Day 31 - Robbery

There has always been bad guys. In the past Bonnie and Clyde stole money from banks, stores, and gas stations. John Dillinger, with his gang, robbed banks of large sums of money and police stations of guns and ammunition.

What distinguishes these crooks is that they did it all in person. They walked into a bank or store and looked the victims right in the eye. They held the loot in their hands as they made their getaway.

Now thieves and robbers use computers and the Internet. Cash is so passé. A few numbers garnered from identity theft and the money is transferred into ghost accounts. Botnets, computers connected into networks and programmed to steal, easily take more in minutes than Dillinger took in his lifetime. Even banks like Wells Fargo get in on the action when they see the sums that can be produced with just a few key strokes on a computer.

Passwords are a pain to create and remember. One site wants a certain format, another site wants something different. Using the same password for everything means that once broken it can be used everywhere. Password programs are little help because they seem to get confused so often.

If you think that you are to small and insignificant to be a target you are wrong. The botnet doesn't care who you are or how much you have, it wants it all. It starts with a list of accounts and methodically goes to each one to see if it is able get in. If it can, it takes everything. One cent or one million dollars are all the same to it.

The bad guy in Romania or China will never walk into your bank or look you in the eye but they will have all your money just the same.

• Use clever passwords. Use a pass phrase if possible. The longer the better since that takes more time to break. Something like “1968YamahaDT-1Enduro” is not easily guessable. It may sound cold hearted but you want the bot to give you a pass so it can rob the next guy.

• Read your bank statement and balance your account often. I'm amazed at the number of people who have only a vague idea of how much money they have and where it is going. That's what Wells Fargo was counting on with their fraudulent scheme.

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Day 30 - G/S

In 1980 BMW released the R80 G/S (Gelände/Straße - German: off-road/road). I was immediately taken by the concept and vowed to have one. While visiting friends on Martha's Vineyard I saw a guy ride up on a white one. I practically ran to catch up with him to talk about the bike. He was quite proud of it and willing to discuss it's power and handling.

Then he did something really amazing. He thrust his helmet at me and handed me the keys. “I have some shopping to do, why don't you take it for a ride and see for yourself.” Gasp! I replied that he didn't know me or anything about me. “You obviously know about bikes and you can't go far.” And with a wink, “Besides, I know when the ferry leaves!”

One of the most generous things that has ever happened to me. I slapped on the helmet and took off. Martha's Vineyard is a small island and I quickly found a wooded section where I could access the off-road prowess of the G/S. A few slides, a couple of jumps, and I was thinking I'd found the perfect motorcycle.

I also found myself getting a little too carried away with somebody else's brand new bike. I took it down a couple of notches and reluctantly headed back to return it. The owner was standing there with a grin as big as mine. “Wonderful bike isn't it!” I could only agree.

I never got his name or ever saw him again but I have never forgotten his warmth and charity to an unknown stranger. It would be a few years until I bought my Transalp, Honda's version of the G/S, but that's a story for another day.

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Day 29 - Girls

By the time I got to high school there was nothing I was more afraid of than girls! I didn't worry about the bullies or the jocks, they were nothing compared to anyone in a skirt. My blood ran cold, my world got dizzy, and words came out of my mouth without benefit of any intervention by my brain.

Since then I have learned a few things although I can still make a fool of myself with blinding rapidity.

1. Girls^* are willing co-conspirators. Maybe I had watched too many John Wayne movies or maybe it was just the era I was brought up in but I thought that any interaction was something that I guy wanted but a girl didn't. Imagine my surprise to find out that girls liked kissing as much as guys. And were generally a lot better at it.

2. Girls go for guys who are confident more than they do for guys who have flashy cars. Another surprise, they were just as mixed up about life and hormones as I was and wanted to be with someone who at least acted like they had a clue. Dropping my facade and being myself was the surest way to know which way I was going. Fast cars may have impressed other guys but caring and thoughtfulness impressed girls.

3. Girls can be your friend. Despite thinking thinking they were an alien species sent from another universe to torment me, it turned out that they were quite pleasant to be around when you treated them as human beings. Not all of them of course but many of them liked the same things I did. Once I got past stammering out Hello I found they were happy to share a camping trip or a museum visit. The best part was that once the gender tension disappeared it was so much better for both of us.

