Need a New Game for Your Motorcycle?

Getting bored with the day to day commute? Got a free moment during the weekend after all your homework is done? Try logging onto the Pacific Northwest Riders forum and look into some Photo Tag.

The concept is simple. Log onto the forum, www.pnwriders.com, under the Corvallis>Photo Tag thread and check out the last picture. You have to figure out where that picture was taken. Once you know where to go, you ride there, take a picture of your bike in front of the same scenery, and then post your picture.

You have to be the first one to post on the forum with your picture in order to claim that victory. If you are not first, then you have to find another picture on the forum and try again.

Obviously, it would be unfair to ride to Los Angeles, snap a picture and expect anyone from this area to ever get that tag. The main point of the game is to keep it local. Through the game, you are trying to show people new and interesting places to ride around the valley and surrounding areas.

Here are some tips for your photos, in order to have a successful photo tag experience. First, don’t forget your bike. I know this sounds simple, but how many people forget to plug the computer in before calling tech support? Remember that this is a game mostly about places to take your bike. Prove to people that a motorcycle can get there.

Second, even though you want to include your bike, don’t make it the main focus of the photo. Nobody is going to be able to figure out where you are if all they can see of the surrounding area is the reflection of a street sign in your highly polished chrome tailpipe. Your ride is pretty, we all get that, but have some clues in the picture as to your location.

Don’t reveal too much. There is no challenge if you have the street signs as part of your picture. Give just enough clues that someone is going to be able to figure it out, but don’t lead the horse to water and push it in and drown it.

Take a decent picture. The camera technology is such that even cheap cell phones take some pretty nice pictures for the most part. However, if you sneeze during the picture, or the light is bad, try again. Or if you have to, come back when the light is better.

With these few simple tips, you can be the hero in the fight against boredom. However, don’t tie a cape around your neck while riding. That would be dangerous. Have fun and take pictures!

On Your Mark, Get Set, Commute!

“The Edge…There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.” –Hunter S. Thompson, “Midnight on the Coast Highway”

“Remember when sex was safe and motorcycles were dangerous?” –Author Unknown

The first quote was written in 1965 after a blistering midnight run down California’s Highway 1 by Hunter S. Thompson. During that time, the most protection that was offered was a leather jacket and helmets that did little more than keep the weather off your onion. The second quote rings true in that there are so many more options out there for motorcycle safety equipment.

The technology for this safety equipment has trickled down from racing. Leather suits with high density foam armor in them, helmets that absorb the impact of a crash while keeping your brains inside your head.

The leather suits with body armor started as a racing suit, but now anyone with a credit card can order one for themselves, even if they never see a track. The same with helmets, as the same safety materials that go into a racer’s helmet can be found in one found in Cycle Gear stores.

Not only did they cover the things that protect you during a crash, but they covered things to prevent you from having the crash in the first place. Brembo makes brakes that won’t fade, even if the rotors hit 1200 degrees. They test their products to standards that they will never reach in the real world.

A more recent thing that has trickled down from racing technology is the slipper clutch. Most people think that the most dangerous thing that you can do is braking during a corner; however, downshifting is even more dangerous. It is much easier to lock up the rear tire if your motor and tire speed don’t match.

With the development of the slipper clutch, when a rider heads into a turn, they can just jam the bike into the gear that they want and let out the clutch. The clutch will slip until the tire and motor catch up to each other instead of the tire losing traction. These slipper clutches are now available in most sport bikes in one form or another.

The safety technology is moving at a blistering pace, but it has to in order to keep up with the racers that need it. Then as commuters, we all benefit from this technology trickling down.

Cruisin' the Benton County Back Roads

Benton County is a great place to go motorcycling because of all the back roads leading in many directions. One road in particular is a very short ride, but it also has all the elements to make it a good ride, including mountains, curves, and a touch of history.

Starting north of Corvallis, turn left off of Highway 99, onto Lewisburg Avenue. As the Coast Range looms in the distance, you pass farm homes and rolling countryside. Then there is a fork in the road, a right turn will shoot you onto Sulphur Springs Road, heading towards the mountains.

Almost as soon as you turn onto Sulphur Springs Road, the road in front of you starts curving and climbing. Sweeping corners, left, right, left, right as you gain elevation, with a constant tree cover above you. The temperature drops a few degrees as you climb, but during summer months it is not enough to require a wardrobe change. Then the top. The Lewisburg Saddle as it is called. The speed limit up here is only 25, as hikers and equestrians are constantly crossing the road. Then it is time to head down.

The downhill side is just as curvy as the uphill side, but quite a bit shorter. Just before the Dead End sign is a right hand turn, Soap Creek Road. This road, although not really curvy, is narrow and lined with forest. Sometimes there are spots that don’t see the sunlight and can remain slick in cooler weather.

While rolling along Soap Creek Road, suddenly there is a one room school house on the right. The Soap Creek School was built for Soap Creek, a close knit community of mill workers, farmers and lumber workers. The current building was finished just in time for the 1932-33 school year and was originally painted white.

Currently the Soap Creek School is only open once a year for an open house. However, it is available for events such as weddings and they have an annual yard sale inside the building. All proceeds from the yard sale go to the Soap Creek Schoolhouse Foundation. However, the best time to go there is when nobody else is around. The peace and serenity of being in this hidden valley is a great break from the harsh reality that waits on the other side of the mountain.

One thing to be warned of though, parking in the Soap Creek School lot is all on gravel. Kickstands have a way of finding their way through the gravel, sinking and pulling your bike along with them.

For the trip back home, you have the choice of heading back the way you came, or going farther along Soap Creek Road. If you take this second option, the road will continue on a fairly flat terrain, with some pretty good curves, until it dumps you back out onto Highway 99 for the five mile journey back to Corvallis.