The Fireblade project motorcycle has moved on to its next owner. It had been sitting in a garage for the better part of a decade before I got my hands on it; the result of a bitter divorce. The fuel system was shot and had dumped gas into the engine. It had just over twenty-five thousand kilometres on it, but hadn't been used in a long time.
Over the winter of 2019/20 I rebuilt the carburetors, resealed and sorted the fuel tank and got a new petcock, all of which conspired to put the otherwise eager Honda back on the road again. When I checked the valves they were exactly in the middle of spec and some of the cleanest internal parts I've ever seen (thanks to the gasoline in the engine?).
Once the fuel system was sorted and the bike had a few sympathetic oil changes and other maintenance addressed (like new tires and a K&N air filter), it was licensed and put on the road where it performed flawlessly for a year. When I sold it the odometer read just over twenty-seven thousand kilometres, so two thousand of them were mine.
The 'Blade was a lovely device. If I didn't live in such a tedious place and ride-on track days were a possibility (they aren't anywhere in Ontario - the rare track-days that do exist are for rich people who trailer in race prepped bikes), I'd have hung on to this remarkable thing and let it do what it does best: explore the more extreme limits of motorcycling dynamics.
Trying to do that on the road makes no sense. Ontario's roads are in atrocious shape thanks to our brutal seasons and lack of sane governance. If you can find a piece that isn't falling to pieces, it's arrow straight because Southwestern Ontario is also geologically tedious. We had a Californian trip a few years ago and drove up to Palomar Observatory outside of San Diego in the mountains. Those are twelve miles of the most technically demanding roads I've ever seen. That I had to drive them in a rented Toyota RAV4 is a crying shame. If I lived anywhere near roads like that, owning the Fireblade would make some kind of sense, but I don't.
In our tedious, conservative province, this Honda Fireblade makes as much sense as owning a lion. In three seconds it can take you from a standstill to jail time. I only just discovered what happens to it at 8000RPM the week before I sold it. Up until then I was astonished at how quickly it accelerated, but if you keep it cracked the madness becomes otherworldly. The Honda Fireblade's athletic abilities make it a perilously expensive proposition in our police state and there is nowhere you can let it off leash to do what it was designed for (without buying a truck and trailer and stripping it back to being a race bike).
I was hoping to put racing stripes on it and really do it up, but then you have trouble selling it around here where individualism is frowned upon. Am I sad to see it go? I honestly wrestled with the idea of waving off the buyer and keeping it, but instead decided to aim my limited space toward another bike that would not only be more generally useful in the bland vastness of southwestern Ontario, but would also make me a better dad; the Fireblade is an inherently selfish thing.
If Practical Sportsbikes thinks it's the number one 90s sportsbike, then it is! They helped me sort out the fuel system!
I bought the sidelined 'Blade for $1000 and then paid an extra hundred to get it delivered to me. The new tires ($400) and a set of replacement carbs ($250) that I mainly needed to replace hard parts, along with the carb kit and other rubber replacement parts as well as multiple oil changes and filters, and some replacement LED lights for the broken stock ones, pushed my cost for the bike up to about $2000.
It cost me $500 for insurance for the year - mainly because I don't think my company (who doesn't usually do bikes but do mine because I've been with them for over 30 years) didn't realize what it was. I sold the bike for $2500 as is, though it's currently fully operational and road legal, which means I got to ride the best bike of its generation and something I wished I'd owned in university when I was younger, fitter and more flexible for no cost.
That (of course) doesn't consider my time, but this is a hobby and if I can make it a zero sum hobby then I'm much less likely to feel guilty about it. I'm going to miss the Fireblade, it was a lovely thing that spoke to me. Having a 23 year old Japanese super-model whispering in your ear as you ride along was thrilling and I'm going to miss it. Should I eventually find myself living somewhere where a sportsbike makes some kind of sense and where I can exercise it as intended on a track, I'll be quick to rejoin the tribe.