Of course there was so much more to know. In fact, after all this time, I'm still finding out new things. That's what makes girls so wonderful!

^* I use the term Girls from the perspective of a very young male. I was a boy, they were girls. We would become men and women in time but not yet.

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Day 28 - Kid

I was a skinny kid. How skinny? When I took swimming lessons I couldn't even float. They had to let me scull with my hands so I could pretend to float. I was awkward, gangly, and hyperactive. Which is to say, I was very irritating to everyone around me. The only thing I had going for me was that I was really smart, something that everyone also found irritating.

Having no coordination I was terrible at sports. How bad? When choosing up sides for teams I was always the last one chosen. So bad, in fact, that the team I ended up on would often negotiate with the other team to take one of their good players if they would also take me.

The only thing I was good at was tetherball and the only reason I was good at it was that I figured out that hitting the ball in a parabolic arc would lift it over the opponent's head while dropping it down on my side for another hit. Needless to say everyone found my technique irritating and refused to play with me. I was a lonely kid.

By the time I got to UConn I had learned to be more social and less irritating but I never forgot the kid who was always on the outside looking in. I was always organizing parties, picnics, and hikes. My favorite was softball games.

What's the worst thing that can happen when playing ball? Think back to your own experience. The worst thing that can happen is to strike out! You're standing up at bat, everyone is watching you, you swing, and miss. OK, it happens to everyone. But then it happens again, and again, and you're OUT!

The walk of shame back to your team, you let them down, you're thinking bad thoughts even though everyone is telling you it's alright and you'll get it next time. You let them down.

I knew what that was like and that's why I was always the pitcher. I made sure that everyone got a hit. I pitched the ball so that it would hit the bat. I watched their swing, high or low, early or late, and made sure the ball was going to be there when the bat came around.

It didn't matter if the ball arced into the air and a fielder caught it. Or if it was a ground ball dug out by the shortstop and tossed to first base. They had hit the ball. They didn't have to feel like a loser. With a couple of hits and some new confidence maybe the next time would be better.

We all need to think of the people at the edge who don't quite fit in. The ones who can be irritating. How hard is it to include them and help them fit in? 

Superiority comes not from excluding people but from drawing them in and adding to them to the group. You don't have to sit around and sing Kumbaya but you will find your life is richer for the effort. It's hard work to always be the one of the Kool Kids. And generally pretty lonely.

“There is a destiny which makes us brothers; none goes his way alone. All that we send into the lives of others comes back into our own.”

― Edwin Markham

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Day 27 - Short

It's been a tough year. The virus has taken most of the joy out of our lives and locked us down into little shells of ourselves and our worlds.

If there is a silver lining in these dire times it might be that we have slowed down and reflected on what is most important to us. Do we wear a mask to protect ourselves? Or to protect the ones we care about? Have we paused the rush forward so that we can spend time with the ones we care about? Maybe read a book we have put off or wrote a letter we meant to send?

In this holiday season I hope that people realize that presence not presents is what matters. Quiet time with family and friends is more important than frenzied parties and vacuous affairs. Perhaps even a time to rebuild bridges that were burned in the past.

Without getting too sappy, life really is too short …

 

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Day 26 - Women

Last night's Christmas party was great. Thus, this note will be short. I'm sure you understand.

Best motorcycle travel book by a woman - Lois on the Loose by Lois Pryce. The cover blurb say it all, “One woman, One motorcycle, 20,000 miles across the Americas” Typical scenario, worker bee by day decides to chuck it all and go for a ride. Except that this time the bee is a woman and the bike is not some enormous adventure bike but rather a pedestrian Yamaha 250 dirt bike.

She leaves her job in London, ships her bike to Alaska, and heads south. She collects friends and bruises along the way and shows that imagination and grit will win every time. She had a follow up book Revolutionary Ride about her trip across Iran.

Worst motorcycle travel book by a woman - Lone Rider by Elspeth Beard. Same story as Lois Pryce but Ms. Beard is whiney and irritating. I tossed the book into the recycle bin after the first 50 pages to make sure nobody else had to suffer through her endless whimpering about her bad decisions.

Bonus: Best motorcycle travel videos by a woman - Itchy Boots - Noraly is tough, resourceful, and so darn smart! The videos show off a first rate sense of humor! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEIs9nkveW9WmYtsOcJBwTg

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Day 25 - DBAJ

Is Adventure Riding A Middle Age Death Wish? 

