 Ride
to Move...Move to Ride
by
Dave Preston
Waiting for the phone to ring….
A few months ago, I read in "Cycle World" magazine that they were
interested in hiring an editor. To apply, you were to send them a
1,000 word essay on a motorcycle-type topic. Well, who could resist
such an offer? I sent them the following essay, which is 999 words
long.
Can’t understand why they have not responded….
Move to Ride
Cycle World is hiring an editor. Two logical questions are "Who
shall we hire?" and "How can we get them to move to Southern
California?" Logical questions, but too small in scope. The bigger
questions should be: "Where is the best place to produce the
magazine?" and "How soon can we move there?"
Consider. Motorcycle magazines are produced in California for a
host of once logical reasons. The motorcycle culture exploded in the
60’s, and the epicenter of that explosion was Southern California.
With proximity to the ports of call for the tidal wave coming from
Japan, and with a wealth of both back roads and dirt bike areas, the
basics were in place.
As the Japanese began to dominate the industry, their initial
retail toehold was followed in a matter of a few years by marketing
mavens, parts warehouses, and eventually, design studios. In
addition, the infrastructure created by the burgeoning hot rod
movement of the 50’s found new opportunities in the two-wheeled
world. A plethora of racetracks, both paved and dirt, made for
accessible testing and race-reporting sites. Riverside Raceway,
Ascot, Long Beach, Sears Point – all sorts of needed venues were
relatively close at hand, as were OEM and aftermarket reps, and test
bikes. The weather was nigh on perfect, all the time. Ideal.
But wait… what has changed? Many of the fabled racetracks of yore
are now literally fables, bulldozed away for an expanding flatulence
of humanity. If a facility still exists, getting to the track and
finding an open time slot grows more difficult by the day.
The weather’s been hammered for two decades by sins of
commission, emission, and omission, with smog, earthquakes, and
global warming fighting for space above the fold in daily papers.
Most of the larger manufacturers now build some of their
motorcycles in this country. None of them do so in Southern
California.
Advancements in technology mean that a magazine can now be
produced anywhere – anywhere that can approximate the golden times
once, but no more, the happy lot of southern Californian
motorcyclists. Can there be such a place?
Seattle! The Northwest has all that makes motorcycling
exhilarating, and producing a motorcycle magazine a thrill.
Everything needed is available, near at hand, and usable, and all at
a lower cost of living.
Rain, you say? What about it? Anyone who cannot ride in the rain,
or thinks they cannot, should not be writing for you. How often do
road tests even mention riding in the rain? How about headlights?
Does anyone in California ever ride at night?
What Seattle really has is intermittent rain and a lot of mist –
we just say it rains all the time to keep the transient population
down. If you believe the exaggerated bad press then you don’t
deserve to live here, but yes, it does rain some. Our little secret
is that the majority of the time it is dry, and it is warm enough to
ride all year. The winter months offer ample opportunity to test
head light designs.
At the outer edge of using rain to one’s advantage is my friend
Charlie. He practiced commuting to work in the wet on his RC51 the
winter before his road racing debut, the better to practice breaking
the rear wheel loose entering corners. You laugh, but he began
winning immediately in the spring, and was soon booted out of the
WMRRA novice class. Do not try this at home.
Am I a troglodyte that rides 365 days a year? No. In wet and cold
weather I’m likely to opt for the car. The point is that I have a
choice. I grew up in Minnesota…no choice. No wonder Egan writes so
well – for several months each year his collection of toys are up to
their handlebars in snow and ice. Me? I moved. Guess what, Peter –
no mosquitoes!
Seattle sits in a basin that forms Puget Sound. To the east are
the Cascade Mountains, where we park snow for those who want to ski
or use snowmobiles. In between we have foothills laced with
thousands of miles of winding roads.
The predominant industries here are Microsoft, Boeing, and
Amazon.com. What does that mean? A higher than statistically
probable percentage of educated and performance-oriented nerds.
Where nerds gather, design and fabrication talent follows to feed
their interests.
Our riding routes are strewn with leaves, gravel, sand, and the
occasional byproducts of a semi-rural hoofed lifestyle. This is
terrific! You cannot go at full speed, ever, which saves time, and
money, otherwise likely to be spent in court. You must concentrate
at all times. Your skills are sharpened to a fine point, and stay
that way. You can find such roads, and get lost for years, within an
hour of downtown Seattle. They are the best and most joyous riding
challenge for the experienced rider of any motorcycle.
Except for track time. The Northwest offers splendid
opportunities, from all-out road racing to schools to open days at
three tracks within an easy day’s drive, or much less. Spokane’s
track can be rented for pennies on the dollar compared to California
venues.
What of the classic road races? How better to spend mid-summer
vacation than with a road trip to Laguna Seca? Take in the mostly
deserted roads of eastern or western Oregon, the giant forests of
Northern California, and the joys of the coast, and savor a
memorable trip with colleagues and friends.
For dirt bike enthusiasts, pretty much the same, but…er… dirtier.
Riding areas once lost to the forces of evil have been reopened of
late, and while the political battles continue, the variety and
availability of off road riding in the area is superb.
Finally… for us, global warming is making it all better!
So, as must now be obvious, at issue is not the search for an
editor, but the chance to take a different road in the yellow wood.
It will make all the difference.
Dave Preston
is the author of Motorcycle 101, a sensible book for the new and returning
rider. Pick up a copy today in the
Sound
RIDER! store. He still has not been hired by Cycle World. |
