Scooter in the Sticks

Exploring life on a Vespa, Royal Enfield Himalayan, Honda Trail 125, and a Kawasaki W650

Motorcycle and Scooter Riding Safety

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Morning Fall from Boss Boyd on Vimeo.
Morning Fall
by Edward McGinty

With winter clearly fading away another riding season has begun.  Some return to the road sooner than others and everyone goes through their own ritual of rekindling the connection with machine and road.  Motorcycle and scooter riding safety are, unfortunately, subjects not given the attention they might deserve, especially if a rider seriously values their longevity on the road.    Morning Fall by Edward McGinty offers a gripping reminder of what’s at stake when you ride.

For myself, the riding season preparations include removing winter tires, repainting a salt ravaged muffler, and going through some practice rides to evaluate how sloppy a rider I’ve become over the past year.  Practice includes panic stops, evasive maneuvers, slow speed drills, and visual evaluations of the road ahead.  Each year I’m surprised at how much I need the practice.  Acquaintances with big bikes shudder at this kind of thing for fear of dropping their machines.  I understand the dollar and cents cost of practice mishaps, but how do you ever become comfortable that you can handle the bike in a crisis?

I suspect they won’t and hope crisis never comes their way

Deer Strategies for Riders

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Deer crossing sign with Vespa scooterOn Monday morning when the alarm clock launched the radio I was brought into the world with a story about a couple on a Harley who slid their motorcycle 300 feet in an attempt to avoid a whitetail deer.  In my half awake, mostly drifting state I still had the presence of mind to question the details of the event. And wonder about riding strategies for deer.

Deer are everywhere here.  Everywhere.  And despite their tendency to move more at dusk and dawn, they can be found bounding across the road at anytime of day.  Anytime.   The rider claimed he had to slide the bike to avoid the deer.  Is sliding the best option for avoiding deer? And how fast do you need to be going to slide a Harley Davidson motorcycle 300 feet?

By the time I was riding to work my brain was still chewing on the story, turning the details over and over and pondering a few more questions. Knowing the road and location where the accident happened, a place where I have seen dozens and dozens of deer, why would a motorcycle be traveling at said velocity at 6:17 p.m. — a prime deer traffic time? And in one of those moments of clarity I dropped the mental inquiry realizing it was as pointless as asking why someone rides without a helmet or any other choice that varies from my own.  We each are endowed with the power of making our own choices. Managing the risk of wildlife collisions is part fate and part rider choice.  I like to focus on choices.

The remainder of the ride to work was spent thinking about how people manage the risks involved with deer, or wildlife of any kind.  A recent inquiry from a reader in Australia detailed the lasting effects of an unfortunate encounter with a wallaby.  Deer, groundhog, dog or wallaby — you don’t want to have encounters.

Vespa scooter early in the morning

To be completely honest, I couldn’t come up with many strategies related to deer.  If I had to list the biggest risk I face as a rider it would be Bambi.  I feel comfortable that the speeding drivers, cellphone users, and incompetent motorists can be fairly managed.  But my doe-eyed friends, they are unpredictable.  Sort of like the guy who has a heart attack just as he is about to pass you and suddenly you have a head-on encounter with destiny.  So with the heart attack and the deer all I can come up with is to slow down, learn the type of environs that deer like to use to cross a road, and pay fierce attention during the times of day that deer are most active.  Oh, a remember during hunting season all bets are off.  The deer are making mad dashes until the guns grow silent.

Thinking about the 300 foot slide, one hundred yards of Harley inspired sparks, that’s impressive.  Thankfully the rider and his passenger survived and were taken to a local hospital when they could be treated and hopefully ride another day.

Riding across the farm lane on the way to work where the dazzling sunlight in the open fields provides expansive visibility and few places for all but the most determine deer to hide I felt reasonably safe and unlikely to do much wildlife induced sliding.

But how do other riders manage or rationalize their choices regarding riding behavior in the face of wildlife obstacles?  Maybe there’s something I can learn.

Revisiting Risk: The Accident

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This post is about my friend John and the accident he was part of when his BMW motorcycle hit the side of a garbage truck one morning on the way to work. This happened a long time ago now — in October of 2007. The circumstances of the crash don’t matter.

Physically the accident was a tragedy. John suffered severe trauma to his right leg as a result of the collision and after 14 months of surgical and medical combat a life threatening infection led to an amputation. He’s now moving towards acquiring his first prosthetic leg.

A simple question comes to me from time to time as I think about John and his journey. He has remained pretty optimistic most of the time and seems to plan ahead to new adventures. It would be easy to take another path in this situation.

What would I do if I was involved in an accident?

