My first post-gradschool job was in the Windy City during the reign of Richard Daily the First. He was constantly hounded by his critics in the press for fabricating new words. One of my favorites was “insinuendo.” Even though it was a brand new word, the mayor knew what it meant and it meant exactly […]

Ivory soap claims to be 99 and 44/100ths percent pure. Most motorcycle safety experts agree that 90% of all motorcycle crashes are avoidable. Now, while I’m not going to go quite as far as Ivory, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I believe that 99% of crashes are avoidable. I’m […]

Don’t you sometimes wish you had the job at your State/County Department of Transportation which gave you total responsibility over every road sign posted? Now before you go off on all the wimpy way-too-slow-for-my-fun-factor conservative speed limits which spoil your day while generating local revenue via Good Driving Awards (aka citations) , let’s agree to […]

A few years ago I headed out on my brand new BMW K1200LT (some folks argue that “LT” stands for “Light Truck”) on a ride through the twisties of West Virginia. I was riding two up and enjoying a particularly fun roller coaster section when I saw up ahead that the pavement was about to […]

Valuable learning can come from a variety of sources, including driver training programs designed for vehicles nine times the number of wheels we are accustomed to. Tom Balaz, an active motorcyclist and commercial truck driver (and a former Class 8 commercial tractor trailer Driving Instructor), shared some valuable tips from a one day course developed […]