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In the meantime I contacted a fellow in Toronto who has a latest-generation Kawasaki Concours 14 that he couldn't sell in the fall (I was in-line but the 'Blade failed to sell so I didn't go for it). He still has the Concours and we're lining up a cash sale for next weekend. My first three bikes were Kawasakis and this would be my second Concours. I've owned a first gen C-10 and my son and I rode a first gen C-14 through the Superstition Mountains in Arizona, but this one's a gen-2 C-14 Concours, which makes it one of the only bikes out there that can comfortably carry my now-adult-sized son and I two up.
I've always been drawn to Kawasaki engineering and I like their style. This one is very low mileage (only about 30k) and needs some TLC (the owner is older and dropped it while stationary which is why he's moving it on). Once sorted this Connie will have a lot of life left in it.
What makes it particularly useful to me is that it's a capable sport-touring machine that's built like a brick shit house, can cover the endless miles we face in Canada and can still entertain in the corners. It also happens to be powered by the same motor that drives the ZX-14R hyperbike. It may sound juvenile but I grew up in the 1980s and they had me at Testarossa strakes!
One of the side benefits of Concours ownership is that they have one of the most active and engaging clubs around: the mighty COG (Concours Owners Group). I got stickered and t-shirted up with them as a full member when I got my first Connie, but have since been exploring other bikes. I'm looking forward to re-engaging with them when I'm a Concours owner again.
The only reason the 25 and unders are represented is because Ontario has made it so expensive and inaccessible for them to ride that many simply don't. This is a self selecting statistic. The people who can afford it are doing it.
Anyone who rides while impaired should automatically waive their insurance and health care coverage. A sell off of their possessions would go a long way toward recovering damages for victims . If we left drunk drivers to die on the side of the road and liquidated their assets to pay for their idiocy we'd see drunk driving all but end. Riding a bike while drunk is just shear idiocy. Operating a motor vehicle is a social contract, not a right, and your freedom to do it ends the moment you risk damage to someone else. If we aligned laws with this more tightly there would be less idiocy in our vehicular operation.
I'm a big fan of Top Gear, and I especially enjoy their travel/challenges. I've always dreamed of planning one, getting people silly enough to commit to it and then making it happen. In the summer of COVID I'm finding myself daydreaming of possible adventures, so I started poking around on the internet trying to find how far north roads go in Ontario. Bafflingly, Ontario has never connected to its own north sea shore by road. For a province that has thousands of kilometers of ocean shoreline, Ontario seems intent on convincing its citizens that it's land locked. I'd love to ride 1000kms north to the sea, but it's not an option. James Bay is roughly in line with Scotland, so its not like it's in the arctic. In the meantime, it looks like Windigo Lake north west of Thunder Bay is as far north as you can ride in Ontario on your own wheels:
...which offers us a great thematic riding challenge! It's time to go to Windigo (instead of Bendigo), Morty! Here's the inspiration in case you're not hip to Rick & Morty:
Here's the Top Gear style WE'RE GOIN TO WINDIGO, MORTY! Moto Travel Challenge:
Each participant gets a $3000 budget for a bike and any farkles that must include a safety certificate. Ownership is by WG2W Productions, pending the bikes return to Elora within 10 days of the event, at which point ownership is signed over to the rider. Safety and taxes should be about $400, so that leaves about $2600 for a bike and farkles
Insurance and ownership is managed by the event
All riders must have a valid Ontario M class license
Camping equipment is provided to each rider individually based on a sponsored selection of gear (rider's choice) Each rider will be provided with bear gear.
Each participant has to do any repair or maintenance on their own bike. Only other competitors can assist.
Google maps says it's a 27 hour ride to Windigo. Riders can only be on the road between 7am and 7pm, so the most efficient (and luckiest) should arrive in Windigo on day three in the morning. At 12 hours per day of possible riding, 27 hours = 2..25 days of riding. The earliest rider with a perfectly timed ride would arrive at Windigo at 10am on day three of the event.
Timing for the event takes into account speed limits. Any rider caught speeding is disqualified.
Any overnight stops while riding to Windigo must be wild camping following leave-no-trace rules. Proof of camp site cleanup must be included on rider GoPro footage or a time penalty is applied.
The rider who gets to Windigo (getting to Windigo means arriving at the lake on your bike and dipping a toe in) as close to 27 hours of riding after leaving the start line as possible, wins!
Riders can choose how to use their daylight hours to ride. In the case of a tie, the rider to get to Windigo the soonest and closest to 27 hours of riding after race start wins
Winner gets a We're going to Windigo, Morty gold medal. There will be silver and bronze finalist medals too. Smallest displacement and oldest bikes who finish also get awards
Any participant who finishes this long distance riding rally and is able to ride back to the start line within a week of the competition end can keep their bike!
...followed by 469kms of challenging unpaved roads to the end of all roads.
A paved odyssey...
This isn't an easy ride. It starts with almost 1700kms of riding on paved roads ranging from the biggest freeway you can imagine to single lane tar patched, northern frost heaved back-road. You've then got almost 500kms of riding gravel up to where all roads end at Windigo. Trying to do this on a one trick pony like a cruiser would be entertaining, but likely unsuccessful. This is a challenge for a multi-purpose motorcycle!
The 599 highway isn't Google car photoed once you get on the gravel, and you're constantly dodging lakes this deep into the Canadian Shield. The closest I could get was this photo of the Mishkeegogamang Band Office, which shows a graded gravel road out front. Fuel stops are few and far between, some cunning planning will be required!
BIKES
There are some interesting choices at the bottom end of the bike market in Ontario:
A bike that'll handle the off-road part of this trip, though it isn't built for the thousands of kilometres of paved road leading to the hundreds of miles of gravel fire roads. Capable of handling the camping gear too. Should come in on budget on the road.
Low mileage, in good shape and comes safetied, so you'd have a bit left over for farkles. It'd chew up the pavement side of WG2W effortlessly, but that windshield might never see Windigo (Morty).
Big Honda touring bike, high miles, but it's a Honda. It'd be a handful on nearly a thousand kilometres of gravel, but some people like that. Should come in under budget and ready to make miles. The paves stuff would flash by on this and it could carry camping gear with ease!
Low miles, Kawasaki dependable, in great shape. The Versys is short for versatile bike system, just what you'd need to get to Windigo (Morty). The 650 is a lightweight bike that'll handle gravel, and it has luggage and mounting points for some soft bags. I'd probably be able to get it for $2300 certified, which gives me a bit for some soft saddle bags, then I'm off to the races! This'd be my choice. Might spill my extra cash on some 70/30 semi-off road tires.
There are lots of other interesting choices that you could get road ready for under three grand in Ontario. Seeing what people choose and how they prep the bike for long distance, multi-surface, remote riding would be half the fun. To stretch the choices there would also be trophies for the oldest bike and smallest displacement bike to finish the ride, so some people might go after those rather than the timed competition.
PRODUCING IT FOR TV
All bikes have GoPros to capture footage and all riders agree to provide at least 15 minutes of speaking to camera dialogue per day while in the rally. All competitors have to document their camp build and take down. There will be a production/sweeper vehicle with a trailer in case of any bike failures. The vehicle will be able to provide technical support in remote areas and be designed for the gravel portion of the event as well as offer a central point for production and media management.
Competition begins when all riders have their bikes delivered to a shared garage space in Elora.
Film Schedule:
Day 1: All bikes have arrived. Bike familiarity and maintenance, bike paperwork taken care of, all riders and production crew doing piece to camera introducing themselves and talking about the event and prep
Day 2: Bike familiarity and preparation, filming continues
Day 3: Bike familiarity and preparation, finalizing ride planning, filming continues. All bikes in park ferme at the end of the day ready for the morning's off.
Day 4: 7am Race start in Elora. Filmed by production vehicle crew and GoPros on bikes.
