I Don't Want a Pickle, I Just Wanna Ride My Motorsickle

Wow. Over the last two months I've made a grand total of two posts. Not that the internet can't go on without me, but I really should try to do better than that, don't you think? My New Year's resolution this year was to make a blog post each and every day no matter what, but I guess that only proves the futility of resolving your way to better personhood.

Anyways, the weather has been so nice out here this summer that I just haven't had the time for much computer time. As I've said before, I'm not the kind of person that likes to sit inside and tap on a keyboard all day, especially when the sun is out and there's a nice cool breeze blowing in off the bay. Nope, sitting in front of a monitor may be okay for those other pasty-faced blogger geeks out there, but I'd rather go for a hike or a bike ride or even a trip out to the coast instead.

So that's my excuse. Indian summer is starting to settle in so I thought that as long as the weather is heating up I might as well enjoy this air conditioning and catch up on some blogging (hint for all of you out-of-towners: the hottest days around the bay usually start sometime after Labor Day and continue on until about the middle of October. That's when the fog disappears and the Santa Ana's pick up and our fire season reaches its most dangerous stages. The great Oakland fire was an October fire, as those of us who live around here remember all too well) .

For my first topic of this new blogging season I'd like to talk a little about motorcycling. You see, as you get older you start to think about things - lots of things; things you've done, mistakes you've made, and things you'd always meant to do but never got around to actually doing. Back in High School most of my friends rode motorcycles, but I never had the cash to buy one of my own. Other than a very occasional ride on one of their bikes, a motorcycle of my own was beyond my means and just sort of fell onto my "someday" list.

Fast forward a few decades later, and my brother mentioned to me that he had signed up for a Motorcycle Safety Foundation Beginning Rider Course that, unfortunately, had been canceled due to noise complaints from the neighbors. I asked him to let me know if he ever decided to sign up for another class, and the next thing you know it's 7:00 in the morning and we're standing in the parking lot of the local community college getting ready to gear up for our lessons.

If you don't know about the MSF or the BRC then I should explain that it's a class open to both raw beginners and experienced riders that is predicated on the belief that a lot of motorcyclists you see out on our public roads don't know what the hell they're doing. These are people that usually begin by asking a friend or family member to teach them how to ride, and then pick up an enthusiast magazine and drool over the latest high-revin' zero-to-sixty in 3 second pocket rocket, and then go down to the local dealership and buy themselves "one of those". That's the way many motorcyclists you see have learned to ride provided, of course, that they survived the trip back from the dealership. Sound familiar? Hmmm, maybe you have a young one of those living in your upstairs bedroom?

Which brings up this point: Is the "pro" rider the one you see weaving his way in and out of traffic at 90 mph, or is it the one who pays attention to his surroundings and rides within his ability level, having practiced techniques such as maximum braking, proper turning, swerving and low speed maneuvering? If you're under the age of 30, then I guess you'd say the "pro" rider is the one going 90, but if you're over 30 then you probably think the MSF BRC might not be such a bad idea.

The BRC always sounded like a good idea to me, so I took the course and passed it. Righ now I'm just waiting for them to send me my paperwork and then I'll be headed off to the DMV to get my M1 license (in California, passing the MSF BRC means you don't have to take the motorcycle driving test). In the meantime, I've got my permit and I'm happily riding my new motorcycle. That's a picture of me over on the left (handsome devil, ain't I?)

I read somewhere that you shouldn't think of your first motorcycle as your "dream" motorcycle, but rather you should think of it as your trainer. It's the bike that hopefully you'll be making all your beginner mistakes on. With that in mind, the best starter bikes are typically light, cheap and underpowered. Now the dealer won't tell you that. The dealer is going to tell you that with a 1800 cc engine and a dry weight of only 860 pounds, that $25k Honda Goldwing is the perfect bike for a beginner, or that Suzuki Hayabusa with a top speed of 190 mph and a 9 second quarter mile time is just the kind of bike to get started on and one you're not likely to outgrow in a couple of months. Well, I'm no fool. I'm a MSF BRC graduate so you can't oversell me like you do all the other noobs that walk in the door.

So what did I buy instead? Well, don't laugh - I mean it. My rider coach told me that you can learn on any bike, but you'll learn a lot faster if you start on a small bike and move up to something bigger, and since I trust my rider coach a lot more than I do some high commission motorcycle salesman I bought a Suzuki GZ250 - probably the safest and most boring motorcycle on the road today. Top speed? Are you kidding? Quarter mile times? You could get there faster on roller skates.

But is it fun? Damn, if it didn't make my butt so sore I'd ride the thing all day. Besides, it has all the features a beginner needs. Like all cruisers it sits low to the ground with a low center of gravity making it easy and stable to ride. It has a single cylinder engine making it very easy to maintain. It's fast enough to get around town, but not fast enough to get a beginner into too much trouble. It handles very predictably and you'd have to try really hard to dump the clutch and get the front tire in the air. And best of all, it doesn't look like a beginner bike. Fact is, I've gotten more than a few admiring looks while straddling my little GZ, and since I know nobody's gonna be looking at me then I have to conclude that others find it quite a looker too.

I also bought around $600.00 worth of gear (those helmets can get expensive) and a book considered to be the Bible of motorcycle riding called Proficient Motorcycling by David L. Hough. If you've taken the BRC then I think you'll find it an excellent resource for building on some of the fundamental concepts you've learned. In fact, David L. Hough was one of the people responsible for developing the coursework in the MSF program, and you can tell by reading the book that this guy knows his stuff. It's just a matter of absorbing it and applying it to your everyday riding habits.

And did I mention the GZ gets between 70-80 mpg? Well, it does. Today I pulled into a gas station next to a guy filling his Chevy Silverado and it was great. Five bucks and a gallon and half of gas and I was on my way, while that guy was still sitting there watching the the numbers spinning higher and higher. Ah, the joy of motorcycling.