Spring Is Almost Here.

It is that time of year again.  When the frost is finally leaving the roadways and the snow is turning to rain with sun breaks.  The flowers and blossoms are beginning to be seen, and motorcyclist seem to come out of the woodwork.

The time of year when riders are beginning to spend more time creating reasons to ride and not drive.  When the bikes are getting gone over and awakened from their winter slumber.  Tires and other necessary items are being budgeted for and put on the bike.  The end of winter maintenance rituals we all seem to have been getting done.  If they haven't already been completed.

If you are reading this, then the odds are pretty good you are a motorcycle rider or passenger.  This is the time of year that you begin to really look forward to spending more time in the wind with your friends who ride. Whether it means throwing a get together so everyone can get a few miles worth of riding in, or sitting down and planning for a major ride later in the year.  You've probably already made plans to get together and ride somewhere.  

I hope that everyone has had the chance to get the final work done so they can ride without mechanical issues this year.  This looks to be an interesting year, and hopefully one that we can all enjoy riding in a diverse range of places and groups of riders.  And for those who prefer to ride alone, or with just one or two other bikes, I hope you find some great roads to enjoy, that will bring you to some lifelong memories.  Even a ride in nasty weather can bring with it great memories.  After all, here in the Pacific North "Wet" if you don't ride in the rain you don't get to ride a whole lot.

There are man wonderful places to ride to, and some incredible roads to ride in the region.  I hope you are able to enjoy them and can enjoy the thrill of riding through the amazing landscapes our region has to offer.  Who knows, maybe we will even be able to share some road together this year.  I hope so.  

Catch ya on the road sometime...

A Facebook Page and Other Changes

As the next step in rejuvenating the blog after dealing with the life-altering changes I have gone through in the past year and a half, I will be making changes to this blog.  Not so much in content, but in how it is published and/or promulgated.  I have started a Facebook page for the blog, and I am considering releasing YouTube videos related to the motorcycle community.  Some of which I hope to be simple sit-downs with riders to discuss issues before our community.

It's time I stepped back up and started getting back into life again.  But one thing is for sure; I am not going to give up the fight to bring motorcycles into public transportation policy planning more comprehensibly than it is currently.  Which is basically; ignored, exempted, and barely tolerated.

I will be trying my best to highlight some of the good people in our diverse two-wheeled community.  As well as highlighting some local events and issues I feel would be fun, and/or important for our community to take notice of and take part in.

Let's get this thing rolling again.

Catch you on the road sometime...

R.I.P. Daley Mathison...Some Thoughts On Life And Death And Motorcycling.

I was just sitting here, thinking about the events at today's Isle of Man TT. With the tragic death of racer Daley Mathison and the lack of huge financial prizes for winners at the TT, it got me thinking. Now I'm not going to say these racers, both men and women are crazy adrenaline junkies. They're not. It may be a small aspect of it, but that isn't the main reason they road race on closed circuits. Any moron with a need for an adrenaline rush can jump on a motorcycle and twist their wrist, sending them rocketing down a public road like a maniac. Hell-bent for leather as they fly low over the roadway without a care or a brain in their head except going fast.

I know, I can still remember riding up and down the twisting two-lane highway of US101 along Hoods Canal on an old chopped BSA with an extended front end, and no rear suspension (and no front brakes for that matter) doing 110 mph or so. If a deer or God forbid, an elk, crossed the road in front of me, I'd have been toasted spam on the highway. But it didn't matter. I was flying, and just living in the moment. Where nothing else mattered, except that instant, and the next instant was whatever it would bring with it. I loved it, and still, get nostalgic thinking about those days sometimes.

But the road racers at the TT; they aren't like that. They do, truly love to go fast on the road circuit. But it's controlled. Or at least controlled to a fine degree that a simple adrenaline junkie wouldn't even stand for. Months of physical exercise and training to build stamina, and strength, and reflexes. They don't even practice on the closed road circuit if it's raining (Hell, they don't even bring rain gear or "wet" tires with them), let alone race in the rain anymore. They push their skills to the limit, and they push their machines. Knowing if either one breaks in practice, or even worse in a real race, they may die. But they have done everything possible to reduce that risk to an extreme degree. However, the fact is, that risk is real and remains a part of road racing. They've taken the safety as nearly far as it can go, and they accept the risk they are taking. For the love of it, and the competition of it. And yes, for the thrill of it too.

The road racers who participate in the Isle of Man TT aren't insane adrenaline junkies. They are motorcyclists who love to ride their bikes to their limit and enjoy the pleasure and freedom of doing so on the longest and most intensely challenging road circuit in the world. All 37.7 miles of it. Most motorcyclists can understand that feeling; that need, to ride and feel the road rushing past them. To some greater or lesser degree I think everyone who truly loves riding their motorcycle understands and knows this feeling at some deep level.

My heart goes out to the wife and young daughter of Daley Mathison. This sudden realization that the reaper awaits us all along our path and we know not when our number will come up. The risk and danger of death is a given to motorcycle road racers and their families. Still, it is always a tragedy when a motorcyclist dies doing what they love so deeply. A tragedy, and yet...I can't think of a better way to leave this life, than doing something I love so much.

I send my prayers for comfort and compassion for this young family now in the depths of sorrow. Prayers for healing and joy as well. But those prayers are no less than I say every night for those who ride, and sadly many have died while just riding their motorcycles and so deeply enjoying the life that God gave them. It's not just adrenaline junkies and professional road racers, but everyone who lives to ride these machines we love. I say a prayer for all of us, and still, I thrill to ride, and to watch the TT. I hope that I always will.

As the old adage used to go; "If I have to explain it, you'd never understand."

Ride In Peace Daley.

Catch you on the road sometime...

Moral Equality vs Forced Equality

There has been a somewhat terrifying push for a forced equality of result that seems to oppose and even vilify what I refer to as 'Moral Equality'.  This 'Equality of Result' as some describe it focusses on equality between groups in for example; career fields.  This view refuses to admit any differences between the groups.  As if admitting that differences exist equates to one group somehow being superior to another.  That is an undesirable position, however, those with the viewpoint that it is necessary for example that there should be a 50/50 split between the genders in fields such as computer programming are trying to force such results with total disregard for any other end result.  Forcing equality in this manner does nothing but dehumanizes those, in this case, who chose freely to work as programmers.  Attempting to enforce an equality of result in this manner also dehumanizes those who are being pushed into the field because of someone else desire for an equality of result.  In other words, the individual's personal choices are seen as less important than achieving the desired resultant 50.50 gender split.

"If you argue that no true equality can be achieved unless we are all the same, then we can't have equality."  This quote made by Claire Lehman. founding editor of Quillette, during a podcast of the Rubin Report.  Claire continued by saying; "However, if you argue that we are all morally equal and that we deserve equal opportunity to live a happy flourishing life, however, there are differences between us.  Then you can preserve that ethical principle."  It seems to be just this concept that proves so problematic for many people.  In today's polarized political and social environment, problematic is more and more often conflated with being bad, or even just evil.  So that in many cases, people remain focused on the equality of result rather than the equality of opportunity.

Arguing that there are no differences between men and women seems to be not only rather lazy thinking, but also brings about any number of possible scenario's.  Many of which would seem to be in total contradiction with the base premise being proposed.  Few people would rationally advance a claim that there is no physical difference between men and women.  Yet that is exactly what is being proposed by a vocal portion of the far left or the political spectrum.  If there are no differences, and we are all the same, how can there be anything but uniformity?  Admitting there are physical differences does not mean inferiority or superiority, only difference.  And, if there can be differences physically, can there also not be differences mentally?  

Can it not be possible that evolution has created different mental interests and abilities among the genders?  Attempting to force an equality of result between genders in any field of endeavor has at its heart a total disregard for the individual desires and interests of those who may be affected.  However, providing an equal opportunity for people to succeed in their chosen field has at its core a faith that all people are morally equal and how they choose to strive for success is totally up to the individual.

It may be that society is on the verge of a dramatic series of events that will change what we are as a people, and a Nation.  It is my hope that we do not succumb to the desire for equality of outcome and a desire for an equal outcome of the balance between genders or races.  This would seem to mean that society as a whole will have conformed to the concept that quantity is better than quality.  That to attain a balance, mediocre abilities can be accepted as long as it allows the balance to be attained.  Think about the meaning of that.  People who are highly suited and qualified being turned away and mediocrely qualified individuals with a lack of interest accepted.  Simply to attain that equality of outcome.  I hope I never live to see America drop to that level.

Catch you on the road sometime...

My World Has Changed

My life over the past few months has changed so drastically I can hardly even comprehend all the changes and all the changes that are yet to come.  What seems the most bizarre to me is the fact that only a month before my wife suddenly died, I was reading the fortunes of friends using a normal deck of playing cards.  When I was done, they wanted me to read my fortune just for fun.   Normally I wouldn't, but for some reason, I did my own reading.  From the first card, I saw massive changes coming to my life.  With virtually every card I laid down, I was reading nothing but change in my life.  I didn't understand, and because I was reading my own fortune, my personal biases didn't allow me to be truly open to what I saw.  What the cards were telling me.  Everything in my life was about to change.