A 7 minute YouTube video asks this question and then tries to answer it by saying, “Dirt riding is not as bad as street riding.”

That is, riders who hung up their helmets because of career or family, and who now want to start riding again, must be too old and inept to do it safely. The narrator then goes on to state that dirt riding is much safer because …

Actually he makes no case for the safety of dirt riding other than saying that he has only broken his bones a couple of times. To make his point the background of his narration is a video, shot with a super wide lens and speeded up 25%, of riding through the woods on a dirt bike.

The fallacy of this argument is obvious. Riders in the woods get hurt and die just like riders on the street. Admittedly dirt riders don't have to contend with distracted drivers texting or surfing Facebook. However, jumps, cliffs, and gullies have claimed their fair share of rider accidents. The variable is not locale but rider training and awareness.

Coincidently, several people were visiting this evening for a holiday party. A few of them are riders and some of the others were interested in joining, or rejoining, the ranks of motorcycling. What kind of bike should they buy? How big should it be? Was one brand better than another?

Those of us who ride unanimously agreed that what they should do first is to go take the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) course before doing anything else. MSF has courses for first time and returning riders. They teach the right techniques for riding safely. Throttle and brake control, scanning for traffic and other threats, are taught by instructors who know how to teach and correct rider errors on a closed course.

Riding safely is all about being aware of your bike, the environment, and your own ability. Paramount is Clint Eastwood's quote, “A man's got to know his limitations.”

A bike won't go any faster than the rider twists the throttle. This is true whether in the dirt or on the street. When I ride my mantra is, DBAJ, Don't Be A Jerk. It doesn't mean being a wuss, it just means weighing the odds and looking before I leap. It has kept me alive all over North America both on the street and in the dirt.

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Day 24 - Beryl Markham

There are many books that have influenced me and my adventurous nature. Perhaps the most important of these has no motorcycles and is not by a man.

West With The Night by Beryl Markham is the autobiography of a woman published before I was even born. Beryl grew up in Kenya as a bit of a wild child. Her playground was the Serengeti and her playmates were Masai tribesmen who taught her the ways of the wilderness.

Not content to marry and stay at home, she went to the world with confidence and poise. She was a successful race horse trainer who followed her father's trade. After that she learned to fly and became the first woman with a commercial license in Kenya.

Building on this second career as a bush pilot she went on to become the first person to fly non-stop from England to North America - east to west. Charles Lindbergh flew from west to east helped by the tailwinds. Beryl did it the hard way against the headwinds.

She writes with simplicity and clarity. Lions and tigers were not story book characters but real and dangerous. Her character comes through not as bravado but as confidence in herself and her abilities. She writes about the wonders of her life with a purity and innocence that conveys the reader into her world. One wants to jump into the passenger seat and go for a ride.

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Day 23 - Ted Simon

If Zen and the Art … is the worst motorcycle book, what is the best?

There are many nominations for this title and different people will have different opinions but, for me, Jupiter's Travels by Ted Simon wins the prize. The writing is simple, humble, and unpretentious.

1973 - I was partying at UConn and pretending to get an education. I had a motorcycle but I don't remember which one. Considering that I lived with the two biggest dealers on campus it's a wonder I remember anything.

1973 - Ted was loading up his bike to go for a ride. This ride would last four years and cover 63,400 miles. And it was on a Triumph! Not the most reliable bike of the day.

In those four years Ted finds a panoply of challenges, experiences, friends, and fiends. He finds ways to overcome the challenges and fiends, and to optimize the friends and experiences. He does it as a person would, with an inquiring mind, a bit of trepidation, and a lot of curiosity. No mystical spirituality required!

Ted grows and the reader grows with him. He's a marvelous writer who is able to convey his thoughts and actions as if you were right there with him. It's not an action thriller but rather the memoir of a man you would love to go for a ride with.

I met him once at a motorcycle show. I almost missed him because he was just sitting there like any other person who wanted to get out of the sun. No big sign pointing and shouting, “Look at me. I'm a really big deal!” We chatted a bit about our experiences in Africa before others begged for his attention. I came away thinking that he exemplified the epitome of the adventure traveler. Doing it not for fame and glory but simply because he wondered what was around the next corner.

