James Burleigh, the sage of the FJR Forum posted a topic titled "Are motorcycles inherently dangerous?" this morning. After some supporting arguments, he boiled it down to this statement, which seems to sum it up nicely:
Motorcycles are not inherently dangerous, but they are extremely unforgiving.
I posted my trip report for the ride to Hetch-Hetchy on my TCFJR site.
After weeks a low-key planning and preparation, Justin and I left on our motorcycles last Sunday for an eight-day trip to Arkansas. Here's an e-mail I sent out to friends and family on our plight:
Very early on day one of our trip to Arkansas, my bike bike got a flat rear tire. Of course, these things always seem to happen in the worst possible place -- in our case, it as about half-way between Barstow and Needles on I-40. 105 degrees, no shade, on the shoulder of the freeway and twenty miles from the nearest exitI always carry a tire patch kit and a small compressor for just this kind
of situation. I checked the tire out, found a puncture, and plugged it.
However, the tire would not inflate. We looked at the tire (both me and
Justin, and a rider who stopped to help out his fellow motorcyclists),
and couldn't locate any other problems. Then, to make matters worse,
the fuse blew on the compressor.I called the Auto Club, and they dispatched a truck that could inflate the
tire, or tow me somewhere if we couldn't get the tire to hold air. After
working on the bike for about an hour, we then had to wait another hour
and a half for the tow truck to arrive - and there was nowhere to sit. I
had a gallon jug of water plus two regular bottles of water, but by the
time the tow truck arrived we were almost out.When the driver inflated the tire, we were able to hear a second leak.
I plugged that one too, and the tire held air. Unfortunately, it's just not
a good idea to start a 4,000 mile trip on a rear tire with two plugs in it.Justin and I talked about it, and decided that it would be best to post-
pone the trip for now. From where we were north of Barstow, there was
nowhere to get a new tire on a Sunday afternoon, and we'd lose most of
the day on Monday getting the tire installed. The schedule was tight to
begin with, and we just couldn't make it work if we didn't leave until late
Monday or early Tuesday.So, the trip is postponed for now - but not canceled. We're talking about
going this fall when the heat isn't so much of a problem, or maybe early
next spring. We'll keep you posted.
I had some fun over the last few days being a witness for my friend Doug's 100CCC ride. The details are on this tcfjr post.
On Saturday, I rode up to Santa Barbara for a memorial ride and service for my friend, Tim Bates - known by his forum handle as TWN, or twowheelnut.
More to come.
I rode the FJR to Golden, CO for NAFO 2008 in late July, 2008. Here's the group photo - click for the full-size version:
