Death!

Like nearly two thirds of Americans, as a young man I was in favor of the death penalty.  Since I lived in Nebraska, that was an easy position to take - one not likely to cause conflict with friends and neighbors, should the subject come up.  I don't recall anyone asking, but I'm sure I'd have easily justified my beliefs based on a few obvious "facts":

• The death penalty reduces the crime rate.
• Some people are so evil the world would be a better place without them.
• Taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for food, housing, medical care, etc. for convicted killers

If pressed, my principal objection to the practice of executing prisoners would be the long period of time between sentencing and carrying out the sentence.

Fortunately, with age comes wisdom, and I've come to understand that the death penalty is ineffective, expensive, and unfairly applied.  It's impossible to determine cause and effect with statistics, but a comparison of murder rates between death penalty and non death penalty states shows a consistently lower rate in the latter (of course, this statistic is likely skewed by the fact that over a third of the executions since 1976 have been carried out in Texas, and nearly 90% are in the south.

 OK, so maybe the death penalty doesn't actually prevent crime, but at least we're executing only the very worst offenders, right?  Actually, no - do we really think over 30% of the worst people in the country commit crimes in Texas?  Then there's this (from The ACLU Race and the Death Penalty):

University of Iowa law professor David Baldus found that during the 1980s prosecutors in Georgia sought the death penalty for 70 % of black defendants with white victims, but for only 15% of white defendants with black victims.

So, if we aren't necessarily executing the worst offenders, we can at least take solace in our knowledge that all of these criminals deserve severe punishment, right?  Again, no - a recent study estimates that about 4% of death row inmates are innocent!  If you think a 96% success rate is good enough, think about how you'd feel if one out of every 25 airline flights blew up on take off - I suspect you'd be a lot less excited about your next trip to Los Vegas!

Since we aren't always executing the worst criminals - and in fact are almost certainly executing the innocent - it seems kind of silly to talk about how much money the death penalty saves us, but, what the heck, let's do it anyway.  Is this racist, ineffective, inaccurate system really worth it because it just saves us so stinking much money?  Care to take a guess?  How much money does the average death sentence save us?  Accurate costs are difficult to come up with, but most studies show a death penalty case may cost $1 million more than a non death penalty case.  Typically, a prison inmate costs about $50,000 per year to house - a cost that will be somewhat higher for the death row inmate who may take a dozen years or more to exhaust his appeals.  While both sides may claim the economy argument, it's clear there is, at best, little or no cost advantage to executions.

Recently, the death penalty has been in the news in Nebraska.  Although I  no longer live in the Cornhusker State, I still follow the news - or at least read the headlines.  I knew Ernie Chambers had been working for years to try to eliminate the practice in the state, but I assumed he was tilting at windmills.  Much to my surprise, a bill to eliminate the death penalty in Nebraska recently passed by a 2 to 1 margin!  Nebraska's Governor - a Republican, of course - has vowed to veto the bill, but it appears support in the Unicameral is strong enough to override the veto.

If Nebraska does do away with the death penalty, it will represent an amazing victory for progressives in the state.  I've long felt that Ernie Chambers was a great - and largely unappreciated - asset to the state, and this may be his most lasting legacy.  We can only hope this is a trend we'll see repeated throughout the country.

Road Trip - or Don't Blow Bubbles in a Full-Face Helmet.....

I'm a bad influence on my kids, or so I've been told, so when I bought a motorcycle it was no big surprise when my youngest child decided to follow suit.

Kari first talked about getting a scooter - a practical bike with automatic transmission, limited power, and built-in storage options.  She initially planned on a 50cc scooter with a top speed of 35 mph or so.  In my opinion, an underpowered scooter like that is a hazard on streets with a speed limit over 30 mph, since you may not be able to keep up with the traffic, so I suggested to Kari that she look at slightly larger, 150 cc scooters - generally capable of speeds of 55 mph or so.  This would allow her to accelerate and cruise at the speeds generally seen on city streets. 

Kari was open to that idea, and I was glad to hear that she planned to purchase safety gear and had enrolled in a Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) class.  She wisely decided to purchase a bike only after completing the class and getting her motorcycle operator's endorsement on her driver's license.

As I suspected, Kari took the MSF class on a 250 cc motorcycle, and loved it.  After that, she was unlikely to settle for a scooter - she'd want a "real" motorcycle!  She started shopping in earnest, and quickly narrowed her list to a couple of favorites.  At this point, I thought it might be fun to make the trip up to Las Vegas (actually Henderson, NV) and tag along for the search.

My bike, while certainly capable of a highway trip, isn't as large as the real "touring" motorcycles.  With that in mind, I decided that before taking off, I'd talk to my mechanic (Mike, at Medusa Cycles) to see if he has any concerns about the bike making a 700 mile round trip.  Mike - a nice guy who's always willing to take a quick look at something and give you his opinion - said, "the bike will handle the trip a lot better than you will."  I took this to mean I'd be OK, and decided to hit the road.

Traffic in the Phoenix metro area is atrocious, so I elected to get an early start to miss the worst of it.  I ended up hitting the road at 5:00 a.m. on Friday morning.  My plan was to get out of Phoenix, then take my time, driving slowly and taking lots of breaks.  The first part of my trip went according to plan - I got in the HOV (carpool) lane - motorcycles are always allowed in the HOV lane - and cruised the freeway for about 70 miles until I was on the outskirts of town.  I admit I gave a big sigh of relief when I hit Carefree Highway and the open road!

At this point, I started to see the problem with my plan.  It sounds good to "drive slowly", but you have to actually do it!  The highway - speed limit 65 mph - seemed designed to make me drive much faster than that.  Virtually every time I glanced at the speedometer, I was traveling between 75 and 80 mph.  Clearly, I was going to need to work on my speed control!

I did find that it was easy to stick to my plan to  make frequent stops.  After 75 to 100 miles, I desperately needed a break.  The drive from Phoenix to Las Vegas is desolate, at times, but there are good stopping points spaced at that approximate distance.  I made the mistake of skipping a break on the outskirts of Phoenix, and ended up needing to go all the way to Wickenberg - roughly 125 miles from home - for my first stop.  I also stopped at Wickiup, Kingman, and a restaurant about 30 miles from Henderson.  At each stop, I gassed up, walked around, got a drink, and tried to waste a little time before I had to get back on the bike.  At the restaurant - thoroughly sick of the motorcycle seat by this point - I decided to take a longer break and have lunch.  Afterwards, refreshed and full, I finished the ride, arriving at about 1:00 p.m.

My bike performed flawlessly - easily keeping up with traffic, even when climbing mountains at altitude.  While I still understand why a larger bike would be better for long-range touring, I now know that my bike would be capable of longer trips, if necessary.  Some music would be a big help - lacking that, I sang every song I know on the trip.  I was hoarse by the time I got to Kari and Suzie's - I'm guessing you won't find too many bikers flying down the highway singing show tunes at the top of their lungs!  If I make a practice of hitting the road on this bike, I'll have to get a more comfortable seat and headphones.  If you're willing to take your time and take a break every 100 miles or so, the stock seat works OK.  For what it's worth, the trip back was better - it was much easier to keep my speed at a more appropriate level than on the trip out.

When I bought my V Star, I knew I wanted a "cruiser" style bike - laid back, low seat, with your feet in front of your body.  Kari initially liked this style too, and started to look at a couple of nice options for starter bikes.  Soon, however, she discovered that she liked "standard" motorcycles - a more upright riding position, with your feet more or less directly under  your body - better than the cruisers.  She did NOT like the sport bikes - more commonly known as crotch rockets.  Unfortunately (and unlike in the 70's, when every manufacturer had multiple small-displacement standard bikes from 100 to 350 cc's) there are few options for new standard motorcycles.  We also had problems since, unlike in the Phoenix area, used bikes are harder - and more expensive - to find.  With all these factors contributing, Kari ended up choosing a new bike - a Suzuki TU 250X - a small, "retro" styled bike with fuel injection and a reputation for rock-solid dependability.

Kari, on her bike in the showroom.  Looks like a good fit!

It's Here - Kari literally dropped her sandwich and ran outside when the truck arrived.

After some hard bargaining, Kari's bike was delivered late Saturday afternoon (you can ride your new bike home from the dealership, but - especially for a new rider - it's dangerous to ride a strange bike in traffic, so the wise person has it delivered).  Now it was practice time!  Kari spent a half hour or so getting used to the clutch, shifting gears, and practicing low speed turns, starts, and stops.  After that came a few laps around the apartment complex before dark - then it was time to put her baby to bed and plan a short practice run on the street in the morning.

Looks pretty good, parked next to mine, doesn't it?

About ready to take off!

We're done riding, and I'm about to head back home.

In the morning, we took a short ride before I headed home.  Over the next couple of weeks, Kari rode her bike to work and around town.  When she finally had to gas up, she needed a whopping 1.2 gallons (91 mpg)!

Oh, one more thing  - there's very little clearance between your face and the inside of a full-face helmet, and gum sticks pretty well to everything.  If you chew gum, try to resist the urge to blow bubbles at 70 miles per hour.......