Production vehicle stopping in Thunder Bay on Day 1.
Day 5: 7am start. Production vehicle stopping at Windigo to await arrival of riders (riders who arrive early will have a major penalty, so no one should be there until day 3)
Day 6: Production vehicle at Windigo Lake awaiting arrivals. End of day 6: close of event party on Windigo
Day 7: All rider camping gear to be taken in by the support vehicle for a lighter ride back. Sweeping the road south to Silver Dollar (the beginning of pavement). All competitors camping at Silver Dollar Campsite that night. Confirm end of event with all riders.
Day 8: Retrace/sweep route to Thunder Bay. End of rally event in Thunder Bay. Riders who want to keep their bikes have 3 days to return to the workspace in Elora in order to claim ownership. Riders who want to find their own way home can do so and bikes will be transported in the trailer.
Day 9: Production vehicle sweeps south clearing any bikes that have been parked.
Day 11: Any bikes that have returned to the workspace in Elora have their ownership turned over to their riders.
Episodes: 45 minute edited
1) Introducing riders, bike selection and preparation - possibly include off-road training at SMART Adventures?
2) Rally Start: day one on the road
3) Rally Continued: day two on the road
4) Rally Conclusion: day three on the road and rally winners and finishers highlighted
5) where did they go missing riders review, post rally interviews while returning to Thunder Bay, final presentations in TB, sweeping up, who got to keep their bikes
Total production time: 3.75 hours of edited footage
Other opportunities: Work with SMART Adventures out of Horseshoe Valley - include bits on how to ride off road, what riders can expect, how to manage bikes on loose surfaces.
Rough costing:
8 Competitors @ $3000 per bike = $24,000
Production Vehicle Cost (rental & gasoline): $3000
Insurance & Paperwork costs at $1000 each competitor = $8,000
Production equipment (cameras, drone, on bike GoPros): $5000
Production team hotels: 4 people x 2 nights Thunder Bay, 1 night on the road back, 2 nights camping in the north = $2000
Camping gear: $1000/competitor + production crew = $10,000 (mitigated by sponsorship?)
Total rough budget: $52,000. Estimated budget: $60,000 (mitigated by sponsorship)
Sponsorship opportunities:
- workshop/repair centre where bike setup takes place
We were at SMART Adventures Off-road Training last week. You should go, same price as a day out watching professional sports-ball, but you're the athlete and what you learn there will raise your bikecraft to another level. While there I got an opportunity to go out for a ride on the new BMW 1250GS with the legendary Clinton Smout. The new GS is a thing of beauty and a very capable machine, but what struck me most about it was how high the handlebars are set; the bike is very easy to ride while standing on the pegs, which is one of the 'command' positions when riding a dual sport or adventure bike. I'm a tall guy (6'3") and often have to bend too much to operate a bike from the pegs, but not on that GS.
We switched to the big bikes after a couple of hours riding trials bikes, which don't have seats at all. Standing up for that long on these super light weight, powerful and very twitchy machines pretty much wiped me out, so a chance to ride BMW's latest evolution of the legendary GS was a nice change. It was a blisteringly hot day well into the mid-thirties Celsius and I was drenched after the trials gymnastics, so I did what I usually do and stand up on the pegs once we got moving to air out a bit and get a feel for how the bike moves.
Clinton doing pre-flight checks on the BMW - it's a digital machine.
