Cyclerides.com Weekly Update
1/11/06 

Greetings Riders,
 
Well, I'm sure no one is complaining about living in Arizona right now. The beautiful weather we are having right now is about as good as I have seen it in January for the 25 years I have lived here. Normally we would be doing local rides around the valley now, but what this weather has done is open up the Northern part of the State for riding that we would normally not be doing right now. I checked the weather in Wickenburg, Sedona, Jerome, Prescott and Payson to find high 60's and low 70's for daytime highs. You just want to plan to hit those areas near mid day or early afternoon to enjoy the most comfortable temps. If you are planning going this weekend, it looks like Sunday is forecasted to be rain. Close to town I still recommend the Tortilla Flat Ride or the Bartlett Lake Ride for something quick and easy out of the metro area.
 
I get a lot of emails showing me motorcycle related articles, etc. Every once in a while one will catch my eye as something to share with all of you. A couple of weeks ago I got one emailed to me titled "Boomer Bikers Accelerate State's Look at Road Rules" written by Curt Woodward of the Associated Press. The article states that the baby boomers, those that are 40 and over, have now become the largest single group of motorcycle owners in America accounting for over 46% of riders. That's fine, but with that they have also become a statistic more than any other group. This age group has waited till their kids are grown, use some of their expendable income and go out and buy the biggest bike they can get. The problem is, some of these new riders haven't ridden for over 20-30 years and are not as skilled as they could or should be to go hop on a new Ultra Glide or Custom with a big motor and take off riding.
 
The State of Washington shows that motorcycle fatalities are on the rise, with most involving riders 40 and older. In 2004, the NTSA had motorcyclists 40 and over involved in about 47 percent of the 3900 fatalities. They're also expected to account for more than 60 percent of the yearly increase in deadly crashes. Do to these numbers, the State of Washington Department of Licensing is already discussing ideas to curb these rising numbers. Some of their solutions include refresher training courses for experienced riders or a requirement to show a motorcycle license before buying a bike. I personally think showing a motorcycle license would not be a bad idea.
 
The article is much longer and I will link to it at the end of this letter, but I find it interesting that the writer of this story would make it look like it is the age of these riders that is causing the all the accidents. I love numbers and enjoy reading statistics and tearing them down, but I also kind of have to laugh when writers take statistics and use them in headlines just to sell a story. What I found through my research is that 46% of riders are in the over 40 group, so you would not be surprised when you see that 47% of fatalities were in the over 40 group as well. Where's the story? In my opinion, it's not about the age of the rider as much as it is the training of the rider. I agree with Washington when they suggest that training would positively impact the amount of motorcycle accidents, especially in this demographic when you see that 46% of fatal motorcycle crashes are single vehicle.
 
It is a bit of a scary proposition when you have a guy or girl that hasn't ridden for 20 years, or at all, walks into a dealership, buys a bike and is riding the next day with no motorcycle endorsement and no training. They are likely to be a liability to themselves and others riding around them. There is something wrong with this picture, especially when you look at this staggering statistic that says that more than 92% of all motorcycle accidents involve untrained riders. This should be pasted on the front door of every dealership in the Country. Another statistic says that 50% of the motorcycle accident-involved riders had less than five months' riding experience or less than 500 miles on the motorcycle and that riders getting into accidents showed significant collision avoidance problems, such as overbraking of the rear wheel and underbraking of the front. The ability to countersteer and swerve was essentially absent. All things that basic and advanced rider training courses would teach you.
 
If you have no motorcycle endorsement on your drivers license, you are not alone. (Even the Governor of California seemed to have forgotten to get his endorsement.) I talked to a  Lieutenant on the Peoria Police Department about this issue. He said that approximately 20% of the motorcycle riders stopped for traffic violations do not have a valid motorcycle license. He said that if you are stopped without the "M" on your drivers license, there is a fine of $100. But worse than that, you will be required to leave your bike parked where it is, have a licensed rider come ride it home or trailer it home. For City liability reasons, YOU will not be allowed to ride the bike. Hmmm...think about that one for a while. It would probably be less effort to just get your license. If you choose not to go to a formal training school, all you have to do is go to the MVD, take a 25 question test and then go to the MVD testing area and do some basic maneuvers on your bike. So there really is no excuse to not have a license.
 
Here are some more interesting statistics:
 
* Five crash types account for 86% of fatal motorcycle crashes:Motorcycle runs-off-road 41%, Motorcycle or other vehicle runs traffic control 18%, Head-on collision 11%, Car turns in front of cycle 8% and Motorcycle goes down in roadway 7%.
* Almost 50% of the fatal accidents show alcohol involvement
* Injury severity increases with speed, alcohol involvement and motorcycle size.
* The typical motorcycle accident allows the motorcyclist just less than 2 seconds to complete all collision avoidance action.
* Almost two thirds of the fatalities were associated with speeding as an operator contributing factor in the crash
* Almost one third of the fatally injured operators did not have a proper license
* Braking and steering maneuvers possibly contribute for almost 25 percent of the fatalities
* Almost 60 percent of motorcyclist fatalities occur at night
* 50% of the fatalities are related to negotiating a curve prior to the crash* In single vehicle crashes, 52 per­cent are alcohol related compared with 28 percent of multi-vehicle crashes.
* The use of the safety helmet is the single-most critical factor in the prevention or reduction of head injuries.
*  Severe brain injury was found to be 600% higher for unhelmeted riders based on an Oregon Study.
 
