John's Place

Motorcycle Rider, Driving Instructor, Safety Advisor

Home

January 08 newsletter

THE

NEWSLETTER

JANUARY 2008

EDITOR John Del Santo The superior rider observes, predicts and

uses superior knowledge to avoid situations

which require superior skill

kent Saxton

PLACES WE RIDE__…… “The next time you find yourself in Arizona” you could do a standard tourist thing, like taking a ride up to Four Corners…….which has pretty much just turned into a place to buy stuff……but you can reach your hands down to touch the ground and have parts of your body in four states at the same time….(you remember…like you did at the Continental Divide) OR….. you could take a really fantastic ride up to MONUMENT VALLEY ! From Route 40 (useta be Route 66 “The Mother Road” ) you would take Route 89 North, and then 160 North. A couple of Travel Tips, you may see some little lean-to’s by the side of the roadway, and can find some good deals on silver and turquoise at these, IF you know what you are looking at……. AND I recommend NOT riding these roads at night as there are just tons and tons of wildlife on these roads after dark ! and you stand a good chance of ending your ride with bigger things than bugs stuck to your windshield. Once you reach Monument Valley, you park your bike and take a guided tour of the valley in a jeep.

MONUMENT VALLEY is not a valley at all, but rather a wide flat, landscape interrupted by colorful red buttes and spires rising hundreds of feet into the air. These are the last remnants of the sedimentary rock layers that once covered the entire region. Monument Valley is contained entirely within the Navajo reservation, occupying both Utah and Arizona. This is one of the most remarkable, beautiful and famous landscapes in the world, early recognized by Hollywood as a stunning background for western films.

Monument Valley became world famous when it was featured in many western film classics, including John Ford's Stagecoach, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Cheyenne Autumn. The Navajo Nation established the tribal park that includes some of the most dramatic buttes, mesas and monoliths, making the area accessible to thousands of tourists who visit the region each year and providing a major source of income to the Navajo people. Monument Valley Tribal Park is 29,817 acres and sits at an elevation of 5,564 feet above sea level

http://www.desertusa.com/monvalley/du_muv_desc.html

Kent and Fran on their way to Alaska

GOOD TRAVEL TIPS FROM STORMY When you are out riding on a trip, keep from getting your identity ripped-off. Here’s a couple of quick tips:

Write “photo ID required on the back of your credit cards, instead of your signature. Use your work phone number instead of home, when possible, and use a PO box for return mail. Photocopy everything in your wallet. FOR A COMPLETE ARTICLE ON THIS “TRAVEL-TIPS’ ARTICLE, FOLLOW THE WANDERER’S DISCUSSION LIST BACK TO BACK TO 11/30/07.

PLACES WE RIDE____ “Take the train to OB”

Well…..I guess we can’t take the train to OB anymore, but there were the days when you would ride your bike into OB and have to watch out for tracks in the road !

I have been unable to find any one book or story about the railroads into OB, so these are all the bits and pieces I found in different places…..

On March 28, 1887 Billy Carlson and Frank J. Higgins bought 600 acres of brush covered hillside down by Brighton Ave and promised a hotel and an Ocean Beach Railroad, and they sold 2200 lots down by the Cliffs in a few weeks. In those days it took half a day in a stagecoach to get from downtown to Ocean Beach, so the railroad was a big promise. The hotel, “The Cliff House”, a mini-Hotel del Coronado was ready for the grand opening, but the rented railroad engine burned to the ground on the evening before opening day. They hooked a donkey engine to a flatbed car, with a leather belt to the drive shaft, put passengers in the Pullman car and made the three mile trip from Roseville (around Rosecrans St & Garrison) to Ocean beach in seven minutes. After all that effort, the little railroad line only ran for a couple of months. When the line went out of business, The Pullman car, OBRR Car # 23 was put in storage in the car barns (at the top end of Park Blvd in University Heights) and stayed there until 1910 when the John Hanford’s rescued it and made it an addition to their big home at 4955-4957 Del Monte Ave. The neighbors called it “The Trolley House”. That unique building was pulled down in the 1980’s and a 4-family square box was built there.

In 1909 the “Toonerville Trolley” streetcar line started running and the Bay Shore Railroad Company built a bridge from Bacon Street in OB ( now Robb Field) to the tip of Mission Beach and then to La Jolla) and deeded it to the city several months later. (A few years back my friend Nina was digging in her garden and found a trolley token .) The bridge carried the Trolley into Mission beach along with two lanes of automobile traffic, and two sidewalks for pedestrians. It served as a good place to fish. In 1950 The bridge burned and was permanently closed. If you want to see some evidence of the old lines, when you are riding on West Point Loma Blvd from the Midway section towards OB, and you see the sign for Famosa Slough on your left, look to the right to see what is left of the old wooden railroad bridge over the Slough (A few years back my friend Nina was digging in her garden near there and found a trolley token)……and then when you get into Ocean Beach, make a left on Sunset Cliffs Blvd and go past Del Monte Ave and make a right turn on Santa Cruz Ave. You will see the space in the middle of Santa Cruz Ave that held the trolley tracks. They bend right at the end onto Bacon Street where the trolley headed towards Wonderland and Mission Beach. Right On ! OB !

Thanks to Ruth Varney Held’s “Beach Town” and Steve Rowell `

FROM ROD__……………………

<SOO.Shortcuts.overlaySpaceId = "97546169"; YAHOO.Shortcuts.hostSpaceId = "97546168"; </SCRIPT>For the newer members here is a website that has a lot of very good info for motorcyclist. Lots of great safety tips.

http://www.msgroup.org/TIPS.asp Enjoy !

