The Excoriation of Dan Walsh

Dan Walsh: firebrand, lightning rod, dirty bomb.  Is he original and fresh or plebeian and malodorous?

To the Editors and reading public:

I've cleaned this up a bit and am re-posting it again BECAUSE... it needs to be said.  Someone has to have Dan's back.  The letters printed in MC's April issue have an excoriating consensus -- Dan #@!!*&.  Judging by the negative to positive letters Dan must feel like the 300 at Thermopylae.

Most of the letters refer to his language.  Maybe he could be persuaded to use a BattleStar Galactica "frack" instead.  I understand the voices of the fathers who are concerned about a young child being exposed to such harsh language in a motorcycle mag when they pick it up to look at the great photos.

I just gotta be heard and let Dan know there's some love for him in Readerville.  Peace.

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A person or two has spoken aloud in Motorcyclist's market square and made it known that, in their humble-they're-not-worthy opinion, Dan Walsh is a sloshed, gorked, narcotized nincompoop who has visions of Che Guevara rattling in his coconut as he cruises the western hemisphere on his "lookin' for adventure, born to be wild" cycle.  That he has the wanderlust and sense of T. E. Lawrence.  And that he loves the pistola, brew, f-bomb and himself.

Look guys, here's the real low-down on Dan: he's a regular Kofi Annan, a motorcycling U.N. ambassador when compared with others who shall remain nameless, such as Dale Lomas as recently published in Cycling Universe (name changed to protect the potentially culpable), a potent mix if ever there was one.  He wrote a piece that Cycling Universe printed about the Euro Cannonball Rally (in Yank speak this means deranged street race).  If you read the article (it could've been his prison memoirs) you'll see that in comparison Motorcyclist's Dan Walsh is all about the ambassadorial aspect of motorcycling.  Lomas is about an "inflaming" the ambassadors perspective.

Seriously, Walsh's experiences are actually about... experiencing.  A more leisurely pace.  Chatting and drinking it up with the locals.  What's the worst that could happen as he souses it up while enjoying a brew with a band of guerrillas and waving a pistol?  One of them might lose an eye or crack his skull falling down drunk.  Maybe they argue the finer points of which is better, tacos or Bultacos, then heated words are exchanged, epithets regarding legitimate lineage are hurled and things degenerate into a Mexican standoff.  Big deal.  The destruction is kept in-house so to speak.  No harm, no foul.

Lomas?  This felonious ZX14, 300kph, two-wheeled, land-missile loving Euro could easily have taken out an RV full of scenery loving European citizens while jetting away from the polizei on a mountain pass and not even known it.  The things done and attempted while shredding European roadways (not to mention motorcycling's image) and rutting about like a crazed otter and disrespecting the law-enforcing Clouseaus on this Rally would make Robert Craig Knievel cringe.  If you don't know what's up with this then Google "Euro Cannonball" by D. Lomas.

So, let's all take it easy.  Dan Walsh is looking like a professorial, law-abiding, moped-scooting, good-hearted writer.  Dan, we got your back.  Just keep the pistol holstered.  

Dan Walsh.  I can’t believe how much attention this one writer has been given.  No one should be blaming the writer for his style of writing -- or for his vernacular.  If you don’t care for the adult language in his stories, blame the editors!  The editors have made a corporate decision to allow Dan’s stories to be published somewhat unvarnished.  I respect that.  Riders and journalists travel to live the story and then they write about their experiences.  We are the ones who benefit from their experiences by being able to read their stories.  I love his fresh perspective and unconventional style.  Let Dan continue doing exactly what he’s doing.  If the majority of readers are disgruntled about Dan’s stories, maybe the editors should reconsider polishing a little bit of rough language in order to "placate the masses."  Personally, I’ve come to greatly miss the writings and opinions of Jamie Elvidge who wrote and edited Motorcyclist’s sister publications “Motorcycle Cruiser” and “Motorcycle Escape.”  Unfortunately, “Motorcycle Escape” has died a very sudden death just as it was about to jump from a semi-annual special edition to a regular subscription publication.  When it came to useful stories about motorcycle trip planning, formation riding tips, and wonderful stories from their extended travels in domestic and foreign lands (not unlike Dan's stories), no magazine out there even came close to “Motorcycle Escape.”  You guys need to apologize to Jamie, give her a long term contract, a sizeable bonus, and rebuild "Escape" magazine with a great staff to restore it's success.  You're in a profit-making business and you had a good product that no one else had - then you threw it away.