When we stopped for a coffee Clinton said something that surprised me. A friend of his was charged with "stunt riding" for standing on his pegs while riding. He wasn't doing anything silly or speeding, he just stood up on the pegs on a bike designed to help you control it that way. This charge is an officer's discretion situation and the OPP officer who pulled him over who may very well have no understanding of motorcycling or this kind of dual purpose machine made the decision that this was stunting. He fought it in court, but the judge told him if he wanted to stretch he should just pull over to the side of the highway and stretch, which is the kind of advice that'll get you killed. Along with that bad advice he got whacked with a crippling stunt driving charge. I can't imagine what this does on your driving record for insurance, let alone the fines and possible jail time. This is the same charge as doing over 150 kms/hr on a public road! I've frequently stood up on the pegs while riding in order to maintain a level of comfort by cooling off or stretching that would allow me to ride with better focus. I've only done this on adventure bikes designed for it and there is no intention of stunting in this. At other times I've done it to navigate particularly gnarly pavement and construction or provide greater situational awareness by better seeing what's ahead. The types of bikes I ride are designed to use this variation in rider position to actually enhance control of the vehicle. Ignorance of the law is no excuse, but ignorance of riding dynamics and best safety practices are evidently par for the course.
The only place 'motorcycle' is mentioned in the law is around wheelies, otherwise generalizations about cars are all we get.
There was a recent local news article that talked about all the stunt driving going on in the area. One of the infractions listed in from the Ontario Traffic Act where it looks at the definition of stunt driving is driving while not in the driver's seat. The intent there is obviously aimed at a car, but Ontario likes to cast a wide net so it can charge citizens and tax them with fines without question, so the vagueness is left in there intentionally and it cost Clinton's buddy big. This once again reminds me of just how aggressively Ontario pillories motorcyclists. I'm very conscious of how physically challenging motorcycle riding is and consider it a priority to retain maximum focus and control of these potentially dangerous vehicles. In Ontario, where riders can't split traffic and filter, and where temperatures in the summer can easily hit danger levels, the unprotected motorcyclist under the baking sun is forced to sit in stationary traffic and fumes and isn't even allowed to stand up to get some air when things move? It's like Ontario wants to kill people who ride. I've gone on rides at various times where road conditions are such that standing on the pegs actually helps me navigate circumstances and manage road hazards more safely. Standing on the pegs can, as CycleWorld describes it, turn "you into a dynamic part of your bike" and "an active part of the suspension." Thanks to Ontario's vague laws and officious police force and judiciary I can get had up for stunt riding when I stand up to correctly navigate terrible road surfaces (of which Ontario has many), road construction (of which Ontario has lots) or if I simply need a better look at what is happening ahead. Situation awareness is just another one of the many benefits of standing on your pegs, but Ontario is more interested in charging citizens with harsh, non-specific generalizations that can financially cripple them than it is with focusing motorcyclists on safe operation. The general advice online is if you need to stand just lift your butt a bit so you can make the argument that you aren't standing - you are and you're breaking the law, but at least you're putting your life at risk doing it wrong so it looks legal. This doesn't offer you optimal control, but safe operation of a motorcycle isn't what we're going after anymore, is it? The other way out is to have a nice, amiable chat with the officer and assure them that what you're doing is pertinent to the nature of the multi-disciplinary machine you're on. You might not be able to make that argument with sports bikes or cruisers, but if your bike has any off road pretensions, standing on the pegs is something it was designed for that actually helps a rider manage difficult terrain while offering real benefits in situational awareness. Next time I'm on an atrocious Ontario road getting my teeth knocked out by a loose and dangerous surface I imagine I'll do the safe thing and stand up to better manage it, but I better keep an eye out for the law while I do it. Wouldn't it be something is safe vehicle operation was what drove our laws instead of vagaries that allow officious cops to make criminals of otherwise law abiding citizens? LINKS & RESOURCES https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/070455 Ontario's Traffic Act in relation to 'stunt driving' https://www.orangeville.com/news-story/10125681--blatant-disregard-out-of-towners-dominate-list-of-drivers-charged-by-dufferin-opp-on-hwy-10-airport-road-near-orangeville/ "Under the