a few photos over the next little bit.

Found this little guy in the Chicago airport. He's a present for Ryan. A green Pooh Bear also seems a fitting opening shot, for some reason. I played with a feature of Photoshop that I hadn't tried before. The program has a "photomerge" function. You can blend two or more pictures into one. Not quite the same as Layers but interesting. I took a photo without flash and one with flash. Then I used "Photomerge Exposure" to blend them. The program matched the two pictures exactly. Tripod highly recommended!

Why do these trips always start so early in the morning? My alarm was set for 3 AM. Had to drive an hour and a half to the airport. There was already a crowd at the airport so I wasn't the only early bird. I have to give Alaska Airlines staff high marks for their efficiency in getting everyone through the baggage check process. It helped that I had checked in online earlier.

Here's my first ride of the day. Portland to Seattle where the bigger bird was flying from.


From Seattle I hitched a ride on a 737-900. Here's the view from seat 21F.

The plane might be a bit faster than my bike but you certainly don't get that feeling of being out in the open and free. In fact, it feels downright hemmed in! On the other hand, it's not a good idea to be out in the breeze at 34,000 feet, either. On the other, other hand, it's entertaining to think of being six miles up and, umm, draining the radiator in the back of the plane, so to speak.

This was my home for the next few days. My room was on the ninth floor looking down at the top of the flat roof. It was reassuring to look down at the air conditioning units and see they were still working. Right across from me was the Doubletree Hotel. I guess business travelers can stand in their respective windows and see if they're wearing the same color underwear as everyone else or not. I chose to pass on that activity.

I'm not sure why the sinks are on top of the counters. My guess is that some laborer forgot to cut the hole in the counter. Then some interior decorator saw it and thought it was a grand idea. These folks are always looking for that "special something" to set them apart. Hey, anybody can put a sink flush with the marble. Check this out! Next thing you know some designer will put them in the middle of the bed.

The reading lamps on each side of the pillows were kind of interesting. I was sure I would bump my head on one of the lamps. Surprisingly, it didn't happen. Of course, the odds were in my favor because Corporate gave us precious little pillow time.

Things got more interesting as the days went on. Beer, food, and a Jewish wedding that I crashed are among the highlights. Did I mention beer and food? Stay tuned.

Miles and smiles,

Dan

Ride to Work Day



Just a reminder that Monday, June 21 is Ride to Work day. I'm in a hotel room in Chicago and don't have much time for this post. However, it's important that riders use their bikes for commuting on this day. We need employers and co-workers to see how many folks ride motorcycles. Hopefully it will inspire others to ride. It can also inspire things like employers providing special motorcycle parking spots. There's more, but Andy Goldfine can explain it much better than me.



You can listen to an interview of Andy if you follow the link above. There's also more information. More from me later.

Miles and smiles,

Dan

Quick update.

Life has been flying by. Speaking of flying, I'm off to Chicago early tomorrow morning. I'll be there the rest of the week for some corporate stuff. With any luck I'll get home late Friday night and have a weekend off to kick back. Sort of forgot what a weekend off is like.

We got a police training class in last week. It was touch and go with the rain. We had a couple of sprinkles but the main bit seemed to just wrap around us and leave us alone. For once I had the chance to spend a lot of time taking photos. I'm shooting in raw these days. I actually filled the Nikon's memory card. There's a lot of great pictures to process. In the meantime, I pulled a couple out to share. Look for more photos and stories later. We were at an airport as well as the track. There's some photos of planes and motorcycles almost sharing the same space.

Here's a photo of Laurie's bike. Somehow I managed to make the bike pop out by using the telephoto to compress the scene and a large aperature to blur the background. I can almost do this on purpose, now!

This is Scott's Duc at the end of a maximum braking demo run at 70 mph. The forks are fully compressed and the front tire is squashed down a bit. Scott's darn good. This bike doesn't have ABS, either.

My fellow instructor Dan was mugging for the camera. Interestingly, the camera was dangling from my hand at the time. I shot this one from the hip. Sometimes those work out.

One great side affect was that I got my new rear tire properly scrubbed in. It's always worth a bit of bragging rights when you scrub the Metzeler elephants off a tire.

I took some action shots of Laurie then she returned the favor using my camera and 70-300mm lense. I told her to get my best side. Apparently we have a difference of opinion about which side that is. Most of her shots are of my backside.


I experimented with panning. It's surprisingly hard to get just right. This one came out halfway well. The background is blurred. The bike is almost focused sharply. You can still see some motion in the wheels. I should clone out the cyclone fence rail at the bottom. Still, though, it does convey a sense of speed, doesn't it? Not bad for the first practice session, if I say so myself. The vibration resistance in the Nikon lense works quite well. This is hand held at 170 mm focal length with a 1/100 shutter speed. All while moving the camera to follow the bike.