Note - this is available on both Amazon and audible.com - highly recommended!

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Day 22 - Pirsig

My bookshelf is stocked with every type of book relating to motorcycles and travel. Round the world or round the block. Hiking, adventure biking, 4x4ing, I've got lots of them. One book I don't have is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig.

Amazon describes it thus,

“One of the most influential books written in the past half-century, Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a powerful examination of how we live and a breathtaking meditation on how to live better.”

Maybe it's me but I think it's the worst book ever written about motorcycles and motorcycling. Pirsig has his head so far up where the sun don't shine that he will never need sunglasses.

I remember when it first came out, I was first in line to get a copy. Prepublication news said that he had ridden across country on a Honda Super Hawk and written about his trip. Coincidentally, I had just finished riding across North America on a Honda Super Hawk and wanted to compare our trips.

We must have been in different universes because nothing he wrote matched anything I experienced. I had no existential revelations or spiritual visions. Ghostly Indians did not ride alongside me to cause me to question my life.

I rode along US 6 and my trip was about the beauty of the world I was passing through. My contemplations consisted of wondering if I had enough gas to make it to the next town and whether I should seek shelter because it looked like it would rain soon. Meeting people along the way who were warm and friendly was all I need to believe the world was in good shape.

Instead of contemplating my navel I concentrated on the slight ticking sound coming from my engine. I thought about the friends I had left behind in Boston and speculated on what lay ahead when I got to San Francisco. I didn't need a mantra to clarify my purpose in the world. I ride, therefore I am.

I'm sure the crowd that claims spiritual powers from crystals loves the book. Whenever someone claims that the book really spoke to them I excuse myself and walk away as fast as I can.

In 1974 I got about 1/4 through the book and tossed it into the trash. My only thought was, “Boy did he save a lot of money on sunglasses!”

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Day 21 - Blood

It's a little after midnight so I'm over the time limit but I gave blood nine hours ago so I'm claiming the Red Cross exemption for

 today's post.

Giving blood is a simple chore that is made irritating by all the protocols that surround it. They ask you your name and date of birth over and over as if you might suddenly have been switched with an alien presence. If they're so concerned about safety why not give you a wrist band that they could scan?

Then they want to know all about your sexual habits. Again, redundant questions that would be easy to lie about. Have I paid for sex? Have I paid for sex with somebody my own gender? Have I had sex with anyone who has or might have HIV?

How many people are there that are taking time out of their lives to put themselves through all this and then lie? I get that someone who hadn't come out about their sexuality might feel peer-pressured into giving blood. However, that very fact means that they must have tests to assure the blood is clean before passing on to the recipient. Add in the Covid-19 protocols and it verges on a gothic inquisition.

They also have a questionnaire with ~84 questions that you are supposed to complete on line before coming to the donation center. This is new and supposed to speed things up but it doesn't because they ask all the same questions all over again. Twice!

Finally, they actually take the blood. That takes half the time the questioning does. “Lie down”, “Make a fist”, “You may feel a needle prick”, Be bored for ten minutes while a little bag fills up with your vital fluid.

After that somebody smiles at you and says “Thank You” You get a juice box and a mini bag of cookies and go home.

Why do people do it? The same people, over and over. Not knowing who it will go to or why. Putting themselves through this exasperating process when they have other things in their lives.

Simply because it's the right thing to do. It's the ultimate altruism. You don't know who you're giving this gift to; cop or crook, black white or green, republican or democrat. All you know is that somebody will need this and you're there to make sure they get it. No gold star, just the feeling that you did the right thing.

See you in six months when we do it all over again!

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Day 20 - Bison

The first thing you need to know is that bison do not like being called buffalo. Buffalo are their Asian and African cousins, Bison are all American.

When the call went out for volunteers to herd bison I was all in. Who wouldn't want to be part of the traditional western scene of herding animals across the prairie? At 10am I was standing with a small group of other people who were also looking for fun and adventure in the old west. This being the 20^th century our first task was to sign a liability disclaimer agreeing that if we got maimed or killed it was our own damn fault. Then we got the safety lecture. Regrettably there were no donuts in sight.

The plan was to herd the bison into a corral using quads, atvs, and our trucks. The trucks would form a moving conga line parallel to the fence and the quads would keep any strays from getting away. The modern quarter horse.