Highway Traffic Act, those convicted of stunt driving or street racing could face a fine ranging from $2,000 to $10,000, a prison term of six months and a driving suspension." https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/off-road-riding-tips-when-to-sit-stand-or-paddle "Standing while riding does more than make you look cool and allow you to stretch your legs – it will keep you balanced and in control of your motorcycle." Marisa McInturff, Motorcycle Safety Foundation https://www.cycleworld.com/2015/09/18/cycle-world-tips-and-tricks-stand-up-on-your-motorcycle/ "your feet are crucial points of contact with and control of the bike. Standing up on the pegs turns you into a dynamic part of your bike rather than just dead weight. It makes you an active part of the suspension." https://advrider.com/f/threads/standing-on-pegs-illegal.1232572/ Ontario isn't the only jurisdiction where the law is out of whack with vehicle dynamics and common sense. https://onewheeldrive.net/2012/05/03/standing-illegal-bc-new-motorcycle-safety-laws-and-flaws/ More insanity, this time from BC, where the majority of roads aren't paved by you can't stand up and provide better control and safety while riding! "a majority of BC’s roads are unpaved and by the letter this law does endanger, if not make outlaws of, responsible dual sport, & adventure riders." https://www.gearpatrol.com/cars/motorcycles/a501251/skills-for-adventure-riding/ "You want to be standing up straight, but with a slight bend in your knees and elbows, in order to keep good control over the bike’s movement." https://www.rideapart.com/articles/254197/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-motorcycle-body-position-for-sport-riding/ "because of the physics of a motorcycle and the percentage of the weight of the bike the rider makes up, leaning off the bike in a turn has a huge effect on the bike’s handling" - in Ontario (and elsewhere) making effective use of that high percentage of control your body mass affords you on a motorbike is illegal. https://motorcyclelawyer.ca/hurt-report/ "Conspicuity of the motorcycle is a critical factor in the multiple vehicle accidents" - I hadn't thought of that, but standing up does make you more conspicuous.
Over the winter we got whacked by a snow plough and the insurance rental ended up being a Jeep Wrangler 4 door. I worked in an automotive shop to pay for university and Jeeps usually involved bringing an umbrella with you because they leaked so much, but this 2019 model has evolved from that poorly made thing. The mileage was better than I thought it would be for a big six cylinder, but I also discovered they come with an even more efficient turbo four that manages mid-20s MPG.
While we had it I stuck it in four wheel drive and went over a mountain of snow in a parking lot that would have beached anything else - and it did it on all season tires! At another point I had to take about 1500lbs of ewaste out of the school I work at and the Jeep swallowed it all with ease and it didn't even seem to strain the suspension. On one particularly snowy night in an empty parking lot I four wheel drifted it and it felt surprisingly obliging doing something that athletic. I found the size of it also a nice surprise. I have to fold myself into the Mazda we have, but the Jeep felt like it fit.
What surprised me most about it was that it was genuinely enjoyable to drive. Initially I found myself fighting the big wheels on the road, but once I came to trust the different driving dynamics of the thing I found it a comfortable long distance coverer. Being up higher means I'm not getting all the slush in the face, which is nice too. We never got to try the roof-removing modular nature of it because it was freezing, but that's another feather in its hat. I've been four wheeling in a tiny hatchback for so long that driving just feels like tedium. The Wrangler made driving feel like an event instead of just a necessity.
With that all swirling around in my head, I first looked up the Wrangler and found it cost sixty grand, which is ridiculous, but that turned out to be a leather clad special edition thing. The one I'd be looking at comes in at about forty grand, about the same as our last car, and there are big discounts on them at the moment. They've got one with all the needed options on for about $41K nearby.
Knowing how this thing handles loads, I started looking up bike hauling options with them. MotoTote has a 600 pound trailer hitch mounted motorcycle carrier that the Jeep could easily manage for $569 (I'm assuming that's USD - so about $780CAD). Also knowing its go anywhere cred and how big it is on the inside, I had images of my son and I taking it camping and off-roading. A trailer with ATV and dirt bike on it would do us well. Parking up in the wilderness and then camping out of the thing seems like a real possibility. The Jeep's outdoor image means there is a rich aftermarket of related products, even roof mounted tents, though it doesn't need them. The fold flat rear seats open up a massive back space that two sleeping bags could easily fit in. A back attached tent makes a bit more sense in that case. It's a cool thing that could make the long wished for trip south in the winter a possibility.