Later in the week I had to go look at some stuff on this fancy house. Factory rep and all that. The contractor tells me the house itself cost almost two million dollars. Funny. To me it looks like an industrial office building. It's very stark inside. Quite sterile. To each their own, I guess. The great news is that I took the back way into Newberg. In the process I discovered a road called Bald Peak Road. It's really windy as it goes up and over the hill then down the other side. The view from the top of the peak is outstanding.



Taught a class this weekend. Saturday was almost sunny. We got drenched on Sunday. That seems to be the normal pattern anymore. Great stories from this class, too. Plenty of material, just have to write it all down sometime.



It looks like things will finally settle down once I get the Chicago thing over with. Look for posts on cornering, downhill curves, braking, and the old "lay it down" thing. There are also plenty of great stories locked up. The plan is to revive the energy here. Thanks to those who have been hanging in here during the quiet time.

Miles and smiles,

Dan

Tattoo remover!



We worked a motorcycle officer training day yesterday. It's a pretty intense experience. I might share some more thoughts as well as some photos later. The reason I mentioned it here is that Dean W was working, too, He'd just returned from the World Superbike races in Utah. While there Dean snagged a bumper sticker from Utah's motorcycle safety program.

Dean was holding the sticker while I snapped a photo. I thought about cropping it but it seems to me that it looks better this way, for some reason.

Interestingly, it somewhat ties in with a discussion over at Jay Green's Road Captain USA blog. We've been talking a bit about laying a bike down versus braking. Jay was kind enough to grant me permission to post a somewhat lengthy comment on the matter. Stay tuned here for a longer post on the subject.

Miles and smiles,

Dan

P.S. to Doug in Ohio. I've haven't forgotten your request for that road rash link. I know I have it here. I promise to take the time to run it down in the next couple of days. Thanks for hanging in with me!

Responsibility- giving and taking.

Taught a class this weekend. It was so darn wet I hardly dared pull a camera out. Took a couple of snapshots, but that's about it.



One of the things we talk with students about is the concept of Rider Responsibility. In other words, the idea that we are the ones responsible for ourselves out there. Sure, there's bogies everywhere we turn when we're riding. Nobody is going to cut us any slack. It's up to us to develop the physical skills and mental strategies we need to survive and prosper. Bottom line: We need to take responsibility for ourselves. Excuses don't cut it.

Each time I teach I'm presented with examples of both sides of the equation. Those who take responsibility and those who don't. The problem for me is that we have two clearly defined ways to evaluate the students in our basic classes. There's a written test and a riding test. We set out the parameters. The students meet them or not. Very little room for subjectivity. Sometimes people pass who really aren't ready for the streets, yet. Sometimes people pass who really shouldn't be on a bike at all. As a professional I have to live with that. Although I make sure they know the kind, but honest truth before they leave.

This weekend triggered some musings on my part about responsibility. A lot of things in the world of motorcycling cross over into the rest of life. Actually, is there a life outside of riding? Interesting concept.

***** Arriving unprepared *****

I proctored a written retest before my regular class on Saturday. If a student fails the written test or the riding test they are allowed to try again later. Within certain parameters, at least. So I had a group of five coming in to take the written test again.

Two of the group were young guys under 21. They arrived separately. Both of them said they needed a pen. Neither fumbled in pockets or did anything to make me think they might have had a pen but simply forgotten it. It was clear they expected me to provide one for them. Ok. Let's see here. You come here for the express purpose to take a written test. Yet you don't bring anything to write with. Interesting. I'm paid to be professional about it so I simply handed them a pen from a stash.

I know it's a little thing. What pains me is the idea that they expect somebody else to take responsibility for them. Doesn't our behaviour in life demonstrate what our attitude toward riding will be? Maybe I'm just getting old and cranky. Perhaps I'm just over-sensitive because I care a lot about motorcycle safety. Am I totally out in left field, here?

Here's a nice Italian scooter with a Washington State license plate. You can see Elvira in the background. I think she was a bit jealous of the attention I was giving the scooter.

****** It's never my fault! *****

One of the people who showed up was scheduled for both the written and skills test on Saturday. Which means he failed both the first time. A guy about my age. Old enough to have grown up. He started right out by telling me everything the other instructors did wrong. The bike he was assigned to was a piece of crap. The instructors didn't give him the attention he needed. They didn't do a very good job of coaching. On and on and on........

That's why he was here in Albany. He'd taken the class at another site but didn't want to go back there.