As you might guess nobody briefed the bison on the plan and as we tried to move them to the southwest corner of the field they decided they liked the northeast corner better. Cutting across open ground in the Blazer at 45 mph while chasing very large animals is pretty exciting!

Once we got lined up again we were able to minimize the chaos and move the herd into the corral. This led to the second part of the day which consisted of weighing, immunizing, and tagging them.

They are moved from the corral into a long corridor of heavy steel bars. The calves weigh ~300 pounds and the bulls are ~2000 pounds. None of them are especially pleased about the whole process and continually expressed that opinion by kicking, ramming the steel cage, and making loud, angry noises.

My job was to wait until the animal came down the chute and pull a lever that put a collar around its neck so as to immobilize it while the inspection and immunizing took place.

Standing 6” away from a pissed off bison that weighs nearly as much as my truck got me to wondering about how good the welder was who put this all together. Luckily they seemed to be up to the task.

One by one the animals went through the line and when I released the collar they were only to happy to bolt from the chute, out through the gate, and back into the field where they came from. Home, Home on the Range.

It was a great experience on a warm sunny day. The owners told us we did a great job and we all said we would be back again next year for another roundup.

Then the donuts came out and my day was complete!

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Day 19 - The Train

Rocky Mountaineer’s New Glass-Domed Train Runs From Colorado to Utah

For a lot less money you can take the Amtrak California Zephyr from Salt Lake City to Denver, stay the night, and come back the next day. 22 Jun is generally the longest day of the year so you will get to see the sunrise just before going over Soldier Summit and down the other side of the Wasatch mountains. There is the boring part across the desert from Price to Green River but after that it is all scenery all the time.

Amtrak's Vista Dome cars may not be quite as fancy but they are just as good for looking around and seeing the sights. The food in the dining car is great and reasonably priced. They fill the tables up so you are certain to meet new people to share the experience with.

Past Grand Junction you are into the Rockies and running along the Colorado River. A quick stop at Glenwood Springs and then into Glenwood Canyon.

There are only two ways to go through the canyon; take the train, or raft down the river. Just before entering the canyon the conductor walks through the cars advising people with a “sensitive nature” to relocate to the left side of the car. The reason being that the rafters all know the train schedule and make sure to pull over so the can moon the train as it goes by. I think the engineer aids and abets this time honored tradition by sounding the horn along the way.

The rest of the trip down into Denver is scenic and relaxing. A perfect end to a great ride. A nice dinner in town and an AirBnB bed completes a memorable excursion.

The next morning it's up early to get back to the train station for the trip back to Salt Lake City. This is a perfect complement to the first ride. Heading west in the morning gives the scenery an entirely different perspective. Serene and composed. This time you will be going over Soldier Summit as the sun is setting and will be getting into Salt Lake late. I find the rush of the train through the urban scene to be an enjoyable counterpoint to day's natural wonders.

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Day 18 - Covid Counterpoint

I'm going to relinquish my own words today in favor of my friend Dave who offered an excellent counterpoint to my discussion of Covid and the failure of the government and media to properly explain it to the general population. Dave has done some excellent research that fills in many of the blanks. Too bad that much of what we get in the news is only sound bites and fear mongering.

~70k drug overdoses in the US in 2019. 200k+ deaths from Covid from March through November. This includes the insane death curve of the opioid thing over the past few years. Back around 2010 we had a bunch of years with 12-15k per year. I hope that puts Covid in perspective. I have three doc friends, in different areas of the country, who have never seen anything like this in 20-35 years of work at the hospitals they are at. They claim dying the way these folks do is about as dark as you can imagine with slow-growing brain tumors as amongst the few ways they would less prefer to go.

Note that if 1/1000 people died in the US it would be a tiny percentage and still 320k. The kill rate is much higher than that if we all got it though.

A bit more: I know a 38 year old 2:45 marathon runner who got it. No comorbidities^*. He was sick for 4 weeks, was not hospitalized, and has lost nearly 60% of lung function. He will never run again, so he is now an ex-marathoner with his last in late fall 2018. I also know a guy who lost his father-in-law and that man's brother in the same three week period. One had heart disease (so do 50% of men over 47 years of age by they don't know it) but the other didn't have comorbidities. Maybe they just didn't win the gene pool but who knows.