While Robin and I knew she was sick, and that she wasn't going to get better in the long term without a liver transplant, the calm and slow pace the Drs. seemed to be taking gave no hint as to the extent of her illness.  Or, how short her time truly was.  In a month, she went from needing a step to get in and out of our Explorer, to laying dead in a hospital room in Vancouver.

Now I am living in a house I can afford to pay the mortgage on, but not; the water, the electricity, phone, garbage, or the internet. I don't know what I am going to do yet.  Then today, after trying to get my health insurance renewed for another year, I get a letter in the mail saying I have two days to fill out the paperwork and bring everything into Social Security in Tacoma.  I think I have enough money for one tank of gas, so I am definitely going to be forced to start selling things.  It is time I adapt and go into survival mode as my world changes around me.  

Few people have a clue as to the hole I suddenly find myself in.  All I can do is my best to fulfill my obligations, and do everything in my power to finish what I have started to do to help get some new laws passed, and to help my local community.  But I also have to focus on my ability to survive, in order to do these things.

I will survive this and come out wiser on the other side.  With no clue yet as to what is going to happen, I'm just moving forward day to day trying to get a handle on what has happened and what I am going to have to do next.  Things are about to get interesting, to say the least.  My world has changed, and my life is going to have to change with it.  What all those changes will turn out to be, I'll find out as I reach and experience them.  I'll try to keep you posted.

Catch you on the road sometime...

Federal Bullet Pre-Purchase Background Check Proposal, One More Cowardly "Feel Good" Proposition

The Democrats have once again stepped forward with an effort to circumvent the opposition to additional firearms background checks, or "Universal Background" checks by introducing in the US House and Senate bicameral bills (H.R. 5383, and S.2627) that would require Federal background checks to purchase ammunition.  This pre-purchase ammunition background check idea is just one more effort that does little or nothing to reduce the violence in this country.  Once again this shows the cowardice of the Democrats to really look at the root causes of violence in America.  instead of doing something to reduce the level of violence, the Democrats are again showing they are focused on restricting the ability of good law-abiding citizens to use a tool for personal defense while doing nothing at all to reduce the root causes of most of America's violence.  Since we already have background checks on firearms; which the Democrats keep saying we need more of because apparently, the current background checks through the NCIC for criminal and mental health violations aren't effective enough, now they want to use the same system prior to purchasing ammunition?  Will the system work better by overloading it with background checks for ammunition?  Drop the cowardice and say what you are really after.  Try using some of your "common sense" initiatives to; improve the socio-economic-educational conditions in our predominantly Democratically controlled inner-cities,  cracks in the mental health system that so many violent offenders seem to slip through, then maybe America will see a reduction in violence.  Also, how would this even be enforceable?  There is virtually no way to determine without possibly chemical analysis what bullet came from what box of ammunition.  Or, if the purchaser is even the end user of the ammunition.  These bills are simply an effort to restrict Americans from exercising their Second Amendment right by increasing the difficulty needlessly to purchase Ammunition.  But again, the Democrats are using the same tired tactics that they have used for decades of ignoring the base roots of violence in America, then using guns and gun owners as the scapegoats.


I can't think of any firearm owned by anyone I have ever known that ever became violent in all the years of my life.  Stop blaming the tools for how a small number of violent people use them.  If background checks are so effective at reducing violence and death, then why are there no background checks for baseball bats, knives, and hammers?  Each kills more people in America every year than semi-automatic rifles, but because people naturally understand that overall, such a small minority of those things are used in violent, murderous acts that a restriction on the purchase of such items would be ludicrous.  That is how the vast majority of gun owners feel about our firearms.   


All this sort of bill will do is to cause legal gun owners instead of buying one or two boxes of ammunition to buy ten or so at a time.  It may very well have the unintended effect of creating an increase in the number of people reloading their own ammunition.  Which already has a long history of documentation on purchases.  Again, all that documentation hasn't decreased America's violence.  Because the tools, the objects, aren't the cause of America's violence.  Why make it more difficult to purchase the tools needed to defend your life, while doing nothing to ease the problem of American violence's real core causes?






Let the flaming begin.

An Open Letter To The People

One of the more disturbing political trends to me over the past few years has become the attacks on Free Speech.  Not by the government, but by individuals, institutions, and organizations that have submitted to the concept that if someone is saying something that does not fit your personal beliefs, it is perfectly alright to; heckle, harass, shout down, or demonize that person simply because their views do not conform to your own.  This has resulted in an atmosphere not of government censorship as restricted by the First Amendment, but a form of self-censorship by citizens who simply have grown weary of being verbally assaulted and harangued by others simply because of their views.  I find it to be quite disingenuous of many who seek to silence those they do not agree with by using the very tactics so successfully used by authoritarians throughout the history of the last century and a half or more, as they loudly denounce speakers as “racist” or “fascist”.  Whether those epithets have any basis in fact seems to be irrelevant.  Or worse, such words are weaponized, knowing it is a quick and simple way to isolate a person they oppose in some way.

