SCTRCST Scooter Internet Radio

 

 Episode 40 [19:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

SHOWNOTES: On the last show I talked allot about the scooter groups and forums on the web. As a source of information they are fantastic and if you follow them with any regularity you start to get to know the people posting. I mentioned that they operate much like a social community and as a result, you hear about all kinds of things. This past week some of the posts referred to past scooter accidents and injuries and I began to think back to a post by Steve Williams that I had breezed over. Steve had made a reference to how pilots dont talk about crashes and I thought about how I have never really talked about scooters and risk and what I think about every time I take off out of the garage.

I had a conversation a while back with Steve where I mentioned the idea that I you ride long enough you inevitably will have an accident. His repose was interesting, he said he had heard about this, but wasn’t sure about it. About two months ago his friend John had an accident. As Steve reports it, John ran into the back of a garbage truck and later said, you should be able to stop for something as large as a garbage truck. Now you might be thinking that the next thing I am going to say is, that was me in Johns position many years ago, but it was not. Sure I have had many close calls, like taking the Black Diamond Road curve to fast and ending up in the gravel with a barbwire fence heading towards my face. But to be honest it has never happened to me, but it has happened to some of my closest friends and it makes you think.

Some of you may know from looking at my blog or from listening to the show, that I come from a family with a rich history of motorcycling and racing. By the time I was old enough to ride on the street, I was riding my father’s pristine Harley Davidson and working about any little ding or scratch that might appear when I took it out to get a burger or to meet up with my friends at Pizza Petes. To be honest, back then it was the only way for me to relate to the other cool kids in town and I struck up a great friendship with Doug, whos father owned the Coca Cola bottling plant. Doug was a year younger than me, but had the latest Yamaha trail bike and was just started to use it as his main transportation. We rode together for about a year, and although I could never keep up to him off road, he was always behind me when it came to the street.

Its funny how life changes just as you think your getting the hang of things. Doug ran his bike into the back of VW micro bus that had stopped to turn. At my age. Like many other memories it seems like a dream. It was a beautiful clear spring day, a route that we rode almost everyday, down highway 101, out the old Sequim highway, through farm land and down be the water. After that day, many people asked if was going to continue to ride and I would be lying to say that I wasnt effected by this tragedy. I didnt ride much after that, but what really happened is what always happens, life goes on. But I never forgot and to this day, every time I climb aboard one of my scoots and start up the engine, there is always a moment that I smile and I think of Doug.

As for the ever present risk, as Steve and others might say, it is a part of life. But what some non-riders dont understand is that the risk is mitigated by the experience. The experience of riding a piece of history and even anticipating the jepordy of loosing power, slowing to a stop and having to use some of my tinkering skills to figure out why this relatively simple machine will not start. My reward is the sound and smell of the engine, the wind and the giggles, laughs and smiles of those who point and give me a thumbs up from the side of the road.

Scooter Post
Steve Williams post Looking Down the Road at Risk and Regret
Steve Williams post A Prayer for John
Scooting with Dru post Regrets
Steve Williams post Two Lane Blacktop

Music for this show is from the Podsafe Music Network
The Kind with Whats your Deal
Dean Ford with Go see a Shrink

Tags: accidents, riding, riding gear, risk, scooter, vespa

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