Donny and Me

Donald Trump is, possibly, looking at becoming the first US President in the history of the country to actually be impeached. His connections to Russia are likely to be the reason why. It's not in me to feel sorry for Donny, but we do have a weird connection. The Geezer with a Grudge blog also seems to attract more Russian attention than I'd expect. Check it out:

Google Blogger Monthly History

	Pageviews
United States	1784
Russia	1627
Canada	49
United Kingdom	40
Australia	30
Germany	28
China	16
Poland	16
Netherlands	13
India	10

I wonder what they see in a weird old guy babbling about motorcycles?

Safety Training and Us

About a year ago, David Hough wrote a LinkedIn article about the California motorcycle training experiment and the MSF’s repsonse: “Changes in CA training.” It’s a pretty good read and some of the comments were as thought stimulating. A lot of MSF instructors are beginning to reconsider the purpose of training, especially in light of the newest MSF new rider program that appears to be taking an even more simplistic approach to putting butts on motorcycle seats.

A Brush with Reality

As part of an article I’m writing on safety training, I landed on Wikipedia’s page on “motorcycle safety.” Here is a grim reminder of what we regularly face experiencing in a motorcycle crash:

Consequences of accidents:

Once the collision has occurred, or the rider has lost control through some other mishap, several common types of injury occur when the bike falls:

• Collision with less forgiving protective barriers or roadside "furniture" (lampposts, signs, fences, etc...). Note that when one falls off a motorcycle in the middle of a curve, lamps and signs become impossible to negotiate around.
• Concussion and brain damage, as the head violently contacts other vehicles or objects. Riders wearing an approved helmet reduce the risk of death by 37 percent.
• Breakage of joints (elbows, shoulders, hips, knees and wrists), fingers, spine and neck, for the same reason. The most common breakages are the shoulder and the pelvis.
• Soft tissue (skin and muscle) damage (road rash) as the body slides across the surface. This can be prevented entirely with the proper use of motorcycle-specific protective apparel such as a leather jacket or reinforced denim and textile pants.
• There is also a condition known as biker's arm, where the nerves in the upper arm are damaged during the fall, causing a permanent paralysis of arm movement.
• Facial disfigurement, if in the absence of a full-face helmet, the unprotected face slides across the ground or smashes into an object. Thirty-five percent of all crashes show major impact on the chin-bar area.

Honestly, the whole Wikipedia section is worth reading. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorcycle_safety

Weird or Not Weird?

Only slightly more homo-erotic than the usual Harley crap:

Swarm Intelligence or One More Distraction?

Continental is hyping a product called eHorizon that supposedly will “enable motorcyclists to see around corners.” Theoretically, eHorizon “informs bikers in advance of obstacles along their route such as road works, accidents, oil or water on the road, or traffic jams and enhances safety not only for them but also for other road users.” The options are going to be a display that will sit somewhere on your motorcycle’s console or a (gag, hack, puke, etc) phone app.