"Infantile showoffs"

Point Reyes Light - May 6, 2004
http://www.ptreyeslight.com/stories/may06_04/motorcycles.html

Showoff's on motorcycles roar up Highway 1 un-cited

By Dave Mitchell

At least 200 motorcyclists, as estimated by a sheriff's deputy, roared
north through West Marin on Highway 1 at midday Saturday .

Noise caused by the Harley-Davidson tour was so loud that it was
sometimes difficult to carry on conversations in buildings along the
route.

Nor was the event trouble free for motorcyclists either. At 1:33 p.m.,
deputies received word that a motorcyclist had crashed near Nick's
Cove. Sheriff's deputies had no immediate word on the man's injuries
but quoted a passerby as saying the biker was "not moving."

At 2:03 p.m., the Highway Patrol handled a motorcycle crash just north
of Point Reyes Station. Officers were told two people were on the
motorcycle, but again the extent of injuries was not immediately
known. No other vehicle was involved.

Infantile showoffs

In a show of bravado, numerous bikers revved their engines as they
rode down the main street of Point Reyes Station, apparently realizing
there were far too many bikers for officers to target one offender in
particular.

Point Reyes Station this spring has repeatedly had to endure what many
residents call "infantile" behavior by out-of-town motorcyclists. The
worst incident occurred on March 10 when motorcyclist John Kzluzhessi,
45, of Petaluma rode down the main street at high speed on his rear
wheel, lost control, hit a curb, and was thrown head-first into a
street tree.

Kzluzhessi suffered a dislocated shoulder and severe road rash. His
motorcycle skidded down the street and hit a car parked in front of
the Cheda Building.

Kzluzhessi's performing a "wheelie" where he was putting other
people's lives at risk angered several witnesses, and as paramedics
from Point Reyes Station cared for the biker, one town merchant
grumbled, "I hope he dies."

While the Highway Patrol and Sheriff's Office acknowledge that some
Harley owners modify their mufflers to make their motorcycles louder,
most motorcycle noise results from the bikers traveling in groups,
officers say.

Editor's note: A reader in Germany has sent in the address of a
non-commercial website put up by a Ukrainian motorcyclist. No showoff
but genuinely hardy, she rode alone through the "dead zone" to
Chernobyl, taking notes and pictures along the way of empty highways
and "ghost villages." With a hand-held monitor, she checked radiation
levels everywhere she went. The nuclear reactor at Chernobyl melted
down in 1986, and the city will be uninhabitable for 900 years. The
web address of the young motorcyclist, who writes in reasonably good
English, is <https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/benoc/mirrors/www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspe>.

 

Immaturity differs somewhat from infantilism, but this is
perhaps too fine a distinction for a craftsman of such deathless
prose.

I crave a proper attribution for that bit of kindness.

I'm outta here -- gotta go break some traffic laws.

 

Cheap talk from a town whose life blood is tourist dollars and probably
raked in thousands from same said bikers. I was under the impression the
Lighthouse was a class rag. More like outhouse fodder.

nb

 

A Harley doing a wheelie? Yeah right..

<https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/benoc/mirrors/www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofsp
e>.

 

As likely as a Valkyrie.

Maybe there was a squirrel involved-
http://cuagain.manilasites.com/stories/storyReader$287

-mark

 

Never been to a Harley drag race eh, Charlie? Why, they even have wheelie
bars on them H-D's!

Mack

 

yeah, you are probably right, my front wheel has never left the ground.



--
Assuring you of my best intentions at all times,

Charles Statman
Rocket Scientist/Wonderboy/Women's Legs Shaven

DoD the Un-Numbered One

 

I've been to a Harley drag race.. but that's a Harley in name only at that
point.

Sort of how Nascar likes to say they still race Chevys, Dodges, and Fords.

They don't even resemble the cars you see in the showrooms.

 

You need to take a ride with Herr Statman and his Sportster

 

My Letter to the "editor" in response to the Infantile rant posing as a news
article:
In response to the article recently printed by the Point Reyes Lighthouse
titled "Showoff's on motorcycles roar up Highway 1 un-cited".

It seems as though the Point Reyes Lighthouse never misses an opportunity to
use a "news story" to make an editorial comment on the character of
motorcyclists. It also never misses an opportunity to portray all
motorcyclists, particularly the ones who ride in western Marin County as
social misfits or as the recent article suggests "Infantile Showoffs".

Perhaps the staff of the Point Reyes Lighthouse needs to take some diversity
training in order to mitigate their propensity for extreme prejudice against
those "from out of town" who ride motorcycles in Marin County.

But then again it is unlikely that the Lighthouse will stop pandering to the
residents of West Marin, most of whom who hail from such "un-local" places
as New York, Massachusetts and other un-California locations.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if the Point Reyes Merchant who "grumbled,
"I hope he dies."" in regards to the injured rider, is actually a fictional
character who just echoes the sentiments of the Lighthouse.

Jim Stinnett
San Francisco