His claim was that he failed the skills test because he put his foot down. I challenged him because nobody fails for that one thing. Turns out that he also popped the clutch and launched out of the corner, completely missing the turn. Right away a comment that Dean W made in response to one of my recent posts came to mind.

I explained to the guy that launching out of the corner meant he would have crashed into oncoming traffic in the real world. Right away he made sure to remind me that it was only a parking lot, not real life. Brace for it. You can feel the punch line coming.

So, let me get this straight. You want me to believe that you would be just fine in the real world of traffic even though you couldn't control a small training bike in the parking lot?

Of course, it wasn't his fault. The bike he was riding was a piece of crap, remember? Right.

To cap this story off, the guy was happy with me because he passed the written test. He told me that he was going to call my boss and give me positive reviews. I found out this morning that he had already called in to complain about the other instructors. Between two calls he spent an hour and a half sounding off. But he liked me! I can't tell you how pleased I was to hear that. I felt so honored. I live for student praise and not the satisfaction of really teaching them something.

I happened to be out on the range when he was starting the skills test. Once again, he started on his long list of complaints and how it wasn't his fault. This time he had a fresh audience in the form of the other students there for the retest. I pulled him aside. It was time for some words of wisdom.

"I'm not conducting the skills retest. I wasn't one of your original instructors. However, I do want to leave you with some words of wisdom. Until you learn to take responsibility for yourself, you shouldn't ever touch a motorcycle."

As of this morning he hadn't called my boss with those words of praise for me. I still have high hopes, though!

***** The Hand-off *****

For somebody to take something, somebody else has to hand it off. The same applies for responsibility. Both in motorcycling and life in general. Here's a story on the positive side.

I've had the honor of teaching some of the gals in the program's support unit. These girls do such an awesome job of making everything work. They handle student registrations, course files going out and coming back in, completion cards, supplies, student concerns, you name it. Their success ratio is somewhere around 98 or 99 percent. I have the utmost respect for what they do and thank them for it.

Two of the gals were scheduled to take the class this weekend. I was totally humbled by the fact that they signed up for this weekend specifically because I was teaching. Unfortunately, one of the girls came down sick and didn't attend.

Braving it by herself, the other one showed up. She's never ridden before. At the time, her plan wasn't to ride. She wanted to see what the class was like to better relate to the students. This gal also does the scheduling for instructor assignments. I was hoping that things went well. Never good to have somebody who somewhat controls your fate on your bad side, you know?

Having her in class was a lot like having a little sister in class. She's family, so to speak. You want her to succeed. You like her. The temptation was to give her a lot of extra attention. I resisted. It would have been wrong on a couple of levels.

All my students get a lot of attention. That's what I'm there for. I care about them as riders and as people. I like to think they all get what they need from me. Giving my "little sister" extra attention wouldn't have been fair to the other students. It would not have been fair to her, either.

I'm a professional evaluator. I could see that she was capable of things even if she didn't know it, yet. It's kind of like teaching a kid to ride a bicycle. I can remember running alongside my kids holding the bike up. After a while I let go but kept running beside them. Pretty soon they'd realize that they were actually riding by themselves. That newly found confidence was the platform they built upon.

The same thing happens with riding students. They need confidence. They will only get that by having personal success. I start them out. ( I'm speaking for all my fellow instructors, whether in Oregon or not ) Little by little I let go. The students realize that they're capable of doing this on their own. Now I simply guide them, rather than hold their hands, so to speak.

That's the handoff.

"Little sister" did just fine. Now I hear she might actually want to get a bike of her own. Cool.

Fascinating how much riding and and life otherwise are intertwined, isn't it?

Miles and smiles,

Dan

Four month check ride.

Ryan turned four months old this week. Time to check his potential motorcycle passenger status.

I guess it will be a while, yet! Although he's getting the cool factor down pretty well.

Four wheelers are within his grasp, now.

Gotta watch those road rage tendencies, though!

Hit a speed bump and watch how fast you can lose your "cool" factor when the shades slide down your nose.

I just got back from Seattle and am teaching a class this weekend. Next week the blog will get serious again. Thought you might enjoy this quick bit of humor in the meantime.

Miles and smiles,

Dan

Musings on rider training.

On Saturday I had the pleasure of teaching a Rider Skills Practice class here in Albany. This class is similar to the MSF Experienced Rider Course. We help riders tune up their cornering, braking, and other accident avoidance skills. The afternoon was graced with perfect sunny weather and an awesome group of 10 riders.

This is the first course I've taught this year that wasn't a Basic Class. Being able to work with these more advanced riders was a great boost to my enthusiasm. These folks came in already possessing good skills. It was obvious that they were hungry for information and skill sharpening. By the end of the afternoon is was clear that this group got plenty of both.