A recent ride home from work. I’m traveling 50 mph in the right-hand lane of a four-lane road. A silver Dodge minivan is slowly passing me on the left. Ahead and to my right at a stop sign is an SUV waiting for a chance to cross both lanes and turn left to head back into town. My eyes scan the road ahead, the van to my left, the front wheels of the SUV. My head is calculating options. The SUV driver is watching the approaching traffic waiting for the precise moment to move their foot from the brake to the accelerator. I can see their face, their eyes. We are all involved in a complex dance of behavior, choices and decisions. Options fade quickly as we reach the point of no return. The moment when there are no options should anyone fail to do their part. It’s a moments like these that I think about my friend John.

I don’t think about motorcycle or scooter accidents a lot. I know they can happen and I know that risk can be managed to a great extent. Responsibility falls squarely on my shoulders in taking and managing them.

Back to my question. What would I do if I were in a bad accident? I’ve talked to others who have given up riding after a near miss let alone a collision. Would I do that? There really is no way to tell for sure what I would do but I have to say John’s experience has been instructional in a way I would not have thought back when it first began.

John Rides Again

John was not a recreational rider. Riding was part of his life and who he is. He wrestled with the question himself and yesterday boarded a plane for Florida to pick up a motorcycle and ride it back to Pennsylvania. That’s quite a ride for the first ride after an accident, minus one leg, and no prosthetic leg yet. I talked with John last week and he told me that all the amputee support groups and counselors advise he continue on with his life like nothing happened.

His decision did not sit well with everyone. His minister said in a letter that John shared that his decision to ride again amounted to nothing more than a big “fuck you” to everyone who cared about him through these past months. I asked John what his wife thought about a new motorcycle (she is an MSF instructor) and he told me that she said he would be one with the bike by the time he got home. John took that as an affirmative response.

In case you are wondering what motorcycle he is going to get and how he is going to manage it sans right leg it is a 1983 BMW R100 RS with a sidecar. A big ugly side car. But as John said to me one big enough to hold his wheelchair.

He had a friend make him something that will allow him to operate the foot brake with what’s left of his leg. Looks like something a BMW rider would think of.

On Tuesday morning he is planning to begin his trip north with trips to Deals Gap and along the Blue Ridge Parkway. I would not be surprised if he changes his plans and makes the first ride another Iron Butt Ride. He’s done two now I think. Those BMW riders are, what’s the word, CRAZY, yeah, that’s it.

But again, the question: Would I ride again after a serious accident? I would like to think I would. I think riding occupies a place in my life that is important in a manner that probably only other riders might understand. I don’t dwell on this but I have been thinking of it lately. I don’t believe that accidents are inevitable or even likely. I believe a lot of risk can be managed to make riding safer.

Anyways, I wanted to share what I thought was a courageous decision on John’s part amidst a bad situation. But he seems to have found his rhythm again.

Join me in wishing him good luck and safe riding.

The (Potential) High Cost of Riding

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Various views of John’s skull

My friend John underwent another surgery on his leg yesterday, a bone graft to fill a piece of bone that was missing as a result of his motorcycle accident last October. The surgery went well and to his surprise was an outpatient procedure. John’s recovery has been slow and frustrating at times but he is coming around. I know a lot of you have asked or wondered how he has been doing and when a recent dispatch arrived from John the other day I thought it would be a good time to share it. All the pictures displayed in this post are courtesy of John.

I also thought it serves as a good reminder to anyone venturing out on two wheels to do so with open eyes and be aware of the potential risk and that each of us should do what we can to manage them. And accidents are just that — accidents.

John is a serious rider putting thousands of miles on his BMW. He’s seen below just before departing for New Mexico on an Iron Butt ride.


Always the comedian he is pictured below with his new ride.


Anyways, if you want to read John’s latest dispatch that he prepared and distributed in a Microsoft Word document you can download it HERE.

I must warn you that it is graphic in its display of his injuries. John retells the medical story of his stubborn leg wounds and treatment complete with color photos, X-rays, the works. But mixed in throughout the story is his humor and indomitable spirit.

Two-Lane Blacktop

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A colleague at work recently began riding. About the same time he spread his blogging wings and has slowly been moving forward on both fronts. Jonathan is riding a vintage BMW R75/7 airhead in wonderful condition. I’m not sure the precise year but it is definitely a fine looking machine. Jonathan shows all the makings of a serious rider and blogger but as those of you already involved in this type of enterprise know it is a struggle sometimes to figure out how to fit it into an already busy life.

So I thought I would introduce his blog, Two-Lane Blacktop, to everyone so you can perhaps watch it develop from infancy. I am always curious about the directions taken by riders and writers both in the world and in a blog.

Jonathan and I have not ridden together but if I can coax him out onto the road this winter you may see that black BMW in pictures with the Vespa GTS.

Update on John’s Surgery

I spoke with John on the phone a few minutes ago and he is in good spirits and all signs are positive concerning today’s graft surgery. Surgeons drilled into the bone and saw blood indicating that the bone was alive and well, skin was grafted over the exposed bone and if it takes he could be back home, or at least at a facility in town by Christmas.

We talked a bit about his future on two wheels but I will leave it to him to comment in that area. He may post here or send me something. We both agreed that it is a personal decision that no one else can make.