Pickleball Mania!

Not long after moving to Arizona, I met a guy who invited me to take a pickleball lesson.  I hadn't seen the game in person, but I'd heard of it, and watched a bit on YouTube, so I knew I wasn't interested, but I agreed to go and watch.  Of course, as soon as I watched, I knew I'd have to try it!

If tennis and ping pong had a love child, it would look like pickleball - played on a court the size of a badmitton court, with a net similar to a tennis net, using a wiffle ball and what looks like an overgrown ping pong paddle.  The rules of play are similar to tennis, with a few notable exceptions - it's more of a finesse game than a power game, like tennis. 

Players are ranked based on their skills and tournament results (I'm a 3.5) - the very top players are 5.0.  Tournaments are usually divided by skill group, with 3.5 being by far the biggest group.

Although similar to tennis, pickleball has some advantages for a recreational sport:

• The court is smaller.  This fact, coupled with the slower wiffle ball, makes it easier for non-athletes to compete (although speed and athleticism is still a big advantage).
• The rules, in particular the "no volley zone" by the net, help to encourage long rallies - top players may hit the ball back and forth a dozen times or more on a typical point.  This makes the game a lot of fun to play.  The very top players focus on location rather than velocity for winning shots.
• Games tend to be closer - even players at slightly different skill levels can play and have fun.
• Since everybody's close together on the court, it's a more social game than tennis - there's a lot of laughing and joking before, during, and after points.

The above may make it sound like this is a sedentary sport best suited for the rocking chair crowd.  In fact, pickleball is about as competitive as you'd like to make it.  I play with a group that is very competitive (I often play with 4.0 and 4.5 players, and one woman just moved up to 5.0).  I'll often play for two or three hours with little or no break - an exhausting workout.  The benefits are obvious - a great aerobic workout that's fun.  At the end of our play, I'm always shocked at how quickly the time went.

When I first started to play, I was only interested in playing with friends for fun.  After playing for a year or so, I started to want to test myself against better players, so I decided to enter a tournament or two.  I teamed up with a woman who started playing about the same time I did for mixed doubles, and also entered a couple of tournaments with a male friend I had met last year.

Tournaments typically have awards for the top three finishers in each division, so of course I finished in 4th place in the first two I entered!  In the third tournament I entered, my men's doubles partner and I played poorly, and were eliminated in two matches (tournaments are typically a double elimination format).  Mixed doubles, happily, was an entirely different story - we advanced through the winner's bracket to the championship game, which we won!  It was a lot of fun - we met a number of new friends, and had a cheering section including our other friends who were competing in different divisions.

Here's a series from our championship match - a pretty typical exchange for us in this tournament:



 I'm hitting a "Drop Shot", intended to land in the no-volley zone.

Vicky and I are at the no-volley line, waiting for our opponent's return.

The return - a "Dink" was a soft shot hit to me.  I've just dinked the ball back into their "kitchen"(the no-volley zone)

They made a mistake, hitting the ball high to Vicky's forehand.  She's putting it away at their feet in this photo.  I'm starting to smile, because I know this point's in the bag!



We won this one!

The champions, with gold medals!

On that day, we played really well.  We're good players, but not elite.  Check out the video below to see pickleball played at the highest level.  Jennifer Lucore is, I think, the best woman player in the country.  She teams with Phil Bagley - a top men's player - and lose a close one to a team that includes Steve Wong, who has been ranked #1 in the country.  Vicky and I play a similar style to Lucore/Bagley, albeit at a lower level.

I'll never be an elite player, but I've had a lot of fun and made a lot of friends playing the great game with the funny name!

The (Not So) Easy Rider

41 years ago, I met a girl.  Girls being what they are, I soon found out I needed money for essentials - dates, presents, etc.  I had two options - get a job, or start selling stuff.  Being the ambitious fellow I was, I decided the best choice was to sell my beloved motorcycle.

I had a dirt bike when I was a kid.  When I turned 16, I asked my dad if he'd cosign on a loan for a motorcycle.  He, of course, said NO.  My natural response was to go out and find a cheap enough bike that I could buy without the loan.  I found a 1964 Suzuki 250 street bike, a little rough around the edges, but it could do almost 90 on a straightaway, so I jumped at it.  For years afterward, I remained puzzled that my father was so mad when I brought it home!

Through the years, I'd occasionally miss riding a bike, but I managed to convince myself that it was a part of my past not to be relived.  I was too old - too sensible - to get back on a motorcycle again.  All that changed a couple of months ago.