We can know a lot of folks who got sick and "are fine" but that doesn't mean the hospitals won't overflow and such as it doesn't take that many folks who would have otherwise been fine to block them up.

Dave

^* the simultaneous presence of two or more diseases or medical conditions in a patient.

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Day 17 - The Mall

Dreary is the only word for it!

I went to one of the largest malls in town today. If there was any holiday spirit there I didn't see it. Just people milling around like zombies going through an ancient ritual that had lost all meaning.

The clerks were cheerless in their greetings as the shoppers shuffled along, looking at things they weren't buying. Nobody wanted to touch anything for fear of contamination.

The stores were roped off to allow only a few people in at a time. Few people were willing to wait. Move along, don't look left or right, just go through the motions until you can get home and order on line.

Santa sat in his chair behind a Plexiglas screen. Children were not allowed to approach. The Grinch has finally stolen Christmas. The Amazon driver is Santa's new helper. Don't smile. Don't touch. Be afraid.

I fear the loss of joy more than I fear the virus. The death of joy is worse than any mortal wound.

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Day 16 - Corvid

I had an extended conversation with a person today who had some interesting theories about our current situation. He was a working class, right-leaning guy who saw the pandemic as an excuse for the government to take more control of people's lives.

He didn't deny that the pandemic was real. His thesis was that the government and media have blown it all out of proportion to the real threat. It is all a scare campaign get people to do whatever they were told.

I had to agree with him on a lot of points. It does seem that every death is now a Corvid Death no matter what the pre-existing conditions were.

Wearing a mask is probably helpful but certainly not the way a lot of people use them. They wear them all askew so that they can breathe which renders them completely useless. I don't see the news media exhorting people to wear their masks correctly.

Articles are constantly publishing big numbers of infections and deaths but don't put those numbers in context. What were the demographics of those people. Did they have other conditions that contributed to their demise? How many people died of drug overdoses during the same period? How many died in auto accidents? who really cares how many people died in Germany or Russia, how many died in my home town?

I've known several people who have caught the virus and they've all recovered. All of them agree that it was a horrible three days of misery but they are not only back to normal, they are immunized for the next year. However, they still have to wear a mask because they might be a carrier!

Ignoring these questions and classifying these people as ignorant only inflames the conspiracy theories and leaves us wondering what the truth really is.

In the end we did agree that it was definitely a conspiracy by the Plexiglas manufacturers that is behind all this.

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Day 15 - Coco

It turns out to be harder to write all this than I expected. For a person who “talks too much” and “has a million stories”, I'm finding that it isn't so easy to organize my thoughts into something coherent and interesting. Who would have guessed?

I wrote about wanting to visit India and go for a ride with Gaurav Jani. Of course that plan has failed because Gaurav died a few months ago.

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

Time passes quickly and our plans slip through our fingers like water. One day we say “Tomorrow” and many tomorrows later we find we are stuck in the same old rut.

Today is yesterday's tomorrow.

I'm pretty good at making plans and following through but I can also be lazy and let things slide. Case at point:

A few years ago, 12 to be exact, my friend Marty and I rode our bikes to Baja. We had few plans other than to avoid getting arrested. We had a paper map and big gas tanks. We were happy.

One of the goals on the trip was to stop at Coco's Corner and meet the man, the myth, the legend. Alas, it was not to be. We were there but Coco was not. We hung out thinking he might return but while we waited a couple of hours it was not to be. I planned to return the next year but that was not to be either.

I was thinking of Gaurav today when Coco crossed my mind. Is he still alive? Is he still in residence? A quick Google search indicates that he is alive and doing well at the Corner.

Just as I challenged myself to write this blog, I now challenge myself to go back to Baja and find Coco in the spring. This time I will not let the opportunity fade from my grasp.

Want to come along? Let me know.

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Day 14 - Stupid Magazine Articles

I just saw a review of the new Honda 125cc Trail Bike in Cycle News. I used to have one of the original 90cc versions from the '80s. About as simple a machine as you can get. 2 wheels, 1 engine, plus a seat and handlebars. It will go anywhere and if you get stuck it's so light you can just pick it up and carry it out of trouble.