The in-law's cottage happens to be about 20 kms away from the bottom of the 507. I like the 507. It twists and turns through the Canadian Shield offering you bend after bend without the usual tedium of Southern Ontario roads. I lost myself riding down it the other day. Last week I was pondering how fear can creep in to your riding in extreme circumstances, like trying to ride through a GTA rush hour commute. This week I'm struggling with how the Canada Moto-Guide and Cycle Canada are portraying deaths on the 507, which is evidently a magnet for sportbike riders who have confused public roads with private race tracks. On the motorcyclists spectrum I tend toward the sportier end of things. I've owned Ninjas, sports-tourers, adventure and off-road bikes. The only thing that chased me away from sportbikes early in my riding career were the insane insurance rates and the fact that any modern motorcycle is already light years beyond most sports cars in terms of performance. My old Tiger goes 0-60 in under four seconds, or about as fast as many current top-end muscle and sports cars. To spend thousands more on insurance for a bike designed for a race-track just doesn't make a lot of sense, especially when you factor in the condition of Ontario roads.
If you missed the British MotoGP race at Silverstone last
weekend, do yourself a favour and look it up. From start
to finish it was spectacular.
Having said that, I've been a diehard MotoGP fan for the past six years. Watching riders develop and express their genius at the pinnacle of motorcycle racing is not only glorious to watch, but it has taught me a lot about riding dynamics, and I think it has improved my bike-craft. I totally get speed. Riding a bike always feels like a bit of a tight-rope walk, and being able to do it quickly and smoothly is a skill-set I highly value. Like so many things in motorcycling, balance seems to be key. Last week, among the idiotic commuters of the GTA, a frustrating number of whom were texting in their laps and half paying attention, I was unable to manage that danger and it led to a great deal of anxiety. Rather than give in to that fear or throw a blanket of bravado over it, I looked right at it and found a way to overcome it. Honesty with yourself is vital if you're actually interested in mastering your bikecraft. I came to the conclusion that you need to approach two wheels with a touch of swagger and arrogance when that fear rises up. This is done to moderate fear and give you back some rational control, especially when circumstances conspire against you. The problem with swagger and arrogance... and fear for that matter, is that it's easy to go too far, and so many people seem to. Emotionality seems to dictate so many aspects of motorcycling culture. From the arrogance of the ding-dongs in shorts and flip flops who tend to the extremes of the motorcycling spectrum (cruisers and sportbikes), to the ex-motorcyclists and haters who can only speak from fear, it's these extremes who seem to speak for the sport. I struggle with those emotionally driven extremes, but recently CMG seems intent on writing odes to them.
The CMG editorial news-letter this week makes much of not knowing why this rider died: “He knew the dangers, and he admitted to going fast,” says his partner, Lisa Downer. “He knew when, where, how – it was just one of those things. A lot of people think the way the curve was, there was a car (approaching him) that was just a little too far over the line and David had to compensate. By the time that car went around the bend, they wouldn’t even have known that David went off, because the sightline’s gone. Or it could have been an animal, or a bit of gravel. You just don’t know.”
There were no skid marks on the road. Like so many of our lost, no one will ever know why. Our lost? Here's a video by that same rider from the year before:
"...the helmet cam shows his speedometer. “A decent pace on the 507 in central Ontario, Canada,” he wrote in the description. “Typical Ontario roads, bumpy, keeping me in check.” His average speed on the near-deserted road was above 160 km/h, more than double the speed limit, and at one point it shows an indicated 199, where the digital display tops out. At such speeds on a public road, there’s little room for error." - little room for error?
With that on the internet, one wonders how he had his license the following year. You can come at this from 'it might have been an animal, or a car, or gravel', but I think I'm going to come at it from here: "David was an experienced rider who’d got back into motorcycling just three years ago; he was 52, but had put bikes on hold since his 30s when he went out west..."