The reason I am bringing this to your attention is to encourage you to continue to brush up on your riding skills, keep them sharp and keep you safe. Very soon we will be riding a lot more, taking our longer Summer trips and we need to be on our game. The statistics that I have presented are very compelling to show that motorcycle training is extremely important to keeping us safe on the roadways. We can't control the actions of others, but we can hopefully help ourselves stay out of the statistic that says that 46% of all fatal motorcycle accidents are single vehicle related.
 
I am not a fan of the government telling us what to do, but I would like to see them encourage us in areas such as motorcycle training. How about if the State would give us a one time tax credit toward the registration of our motorcycles if we presented a receipt that we took a training class? Any politicians reading this?? If you are not completely comfortable with your riding skills, I would suggest looking into one of the rider training courses here in the Valley. The only one that I am personally familiar with is the T.E.A.M. Arizona Motorcycle Training Class that both Mrs. C. and Lil Ms. C. went to. I have heard nothing but good things about the advanced rider training course and I plan to take this within the next month myself. 
 
Useful Links:

If you don't have time to take a formal riding class you can at least go over some basic maneuvers by reading through this very good booklet of safety tips. It is a PDF that you could even print out for your riding groups. The table of contents is on pages 3 and 4. Click Here to view.
 
If you are wanting to take the test to get your motorcycle license, here is a link to the MSF Motorcycle Operator Manual. This manual was designed to help novice motorcyclists reduce their risks of having a crash. It is also a good refresher for anyone to browse through. Click Here to view.
 
The mental part of riding is sometimes the most important. Here are few bullet points of safety to revisit. Especially the "Mental Strategies". Click Here.
 
If you ride in groups, here are some good tips from the MSF including diagrams for hand signals. This would be good to print out and hand to your riding groups. Click Here to view.
 
Here is an excellent booklet from the Experienced Rider Course Suite. Click Here to view.
 
For all information about riding check out the MSF web site. Click Here to view.
 
Here is the link to the story that I referred to above. 
 

Highlights This Week
 
Saturday and Sunday, January 14th and 15th 8am - 5pm.
Grand Opening of the Hog Pen at the Cave Creek Roadhouse. To kick off the Hog Pen, this weekend will feature a $6.95 all you can eat breakfast buffet, $1.00 Burgers and Hot Dogs, $2.00 Miller Lites, Live Music and 100 free T-Shirts each day to the first 100 riders at Noon. See the new patio and concrete motorcycle parking. See details below. Mrs. C. and I will be there from 11am - 1pm on Saturday to give away some Cyclerides.com T-Shirts.
 
January 13th - 15th
37th Annual World of Wheels Custom Motorcycle, Car and Hot Rod Show.
 

Cyclerides.com "What Do You Ride" Poll.
If you haven't cast your vote yet, Click Here. Try again if it is busy.
 
Check out the new items in the Extras Column below.
 

Next Week 

Saturday, January 21st
Chester's Harley-Davidson Customer Appreciation Day. Let Chester's HD thank you for being a customer by knocking 10%-50% OFF Selected MotorClothes, Merchandise and Genuine Motor Parts and Accessories. While you are there, enjoy their Chili and Brew Fest. There will be Chili and Salsa Tasting with the Tilted Kilt Girls as well as Beers of the World Sampling from 1-4pm. There will also be Live Music from Noon to 4pm as well as Prizes and More! The Arizona Adopt a Greyhound will be at the Dealership "Paws and Tales" from 11am - 3pm. Chester's is located at 922 S. Country Club Dr. in Mesa, AZ. 480-894-0404. 

Extras 

The date for the Cyclerides.com Hearts To Heroes Ride has now been set for Saturday, March 25th. The event will start at CCV, 67th Ave. and Happy Valley Rd. like last time. Be sure and mark your calendar and plan to attend this very special event to Support Our Troops and benefit Packages From Home. More details will follow in the next couple of weeks. This is a great event and will be bigger and better than before.
 
I started a new poll last week called the Cyclerides.com "What Do You Ride?" Poll. Click Here to tell us the brand of motorcycle you ride. Poll will end Tuesday. If you tried before and didn't get through, try again.
 
This is a video of an unbelievable Military Helicopter crash. Watch as one of the guys bails out as it is going down. I hope he got out of the way in time. Click Here to view.
 
Here is an example of why it is easy to dislike some politicians. Click Here to view this former soldier, Sgt. Seavey expose these Congressmen on CSpan.  
 
As for me this weekend, Mrs. C. and I will be at the Grand Opening of the Hog Pen at Cave Creek Roadhouse from 11am - 1pm this Saturday to give away some Cyclerides.com T-Shirts. Hope to see you there.