This is a bike for hunters, campers, and people who like to fish while being quiet enough to never disturb the Green Taliban. In other words, it's for everyone who wants to go farther into the woods than they care to walk. It's a mild mannered machine for people who want a capable motorcycle and are not bothered by their image. The kind of people who often bungee-cord a milk crate to the rack to carry their stuff.

So what does Cycle News do? They show pictures of it flying into the air over jumps and doing wheelies. The last thing that any actual buyer would be doing with such a machine.

I find this really irritating. Why do publications feel they need to show bikes and riders doing hooligan things when they so rarely do in real life. Worse, they seem to be encouraging people to do such stunts which only further tarnishes the image of the motorcycle community.

To me this is just plain and simple arrogance, and I wish they would cut it out!

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Day 13 - Favorite Motorcycle Movies

As soon as I say I ride motorcycles I often hear, “I loved that Fastest Indian movie.” And so do I. I have friends who knew Burt Munro and they say that the movie is pretty realistic for a Hollywood product. It compressed the events of several trips into one but it created a good story that made people happy so I say, Good Job!

There are other motorcycle movies that are equally good but have not had all the fanfare that Hollywood publicity creates. Here's a list of my favorites.

On Any Sunday is the classic of all motorcycle movies. It was made by Bruce Brown in 1971 as a follow up to his Endless Summer surfer movie. It was made by somebody who had the true feeling for motorcycling and really distilled the essence of the era. It has spawned several sequels by Bruce and his son but nothing equals the original.

As much as I like Sunday, it's not my choice for greatest motorcycle movie. That honor goes to Riding Solo To The Top Of The World, a 2006 film by Gaurav Jani. No film comes close to capturing the soul and spirit of the adventure traveler that this one does. It has inspired many of my own travels. Gaurav and I discussed the possibility of traveling together at some time but, regrettably, he passed away in May 2020 before I ever got to meet him. A reminder that life is short and tomorrow is never assured.

People often mention Long Way Round but I've never seen it. Free motorcycles, a camera/support crew, and a big budget reality show do not interest me.

“Oh darn, I have a flat tire. Julio would you be so kind as to fix it for me? And Maria could you make us all a latté while we wait?”

Far more fun and infinitely more real is Mondo Enduro. A bunch of English riders on Suzuki 350 bikes go around the world before mobile phones and gps. What they had was an 8mm movie camera and paper journals to record their trip. They are out for fun and adventure before "Fun & Adventure" became a thing.

I've ridden through Baja several times and one of the high points was seeing the start of the Baja 1000. Dust to Glory is the movie that captures all the chaos and excitement of that race. It was filmed by Dana Brown, son of Bruce Brown, and shows that great film making runs in the family. Just be prepared for 97 minutes of unrelenting excitement!

Those are three of my favorites. Leave a comment if you want to share yours.

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Day 12 - Photography

I used to teach a B&W photography course at the San Diego Ocean Beach Free School. I was really into it back then and spent almost as much money on camera equipment and lenses as I did on motorcycle things.

On the first day of classes I would haul in all my stuff and lay out some big 13x19" prints that I had made. As the students filtered in I invited them to look over what I had laid out. At the start of class I asked them what they thought and inevitably the comments went something like, "If I had equipment like yours I could take great pictures too"

After a bit of discussion I pulled an old Kodak Brownie from my pack and explained that every one of the pictures they had just praised was made with this simple camera. Some of them were amazed and some thought I was making a joke.

I pulled out more of them and handed them to the students. They were yard sale finds at a dollar apiece. Some were dismayed that they wouldn't be using their fancy Nikons and Pentaxes and expressed the opinion that they should be able to use whatever they wanted.

I explained to them that the camera did not take the picture. The eye, the mind, and the heart took the picture. The camera was just a clever mechanism for capturing what the eye saw, the mind imagined, and the heart felt.

Some students never came back but most of them got it. They had fun experimenting with the limitations of the Brownies and getting to know what the interplay of light and shadow was.

When they had exposed 3-4 rolls of film I showed them how to develop it and how to make prints with yard sale enlargers. There is a great satisfaction in seeing the joy in a person's face as their first print comes slowly to life in the developer tray.

I taught the course for a couple of years. To me, the photography lesson was learning the eye, mind, heart connection. The rest was just physics and chemistry.

Note: those old Brownie cameras now go for $25-50 on etsy. I should have saved them all for my retirement fund.