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Dr. Gregory Frazier January '10

A Good Rider
“He’s/she’s a really good rider. Let’s include him/her in our ride.”
What does “good rider” mean? I know Kenny Roberts is a great motorcycle pilot. Malcolm Smith likely could manage a motorcycle to the top of Mount Everest, another great motorcycle driver. Steve McQueen was also a talented motorcyclist. These men I can place in the category of “good.” But I also know them to be good men, not only because of their talent controlling motorcycles, but because their motorcycling essence, inner cores, their hearts, were or are good.
Several years ago five Americans from the Big Dog Adventure Ride (www.horizonsunlimited.com/bigdog) were invited to share a motorcycle adventure in Southeast Asia. One of the five asked to let his buddy join. The qualifications of the buddy were pitched as: 1) “He’s a really good rider,” and 2) “He is a Marine.”
My father was a Marine. I learned Marines were humans of honor, persons who did not leave their dead behind. As for this unknown motorcycle owner being a good motorcycle driver, that was purely subjective on the part of his patron. We took a chance, let the “really good rider” join us.
The Marine really good rider got off the airplane and started to throw foreign money around like it was confetti, talking “Tex-Mex” to Asian bar girls and restaurant waitresses, and then chiding them when they did not understand. He was an adequate motorcycle operator on the roads and trails, but bristled to be the alpha male of the group, maybe that being the Marine part.
The Marine really good rider later put together a group ride for Mexico made up of the same members from the Southeast Asian adventure. I declined joining. My opinion was the outing was poorly organized and the leader not someone I wished to follow.
So does purchasing a set of motorcycle keys, driving fast, or merely being a motorcycle operator, make a person a good person, someone with an inner essence of which Buddha would approve? Or is it a brand-specific definition, this “good rider” description? Is the Harley-Davidson owner a good rider in the Harley Owner’s Group, but not in the Honda Rider’s Club of America? Asked another way, does acquiring a motorcycle change the inner being of a person and take them from being a person of shallow inner strength, low moral character or just a plain loser and turn them into a winner?
A one-day ride group I joined had included a motorcycle owner I knew to be a very poor motorcycle operator. Once I had watched him fall down in my driveway. On an earlier group ride he was in I chose to be the last in the group, wanting to keep this fellow in front of me. During that day I watched him slowly pilot his motorcycle through numerous turns, often changing his apex two or three times. It was an adventure to keep from running into him from behind as he would slow to nearly a following-over speed as we went through curves.
When I asked the organizer for the day why this poor rider was being allowed to go out with a group of experienced and talented riders for an off-road adventure I was told, “He’s got the right motorcycle and says he’s a good rider.” After the group spent the afternoon picking this self-proclaimed good rider up and dusting him off they nicknamed him “Bull-Dust Bob” for his being covered in red bull dust from numerous get-offs.
During a two-three year period I passed on future opportunities to ride in any group that included him. Not only was he a poor rider but he had the personality of a bag of mouse droppings. His admittance to the group of motorcyclists was his owning several motorcycles. He would invite himself along on weekend rides, and evenings of swilling and chilling, having no clues how the others viewed him, but because he had a set of motorcycle keys they let him hang around. I once asked one of the gathering why they tolerated his presence when he often proffered uneducated and opinionated comments and had obvious disdain for anything he thought he knew more about than he did. I was told, “What can we do, he just shows up, invites himself along.” Asked if it was because he was a good rider, the response was, “I suppose so, but I don’t ride with him.”
One night Bull-Dust Bob went too far, expressed an opinion that resulted in his being bitch slapped by one of the fellows in the group. Twelve time zones away I received an email about the incident, calling it the “bitch slap heard half-way around the world.” When I asked in my reply if the group was still letting him ride with them the answer was “Yeah, he thinks he’s a good rider, still invites himself around.”
And what of the Marine good rider some ask? He and his good riding buddies group left their dead behind, a deed heard around the world, another email I received. Now when I am told someone is a good rider I am reminded that a man’s true character is a reflection of his actions, not ownership of keys to a motorcycle, but these are just my opinions.

Dr. Gregory W. Frazier is a professional motorcycle adventurer. His collection of published works and films can be found under “Catalog,” and what he is up to these days under “What’s New” at www.horizonsunlimited.com/gregfrazier. His home is in the Big Horn Mountains of Montana, but he travels extensively by motorcycle around the globe during the year. He says of his wilder motorcycle adventures on the planet, “I hate adventure if it has anything to do with snakes or sharks.”

Dan Bazier January '10

The Blame Game
I think it’s time that we recognize the new national sport – The Blame Game. Actually, there’s nothing new about this favorite American pastime. In fact, it’s not even ours, gringo. It’s human nature. Students of anthropology will attest to this tradition of conflict, ever since the index finger first uncurled into an accusatory pointing gesture, and the extended middle finger unlocked previously uncharted joys of nonverbal communication.