AND FROM TODD__…………………

And of course don’t forget the wonderful sites from John Q’s at: http://www.gadgetjq.com/gadgetsfixitpage.htm & http://members.cox.net/johnq/nomadpage.htm Although somewhat Nomad centric, there is great all around information and MANY links to other great sites! Todd

KEN STORM’S KORNER___…………….

The easier rider: Baby boom bikers defect to the “TRIKE”

One day last March, Robert Lee hit a patch of gravel while piloting his 800- pound motorcycle. He survived the wipeout unscathed, but the retired Linotype operator threw in the towel. He switched to a three-wheel motorcycle known as a “trike.” “At my age, I can’t afford to be stranded on the road,” says Lee, a 77-year-old Massachusetts resident who has been riding motorcycles for four decades. Lee admits he’s gotten a “few strange looks” while cruising around in his new method of transport, which has one wheel in front for steering and two in back for power. But so far, he’s gotten no insults. After decades of being dismissed as fringe vehicles, trikes are gaining favor with baby boomers confronting the realities of old age, from knee injuries and arthritis to a diminished sense of balance. Motorcycles may forever symbolize youthful rebellion. But trikes, which sacrifice heart-pounding acceleration and the thrill of leaning into turns for greater stability, are a lot easier to maneuver in stop-and-go traffic. Another factor is the passenger sitting in back. The heavier the passenger, the harder it is for the rider to balance a traditional two-wheel bike. And “many of these riders are guys with wives who have — we like to say blossomed— over the years,” says Jeffrey Vey, president of Texas-based trike maker Thoroughbred Motorsports Inc.

Trikes have yet to overcome what many enthusiasts see as their biggest downside: what Karl Blaeser, who rides a Harley-Davidson Fat Boy, calls “the ridicule factor.” It’s hard for me to ever picture myself on three wheels — until I retire to a trailer park in Vero Beach ,” says the 45-year-old information technology consultant in Pasadena . Al Courier, 56, who suffers from stiff knees, says he’d consider riding a trike. But his wife, Patricia, cuts him off. “His vanity would never allow him to ride one of these.” she says. David and Linda Barthel, motorcycle riders from Sterling , Colo. , are too young— in their mid-40s— to fit the standard description of trike buyers. Yet they say they want a quieter, more comfortable ride that allows them to enjoy each other’s company more than they could in their years of riding separate motorcycles. But will other riders still give them the traditional motorcyclists’“wave”— casually sticking a hand out to the side — as they pass on the road? ‘Who cares?” Barthel responds. ` From the Wall Street Journal and “STORMY”

___________________________

THE FIRST ANNUAL

“HELMET TOSS”

CONTEST

at ABATE local 11

in North County.

“THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF MOTORCYCLE RIDERS” Some riders start out at Point ‘A’ and aim their bikes at Point ‘B’ and consider themselves lucky if they get where they are going. Other riders have specific methods that they use, such as being Defensive…..being Offensive…..maintaining escape routes….etc. Share your methods with your fellow Wanderers. Share some of your close calls ! Some of us will always disagree with others on riding habits and methods. This collection is not to make policy……just to share thoughts.

ROADS WE RIDE ON__ As we ride across a set of railroad tracks, the distance between rails, the “gauge” , is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. BECAUSE that’s the width they used in England, and English expatriates built the U.S. railroads. They were that gauge BECAUSE the first railroads were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways and they used the same tools and jigs they used for building wagons, which used that gauge or spacing. BECAUSE if they used any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England BECAUSE there were deep ruts worn in the stone roads BECAUSE those roads were built 2000 years ago by Imperial Rome and used by their chariots and legions, and the roads were so well designed and built, 30 feet deep in layers, that they are still functional today. Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels, and BECAUSE the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. 4 FEET, 8.5 INCHES, BECAUSE two horses butts would fit between those wheels. Today, when you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its

Launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tanks made by Thiokol in Utah. The engineers who designed them would have preferred making them a bit wider, but BECAUSE they have to be shipped from the factory by railroad and BECAUSE the railroad runs through a tunnel in the mountains, and BECAUSE the tunnel is only slightly bigger than the railroad tracks, which is, as you know, only slightly wider than the butts of two horses that lived 2000 years ago, the solid rocket boosters had to be designed to match the horses butts…………… So the next time you think “why do they do it that way ?” Just BECAUSE.

DO IT YOURSELF

By John Del Santo

“Why don’t they do something about that ?” When it comes to our safety, it’s much better if we take care of some things ourselves. If we leave it up to “them” we’ll end up with bike airbags, shin protectors, and training wheels, or they’ll try the ultimate safety legislation to protect those poor riders… by legislating those terrible “murder-cycles” off the road altogether like they’re trying to do in DelRay Beach FL.

Here’s some of the things we might do for ourselves; We should encourage Rider Safety Courses for beginner AND experienced riders. Different groups and clubs and chapters have payback rewards for riders who finish these courses. Get a nurse, medic, or firefighter to put together a compact but well stocked first aid kit for anyone in your group to borrow for any run that they might go on. Somewhere in your area, someone is putting on a First Aid and CPR class. Get a group together to attend. When someone in your group goes down or has a medical emergency, { it might be YOU} The more people that have some type of training increases the chances that the rider will make it until the ambulance gets there.

Half of all rider fatalities that occur during single-vehicle collisions occur to a rider who has been drinking. Are you ready to take away a buddy’s keys if you think the conditions call for it? Or, if he weighs nine hundred pounds and is a mean drunk, are you ready to let the air out of his tires while he’s in the bathroom? You will be doing this to save his or someone else’s life. He’ll thank you for it later. Well….maybe not, but at least you’ll know that you did the right thing.

Do you see a road condition that needs changing or repair? Call your State or Town Road Department. Be nice. They’re usually quite receptive. If nothing happens within a reasonable time, call or write again. When you are in the right you constitute a majority of One.