The tactics of this type of political movement seem bizarre and irrational at times.  Claiming to be the champions of diversity and equity; they seem to support the diversity of appearance, but not of thought.  The equity that seems to be so precious to them is not an equity of opportunity, giving every individual the same possibility of success as another person, but the equity of outcome where there is an equal representation of various groups in any specific segment of the population.  They decry the fact that women do not account for 50% of software programmers for example, and then demand efforts be made to enforce an increase in the participation of that career field explaining that the reason for the disparity is some misogynistic ‘patriarchy’ keeping women from attaining equality.  This same mindset is used to describe any segment of the population that does not have an equal share of whatever group the far left is attempting to be perceived as supporting.

We have seen the politically correct demands for change based on the feelings of some person or other being ‘offended’.  Demands that images, monuments, even books be banned or destroyed.  Many of those making these claims have only the words of others to explain to them why the things they are so loudly demanding be removed from the public consciousness.  Even if those words have no real historical or factual basis.  It is the perception that seems to be driving many of these claims of ‘offense’.  One of the greatest things that so many on; the far left, the regressive left,  the radical left, whatever you choose to call it, find so extremely offensive is the simple fact that you do not agree with them. 

While claiming to be the champions of tolerance for people who form some minority of our citizenry; these same champions seem to be completely intolerant of anyone who simply holds a different political position than they do.  What does their reaction to this person who does not agree totally with their position?  In many cases it seems to be to try to publicly humiliate the person, by loudly talking over the individual who does not share their views.  To proclaim in a loud and repetitive voice that this person is a racist, a misogynist, homophobe, xenophobe, etc.  The idea of actually sitting down and having a fact based discussion looking at an issue from different perspectives, and coming to their own conclusions, actually debating the issue, seems to be the furthest from the minds of those intolerant champions of tolerance.  All in an attempt to bully the person with the opposing viewpoint into submission, or make them seem to be some form of social pariah. 

It is sad to realize that many of these ideas and concepts that seem so antithetical to the American way of life are coming from America’s colleges and universities.  Once the exchange of ideas, and the concept of free and open discussion of those ideas was one of the purposes of a higher education.  Today, it seems that in many colleges and universities the once classically liberal concepts of; civil liberties, the rule of law, and economic freedom have been replaced with a form of indoctrination that places a political agenda above civil liberties, the rule of law, and economic freedom.  Part of that political agenda is to look at American history through the lens of today’s extreme leftist social values.  Condemning a person of another era because they do not live up to modern leftist social standards is a common occurrence.  As is leveraging the banning of classic American literature such as Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie because the female characters do not live by modern feminist standards, and thus offers a profoundly unhealthy role model for today’s young women. Banning books such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain because its perceived depictions of African Americans and women do not conform to the standards of today’s extreme left politically.  Placing such standards on historical figures and literature of another era is reprehensible.  Yet that is what is happening with the regressive left.  It is also quite hypocritical as well.  If it is alright to condemn someone from a century or more ago for not living in a manner conforming to the moral compass of today’s political left; how is it that Bill Clinton is not vociferously condemned as a misogynist, or anti-feminist for his sexual behavior with women during the 1980’s and 1990’s?  Why is his wife Hilary Clinton not loudly proclaimed as an anti-feminist, or a traitor to her fellow women because of her standing by her husband when his behavior came to light?  Could it be that to do so might require a little critical thinking?

How do we defend ourselves and our Nation against these attacks on not just our First Amendment, all of our civil rights?  By holding firm, thinking for ourselves, and doing the research needed to find the facts to bolster our positions on issues.  Freely discuss your ideas and thoughts with those who may make you work to prove your positions.  If you find yourself unable to convince that person that your position is correct; learn from that discussion and do more and better research.  You may even find that if your position is not strong enough that you may need to recalibrate your own thinking on the issue.  There are many flaws in our political system in the United States.  However, just take a moment and look at how many people are constantly attempting to immigrate to the US for a better life.  Then try to find another Nation on Earth that has as many Americans trying to immigrate to for a better life.  We aren’t perfect, but our Constitution, and the Bill of Rights makes America the best country on Earth in my opinion.

If you don’t agree, I won’t infringe on your First Amendment Right to counter my arguments.  Will you offer me that same courtesy and respect?

Catch you on the road sometime...