Living in Arizona, I was struck by the fact that this is nearly perfect motorcycle weather.  Sure, it's blazing hot in the summer, and winter mornings can be cool, but there's virtually no weather that makes it impossible to ride (unlike Nebraska, where large portions of the year are absolutely out of the question).  I also realized how practical a bike could be as an alternate form of transportation - virtually any motorcycle will be more efficient than almost all cars on the road.  I decided to take the leap.

Before purchasing or operating a motorcycle, I researched my options.  Since safety was a priority, I registered for a Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) new rider class.  This class combines classroom work with practical operation instruction on a closed course with provided motorcycles.  An additional benefit was that passing the class would qualify me to get the motorcycle endorsement on my driver's license without testing at the MVD.  I registered and took the class in late November of 2014.

After passing the class, my next step was to determine what bike to buy.  In the 70's, my 250 cc bike was "mid size" - plenty large enough to haul my relatively large (6', 165 pound) frame around.  After 41 years, I discovered that things change.  60 pounds had been added to me.  That didn't help, but an even bigger factor may have been the change in the bikes themselves.  My old bike was a 2 stroke, high revving, "standard" motorcycle.  It didn't weigh much, and it got pretty much all the performance possible out of it's small displacement.  Since I now wanted a "cruiser" style (a more relaxed, laid back type of bike), it soon became apparent I'd need a little more horsepower.

Motorcycle salesmen - close cousins to used car salesmen, as it turns out - were quick to assure me I'd need a large motorcycle.  The recommendations I got ranged from 600 to 1800 cc's minimum.  Since I didn't have plans for any long trips, I decided to go towards the lower end of the range.  After looking at a few bikes and studying online, I decided to go with a Yamaha V Star 650.  The V Star seemed a good compromise between power and agility - easy and fun to handle in town, with enough power to handle the freeway.  As a bonus, the air-cooled Yamaha has a reputation for reliability, and some great deals can be found on the used market.

My V Star, after adding the saddle bags.
 

With my decision made, I set out to find my new (to me) bike.  I ended up buying a 2007 Custom 650 V Star with about 18,000 miles from a young guy who had his bike listed on Craigslist.  He had originally listed the bike for over $4,000, but had reduced it a few times until it was down to about $2,800.  After looking it over and taking a short test drive, we agreed on a price of $2,200.  Since it needed a new speedometer cable and a clutch, I'd end up with about $2,600 invested - about half the price of new, and less than comparable machines I'd seen advertised.

With the purchase of the motorcycle, I needed to spend some money on a few other things - safety gear!  When I was young, I jumped on my bike wearing whatever I happened to have on that day - shorts, t-shirt, tennis shoes, and I was good to go.  As an old guy, I knew I'd have to wear something more appropriate.

The first thing I'd need was a helmet.  I'd only worn a motorcycle helmet a couple of times in my life, but I'll never ride without again.  In addition, I'd want gloves, a jacket, and pants for added protection.  Although you can buy all this stuff online, I knew I'd need a bit of help selecting the proper gear.  Fortunately, there's a store in Mesa called Cycle Gear that has pretty much everything you need in stock at fairly reasonable prices.

For a helmet, I decided on a full face helmet for maximum protection.  As appealing as riding with the wind in your face can be, facial contact with asphalt can be disastrous - I may not be handsome, but I look better with my face still intact!  A helmet can cost upwards of $600, but there are some less expensive options out there that still provide the same level of safety.  I ended up buying a Bilt (Cycle Gear's store brand) for around $100 - a bargain, considering it has all the safety agency approvals.


I bought some leather gloves with armor on the knuckles, an armored jacket (mesh, with zip out windbreaker liner), and some Kevlar-lined jeans with armor in the knees to complete the look - all told, I spent about $350 for protective equipment, plus another $100 for the saddlebags.  For a little over $3,000, I was ready to hit the road!

 

What I soon found out was, buying everything was the easy part.  After over four decades out of the saddle, I was a bit nervous on my first ride.  To start off, I took a side road - 45 mph speed limit - to head out of town.  I figured a weekday morning ride would be best, traffic-wise, so I headed east of town about 12 miles to meet some friends to play pickleball (more on pickleball in a later post).  The ride involved several miles through town, a short (1 mile) stretch of freeway, then 4 or 5 miles on a 4-lane highway (55 mph).  The first half of the ride was sheer terror - after my training class and on-line reading, I was convinced every car was trying to murder me.  On the freeway, it felt like someone was grabbing my legs and trying to pull them from the pegs.  When I hit the end of the freeway and slowed down to about 60, I felt a huge weight lift from my shoulders - suddenly, I felt at home on the bike.  60 mph seemed a nice, comfortable cruising speed, and I felt like I could handle the road, traffic, motorcycle, and anything else that came my way.  Since that moment, I've not felt overwhelmed on the bike. 

