Scott Nelson

December 2021 - Scott Nelson

Scott Nelson

Fast Facts About Scott:

  • Been riding for 35 years
  • Paid $400 for his first bike, a 1977 Yamaha RD400
  • Wears a Roadcrafter and Transit Leathers
  • Been an instructor for the California Motorcyclist Safety Program since 1995

How long have you been riding?
I started riding in 1986, after getting a ride on the back of a friend's Virago in Ft. Gordon, GA while at Army Signal School.

What was your first bike?
I bought a 1977 Yamaha RD400 from a colleague at a hardware store, only paying $400 for it. Kick-start only, which prioritized learning clutch control in traffic. On my first ride after picking it up my buddies were laughing at me wondering if I'd ever get out of first gear. I'm now on something like my 22nd motorcycle. Hey, who's counting?

What is your current bike?
My stable currently holds several bikes: My 2009 BMW R1200GSA, 2007 Honda ST1300PA (formerly City of Modesto bike), a 2007 Yamaha Zuma 50cc two-stroke my 18-yr old son rides to work at Starbucks, a 2008 Kawasaki Ninja 650 technically owned by my 21 yr old but I'm holding as collateral for buying him my sister-in-law's Honda Pilot as a more practical work vehicle, and lastly a Harley Davidson Street Glide belonging to my neighbor who is recovering from cancer. The Harley is under the deck with the rest, just need to get it running again.

Do you ride with others (who?) or alone?
I've had the pleasure to ride with many groups- California Motorcycle Safety Program fellow instructors, Airheads Beemer Club, The Rotary Club of Motorcycling Rotarians and International Fellowship of Motorcycling Rotarians, Doc Wong's ride-class in Redwood City, various Bay Area friends, and also colleagues in the Smoky Mountains, Germany and Singapore. More recently I've dabbled in ADV with Matt Hoffman's Breaking Away Trips. Up until the pandemic I'd been commuting by moto daily for decades as well.

Do you commute to work by bike?
Yes, for decades in the Bay Area until the pandemic started us working from home. This fall I bought my first car for personal use since 1995.

What do you love about motorcycling?
A former Bay Area friend now in New York recently wrote me "Hay mas tiempo que vida"- which roughly translates "there is more time than life", a dark humor assertion that life is limited, not time. Motorcycling, especially with Aerostich gear, is an affirmation that dangerous things are worth doing in this life, but only a fool goes in unprepared. We are all mortal. As you're probably aware, motorcycling has also been associated with better mental health, possibly because it replaces the nameless existential dread many people live with, with true visceral danger and excitement. There is little room for mental baggage when we are in the saddle. Riding clears the mind.

Favorite Aerostich gear?
My "go-to" is my current Roadcrafter in tan with black ballastics, somewhat like CHP colors ????. This is my fifth or sixth Roadcrafter. Your Triple-Digit raincovers also make me happy for warm and dry hands, and I love my Transit Suit although my 18 yr old looks far more suave in it than I do.

Aerostich-related or Aerostich-specific stories?
I've worn Roadcrafters riding in US, Europe and Asia, and even have a favorite Samsonite rolling duffel that I use specifically for hauling moto gear on these trips. My riding buddies in Singapore kidded me about my fancy California riding suit being inferior to their mesh gear for our ride in Malaysia- saying my face looked like a sweaty tomato. I usually respond "laundry is cheaper than skin grafts" to comments like this. Wash-ability and pack-ability are among my favorite features of the Roadcrafter.

Any other thoughts you would like to share?
Wow. Motorcycling has been life-changing for me, even leading to my 30-yr career in biotech. After my initial Army training I returned to MN and bought my first motorcycle and rode it for two years essentially untrained, just licensed. My youngest brother decided he wanted to ride too, and being underage he was required to attend training by the excellent MN Motorcycle Safety Program. After two weeks of training he was teaching me how to ride better. I realized I was missing out, took the MMSP 1-day Experienced Rider Course, and learned more on that day than I had in two years on the street. At the end of class they asked participants if they'd be interested in working with MMSP in the future. I wrote my name down, they called me while I was a student at U of MN Minneapolis, and in 1991 I was certified as an MSF instructor. I'm still teaching moto, now for the California Motorcyclist Safety Program since 1995. My adult education experience via MSF and CMSP plus my military electronics experience bought me an opportunity to teach biotech field service engineers during the Human Genome Project. That was 1999, and I'm still happily in that industry. My biotech work is especially meaningful to me during the pandemic!

Learn more about Scott at his "somewhat neglected" blog, on Instagram and Twitter, and on his Facebook page. He's also been on the Motorcycles and Misfits podcast several times, if you want to give a listen.

Scott Nelson

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