The Last Scooter Toss of the Year

When the weather in December gives you something as favorable as a forecast of 50 degrees and not raining, on a Saturday, it would be an insult to the motorcycle gods not to ride. Given that the favorable weather was coming in and melting the snow in the mountains that was a better prospect than snowboarding on slush.

I suited up in my new winter gear, Joe Rocket Survivor and Joe Rocket waterproof boots, and headed out on the Interceptor. The first stop was to pick up one of my riding buddies, Dani, and take her to get her bike out of storage, then on to meet with my other riding buddy Paula. The plan was laid out, rally points set, and we started off.

Winter traffic on highway 34 is pretty light. Besides the wet, moss, and tree debris its a much more fun road during the "off" season. No RVs, no tourists, and clear passing. My Michelin's stuck to the pavement and I made more than a few minutes of lead on my buddies (Ninja 250 and Vulcan 800). Not that I was riding especially hard, I was going quite a bit slower than a summer/with the guys pace. Eventually I reached the last rally point on the highway and pulled over to wait for my friends.

At the way point I spotted a couple duck hunters and watched them do their thing. It seems years of playing wargames has given me the ability to spot camouflaged people in the weeds. See if you can find them in the panorama.

After waiting for what seemed like longer than I could have reasonably built a lead, Paula on her Vulcan pulled over and told me that Dani had run off the road and was being transported to a fire station. Here we go again I thought, pulled on my helmet and got back on my bike.

At the fire station in Waldport we found our friend, covered in mud, soaked, embarrassed, and surrounded by EMTs who were doing a thorough and by the book post-crash evaluation. When I say by the book I mean by the book. Being that its winter they probably didn't have much else to do but call in every single EMT/Firefighter in the area to evaluate the poor girl.

But anyways she was pretty shaken up and as soon as EMTs get involved that means that she was going to be transported to the Hospital. Paula agreed to head back to the valley to get her car and I followed the ambulance to the Hospital. Unfortunately they went up 101 without their lights on and it was a SLOW transport.

Eventually we got to the Hospital and I waited around until they'd finished their evaluation to see Dani and let her know Paula was getting her car. They had her in a neck brace for a while until the CAT scan came back that her neck was OK. A state trooper was there to take her statement and was probably the nicest OSP officer I've ever met, most of them will write you a ticket as you lay on your deathbed after a crash. Maybe he was just wanted to make sure he could get a date later.

Paula showed up and I left to make the run home. An hour and a half at 40 degrees in the thick fog, through the coastal range. Pretty much crap for visibility but I made it. At least the other cars could see me, the Survivor suit has some pretty amazing visibility and does OK in the cold.

So that's it, the last scooter toss of the year award goes to Dani. Come the new year we'll have to drive out to the coast to recover a river soaked/muddy little Ninja from a wrecking yard.

Takeaways: crashes can happen any time any where, even to the most cautious and not reckless rider. Nobody gets left behind. ATGATT.

Fortunately Dani didn't break anything or lose any skin. I've seen similar crashes where people had broken collarbones and road rash because they skimped on the gear. Of course those were also testosterone driven guys that would have insisted on not going to the hospital. Guys are dumb like that, arguing with paramedics about cutting off their leathers, and trying to ride home on busted bikes.
Edit: pics from the junkyard

Wrapping up the Season

October of the year usually sees us crotch rocketeer types winding down the season. Cool wet weather and wet leaves in our favorite corners puts the brakes on. With that we can reflect on the year and start to get excited for next. I never really stop riding altogether for the year, I just ride a little less, so when I'm referring to the riding season what I'm really talking about is the good weather riding season.

My good weather riding season kicked off with the season opener of Keigwin's trackdays at ThunderHill. It was perfect weather. I rode the Interceptor for my first time back on track since my crash in 2015, and dad watched. We came back to ThunderHill in May and dad rented a Ninja 300 and did the trackday also.

Between the trackdays in sunny California we were still ripping up the roads in rainy Oregon.

Sometime around May some of my rider buddies who had become racers really started working on me trying to get me into that obsession (as if trackdays weren't enough of a drug). So I got it in my head to get a 250 and race that.

The little Ninja is a whole other story but I found out what the deal with small bikes is, and realized I'm not racing material yet. Too much going on in my head, and my body hurts too much to ride a tiny bike like that. Still, I had a lot of fun taking the little Ninja to the Kart Track and PIR.

In July I completed California SuperBike School level 1. It was an incredible eye opening experience. Its also what made me realize I still have too much going on in my head to put myself on the race grid.

With the end of the track season coming up I sold the little Ninja and bought a mid sized Ninja just before one last hurrah at ThunderHill

Its a 2012 that I bought from a friend who takes good care of his toys. Like my last Ninja purchase it never came off the trailer from where I bought it to where I rode it for the first time at the track.

My last hurrah for the year was also my brother's first trackday and my dad's second.

To the chagrin of my finances my final count this year:

ThunderHill x 3 (2 on Interceptor, 1 on Ninja 600. Keigwins)

McMinnville Kart Track (Ninja 250)

The Ridge x 2 (Interceptor. 1 CSS day, 1 MotoFit day)

PIR x 3 (Ninja 250. 2-Fast, MotoFit, MotoCorsa)

Of course not everything was on the track. I went on plenty of rides, group rides, and to bike night. Once I almost hit a group of four deer on the way to bike night. Thanks to the Interceptor's ABS, Q3 tires, and the will of the motorcycle gods I split in between the deer.

Each picture is its own story, that I don't feel like committing to text. Please enjoy the picture dump.

For all the riding we did at high speed we managed to avoid tickets!