At the beginning of the class our students complete a circuit ride. It's a series of exercises designed to allow them to see where they are coming in. The circuit ride consists of a 90 degree sharp turn followed by a barrel ride. The barrel ride is similar to what you see at horse events. It requires tight turns around a series of three cones. After the barrel ride comes a faster corner followed by a swerve. The swerve cones are set at 13 feet so it's fairly tight. A maximum braking stop ends the ride. This is not a pass / fail course. However, we score the run so the riders have a baseline.

Instructors have been known to get down on the pavement and wrestle over who gets to do the demonstration runs!

During the class we work on the individual elements with some extra skill work thrown in. At the end of class we do the circuit ride again, scoring the second run. Our group was a bit rusty at the beginning. By the second ride, they were looking pretty darn sharp. Huge improvement!

The benefit to the riders from the class is immediately evident.

As you can imagine, my teaching partner Aria and I were pretty busy. I did manage to get a few quick photos during the afternoon.

Near the middle of the class we spend a few minutes talking about some skills and strategies. Here's Aria and the group taking advantage of a shady outdoor classroom.

This was a very personable and enthusiastic group. I can't tell you how much I appreciated seeing them show such a direct contrast in attitudes toward training compared to most riders I see.

At the end of the day I was chatting with the group about whether we had helped them to accomplish their objectives. I found myself making this statement to them.

"Training teaches us what we need to practice."

If I say so myself, I find that a bit profound. There's two ways to look at that statement as I reflect on it.

Firstly, coming to training helps us to identify where we are in our skills. We find that some skills are pretty solid. We also find out which ones need some extra work. Those are the ones we should give priority to when we practice on our own outside of a formal training environment.

Secondly, the training shows us the correct technique to practice later. Practicing the wrong technique just reinforces a bad habit. Training teaches us the proper way to execute a skill. It's not solely practice that makes perfect. It's perfect practice that makes perfect.

I actually had a day off yesterday. After church Katie and I went and wandered the mall. We saw The Director in a store. Saturday's class must have been great for me. I found myself enthusiastically running off at the mouth about what a wonderful experience it was when we chatted.

Here's a sincere expression of appreciation to our students. You all provided refreshment to my soul when I really needed it. Thank you so much for your wonderful attitudes toward riding and training!

Miles and smiles,

Dan

How to read a corner.

This should come as no surprise but blind corners hide both hazards and their characteristics. Since we don't have x-ray vision the hazards will remain hidden until we actually get there. By looking for clues, however, we can get some advance idea of the corner's direction and make-up.

Hopefully we're all on the same page. The page that says maintaining as large a visual lead as possible is critical. That's because we're scanning for critical information. Notice the tie-in provided by the word "critical". I've typed that word three times in three sentences. Must be important. The earlier we get information the better. During that scan we're looking for clues that will tell us something is upcoming long before our eyes can actually spot it. Watching the painted lines on the roadway can give us early clues about the corner. The lines will tell us about which direction the road turns, how tight the turn is, and a bit about the camber of the corner.

Scan the fog lines on either side of road and the yellow line in the middle. Look at the point where the lines converge and disappear from our view. The clue about the corner lies in that place. You're looking for the spacing between the lines. With a picture being worth a thousand words, take a look at these few thousand.

In the photo above the lines maintain a relatively constant relationship to each other. There's a fair amount of space between them. This corner will have a fairly constant radius. It's not what you would call a particularly tight turn or sharp corner.

In the corner above the lines converge more quickly but don't actually look to be touching. The curve is tighter than the first one.

In the photo above the lines seem to almost touch where they disappear between the tree on the left and the bushes on the right. That's a clue that this turn is going to pretty tight. By now the sun was shining brightly and washing out the lines. It's harder to see than I wanted it to be. Sorry, but you get the idea.

Some riders use telephone poles and the wires they carry as indicators of direction. Just be aware that sometimes they lie as you can see below. Depending upon your particular bike, you may not want to be riding out there!

Clues are just that. Indicators but not force fields. This is a good time for a couple of reminders. Anytime we can't see all the way through a corner we have to expect the worst. Our entry speeds should be set accordingly. Better to be pleasantly surprised than to meet nasty surprises like in the photo below.

Never commit to the apex until the exit of the corner is visible. Until that point we're making a critical decision without all the information. Not a good idea, at all!!!

Reading corners and reading the written word have something in common. The better our reading skills are the more information we will have available to us. Better information enables better decisions. Next time you're out riding corners ( and I hope it's real soon! ) practice reading the lines. By the way, if there are no lines on the roadway, use the edges of the road as clues.

Miles and smiles,

Dan