 

In a way, I now feel as though I never took a break from riding.  In other, very important ways, I feel as though it's been a lifetime.  As a youth, I felt invincible - I can distinctly remember seeing a car about to pull out in front of me and thinking, "it's OK - if he hits me, it'll be his fault".  Seeing potential trouble, I didn't slow down - I just plowed on ahead, trusting in my youthful reflexes and the maneuverability of my bike to keep me alive.  Amazingly, it did - I never had an accident on a motorcycle (not counting dumping a dirt bike racing my buddy at night in the snow).  Now, I know I'm not quick enough to ride myself out of trouble.  My head's on a swivel, always looking for potential trouble.  If I even think a car MIGHT turn into me, I slow down, move over, or do whatever I think will keep me upright.  I'm not afraid on the bike, but I'm definitely cautious.

 

After just a month of riding, I'm much more likely to take the freeway than before.  I still don't LIKE riding at 70+ mph, but I recognize it's actually safer to ride fast on a limited access road than it is to ride at 50 on a city street.  By the way - forget about staying under the speed limit - If you drive at or below the limit, you'll get run over.  It's way safer to move with the flow of the traffic.

 

In any case, short (15 miles or less) trips at freeway speeds aren't a problem for me or the bike - it can easily handle 75 mph for extended miles.  I'm not sure what the top speed is, but at 90 it was still accelerating.  I know I wouldn't want to ride at that speed for anything other than passing a car or getting out of a tight situation.  I have a windshield, which helps, but at freeway speeds the wind is fatiguing, and I still feel like my feet are being pushed off the pegs.

 

Around town, my bike's a dream to ride.  Although it weighs close to 500 pounds, it feels very light and maneuverable - much like my old 250, in that regard.  With a very low seat height and low center of gravity, I never feel as though it's going to get away from me.  Speed and acceleration are more than adequate for my needs, but it's not a "fast" bike, like a "crotch rocket". 

 

I've only checked the gas mileage on two tanks, but both gave virtually identical results - between 49 and 50 mpg - good enough for me to round it up and say I get 50 miles per gallon.  This represents my typical use - warming the bike up, with a combination of city, freeway, and highway driving.  While nowhere nearly as economical as the smaller scooters and motorcycles, it's over three times as economical as my car, and compares favorably with most cars on the road.

 

What don't I like about my new ride?  There are just a couple of things:

 

1. Maybe it's just because I haven't had a car without fuel injection for 25 years, but this thing is the most cold blooded contraption I can ever remember driving.  It has a carburetor (two, actually), with a manual choke.  If it's less than about 80 degrees outside, plan on using the choke to start it, then letting it run for 4 or 5 minutes before attempting to ride.  Once warm, it runs flawlessly, but it just won't go when cold.  If/when I upgrade, I'll get a fuel-injected bike
2. As I said, the top speed on my bike is over 90 mph - fast enough to break every speed limit in the country.  That being said, I understand why you'd want a bigger bike for extended highway travel.  Operating at continuous higher speeds would be fatiguing - there's a lot of vibration, both from the engine and the bikes interaction with the road.  A larger, heavier bike with a bigger engine would be an improvement in this regard.
3. I'll rarely, if ever, ride 2 up.  If you plan to do so regularly, you may want a bigger bike.  While this one is certainly capable of carrying you and a passenger anywhere you want to go, larger, touring model motorcycles will have more secure and comfortable accommodations for passengers.

 

Of course there's a lot I really love about it, too:

 

1. The looks - it looks like a bigger bike than it is.  It's also drop dead gorgeous - I love the color and lines of the bike.
2. Performance and maneuverability.  There's plenty of pop from the line - more than enough to get away from cars, when necessary, but it's small and light enough to handle like a smaller bike.  While it wouldn't be my first choice for a long range touring bike, it COULD serve that purpose, while still being an effective around-town commuter.  As I've said - a good compromise between "too small" and "too big".
3. Economy.  Just as in the performance aspect, I get decent economy, along with enough performance to keep me happy.
4. Design.  I like the simplicity of this motorcycle - my bike is virtually identical to those made a decade earlier.  It's air cooled, so there's no radiator to worry about or maintain.

 

At this point, I'm still learning how to ride again, so I don't know how (or how much) I'll ride in the future.  I'd like to take some local trips - 20 to 50 miles or so - with a friend or two on two-lane highways or into the mountains.  I'm not sure if more extensive traveling is in the cards, but, if it is, that may change my outlook on things.  For now, I'll concentrate on cruising around and enjoying the ride!