That'll be over 170 kms/hr on rough pavement around blind corners next to a massive provincial park full of large mammals...
An 'experienced rider' who had been riding for three years, after a twenty year gap? And his first bike in twenty years was a World Super-bike winning Honda super sport? Whatever he was riding in the mid-eighties and early nineties certainly wasn't anything like that RC51. What his actual riding experience was is in question here, but rather than assign any responsibility to an inexperienced rider, we are speculating about animals, cars and gravel? I generally disagree with the speed kills angle that law enforcement likes to push. If that were the case all our astronauts would be dead. So would everyone who has ever ridden the Isle of Man TT. Speed doesn't kill, but how you manage it is vital. There is a time and a place. If you're intent on riding so beyond the realm of common sense on a public road, then I think you should take the next step and sort yourself out for track days, and then find an opportunity to race. In Ontario you have all sorts of options from Racer5's track day training to the Vintage Road Racing Association, where you can ride it hard and put it away wet in a place where you're not putting people's children playing in their front yard in mortal peril. If you've actually got some talent, you could find yourself considering CSBK. Surely there is a moral imperative involved in how and where you choose to ride? Surely we are ultimately responsible for our riding? Strangely, Mark's article, The Quick and the Dead, from 2017 has a much clearer idea of time and place when it comes to riding at these kinds of speeds. In this most recent news-letter we're at "it would be easy to dismiss David Rusk as just another speed freak, killed by his own excess". In 2017 he was quite reasonably stating: "If you’re going to speed, don’t ride faster than you can see and dress properly. And if you’re going to speed, do it on a track". I guess the new blameless recklessness sells better? There is a romantic fatalism implicit in how both CMG and Cycle Canada have framed these deaths that willfully ignores much of what caused this misery in the first place. Motorcycling is a dangerous activity. Doing it recklessly is neither brave, nor noble. Trying to dress it up in sainthood, or imaging blame when the cause if repeatedly slapping you in the face is neither productive nor beneficial to our sport. Up both ends of the motorcycling spectrum are riders who are all about the swagger. For those dick swingers this kind of it's-never-your-fault writing is like going to church. I get it. Writing for your audience is the key to enlarging it.
Last Sunday I did a few hundred kilometres picking up bodies of water for the Water is Life GT rally, with the 507 being the final run south to the cottage. The roads weren't exceptionally busy and I was able to fall into a rhythm on the 507 that reminded me of what a great road it is. As it unfolds in front of you, you can't guess where it's going to go next. Surrounded by the trees, rocks and lakes of the Shield, it's a gloriously Canadian landscape. I'm not dawdling when I ride. I prefer to not have traffic creeping up on me, I'm usually the one doing the passing (easy on a bike). The big Tiger fits me and the long suspension can handle the rough pavement, but I'm never over riding the limits of the bike where gravel on the road, an animal or other drivers dictate how my ride is going to end. The agility and size of a bike offer me opportunities that driving a car doesn't, but it doesn't mean I open the taps just because I can. Balance is key. There are times when a rider (or any road user) can be in the wrong place at the wrong time and no amount of skill will save you. For the riders (and anyone) who perishes like that, I have nothing but sympathy. They are the ones we should be reserving sainthood for. Not doing the things that you love, like being out in the wind on a bike, because of that possibility of being in the wrong place at the wrong time will neuter your quality of life, there are some things you can't control. I'm well aware of the dangers of riding, but I'm not going to throw a blanket of arrogance over them, and I'm certainly not going to describe recklessness as a virtue while hiding in delusions of blame. Doing a dangerous thing well has been a repeated theme on TMD, as has media's portrayal of riding. Having our own media trying to dress up poor decision making as victimization isn't flattering to motorcycling. If you can't be honest about your responsibilities when riding perhaps it's time to hang up your boots. If you don't, reality might do it for you.
As Vale says, "it's dangerous, not only for you, but for all the facking idiots in cars."
