Reflecting on Canyons

on 9/16/07 there was another fatality (possibly 2) on ACH. In a mundane corner, on a beautiful sunny SoCal day, a horrible accident took another person's life on the crest. My favorite road, my 2-wheeled home, the place where not-too-long-ago i fell in love with the sport of motorcycle riding is also the place where so many venture and fail to return from. Even if the mellow fluid sweepers of the Crest seem harmless or kind, this road bites back--and more often than it should, it bites those who don't deserve the blood and agony.

It's a fact of life that as a rider, the casualty reports will pile up every summer. You have to learn to adjust to the idea that you or your friends might not make it home from your next ride. You get used to the stories of young riders w/ no experience or gear making love to canyon walls, or the stories of riders with 15+ years of experience making a mistake and paying for it. It's a fact of life, like someone here said, riders die, and sometimes you can't do anything to change it.

So often we respond with resolutions to be more careful, or to take it to the track, or deny that our personal behaviors can lead to tragic accidents..."Yeah, i put a knee down on the street, but I'm in control" I've said stuff like that plenty of times. I've seen guys whose opinions and skills i respect say it. I've clearly differentiated my actions from those of the lowsiding masses, as if i'm not 1 pebble away from joining them. And no amount of contrition after the fact will bring a leg back, or an ankle back, or god forbid, another rider back.

It's almost cliche that the local MC community responds to a bad weekend in the local canyon by promising to be better riders. I do think it helps, but at the same time there are so many people who aren't included in the dialogue who end up wadded up against k-rails. and whether or not we become better riders, nothing is going to change the fact that all it takes is 1 tiny rock, 1 unsuspecting cage, or 1 rider coming the other way 3' over the DY to make any resolutions you made a week ago completely moot.

I don't want to give up street riding. I think that there's something to be said about spending saturday morning on the crest with some friends--but i do think we all need to question the way in which we traverse these roads. Get your thrill from the trees, the clean air, the company, and the sunshine--not the speed. Many of us always say that the street is not a race track, but how many of us actually ride that way?

We are in a precarious position. between the insurance companies, the local highway patrol, the general public/politicians, and each other--the next few years could be a crucial moment in the history of motorcycles. and while i believe that people should be free to make their own choices (and mistakes), it's a sad reality that what I do is a reflection on a fellow sportbikers as much as it is a reflection of myself. The same applies to all of us, and since we were given the task to protect the sport in a sensitive time, ask yourself what you're doing for your fellow riders, at the bike night, on the freeway, in the canyons. Whether they come with HP limits, tiered licensing (good idea imo), banning sportbikes altogether, and whether the AMA can stop it are all somewhat irrelevant...

If we don't police ourselves, don't expect the government to do it with the understanding of the important but subtle nuances that define our sport. And if we don't police ourselves, we have little right to complain when we find ourselves persecuted by grandstanding politicians who don't give a rat's ass about whether you're a geared up, responsible rider or not.