The industry and the community lost one of the good guys last week. Mark Pfenning was killed while riding near Ukiah, Oregon. Mark started a couple of still thriving businesses in Seattle, was a regional sales guy for AVON USA and until he bought part of a brewpub in his hometown of Bend, was the ramrod for the Triumph roadshow. I knew Mark for a lot of years. He was a better than average roadracer and generally a safe and sane street rider. He was also president of my bike club in Seattle for 2-3 years. RIP Man!
R.I.P. It's always sad to hear news like this. http://www.ktvz.com/news/crash-victim-mourned-in-bend/27009912
Knowing Mark as I did, if there are bikes "up there" he will be in the middle of all of it. This even though Mark had retired,this was Mark at his best. http://www.roadracingworld.com/news...-vehicles-licenses-dirt-bikes-for-street-use/ An anecdote: Another friend in Seattle who founded "The Monorail Espresso", made up some Tshirts in bright yellow with the Preparation H logo on them. He gave me one. I was on my bike checking jobs so I put on my new shirt. At days end I stopped at a then popular bike hangout called "The Buckeroo", aka "The Buc". Walked in, took off my jacket and sitting at the bar was Mark. He turned and said, "Bill, if you don't get me one of those shirts, I am going rip that one off your back." I have deleted the operative expletive because Mark would never say anything like "your fucking back". Yeah right!! LOL
Really sorry Badbilly. Sorry for his family too, to lose such a fine, interesting, bright and devoted person. Terrible sad. May Mark rest in peace.
Sorry your friend passed. I was ready to be pissed at some ass hat that caused the accident but it seems that we may never know what happened.
Very sorry for your loss BB. Though I have never met your friend Mark, it certainly sounds like bikes were very much a part of his life. Whenever a fellow rider passes, a little of all who knew them leaves this world and passes with them to the next. Condolences and prayers go out to all his family and friends. There are those among us who love to ride, There are those among us who live to ride, There are those among us who ride to live, For all those who have passed away, May there be a prayer from all that are left behind, You loved life, you lived to ride, and may you now ride for eternity.
There are several of Mark's friends working on just that including obtaining a copy of the fatal accident report from the Oregon State Police and the County Sheriff. The news folks do what they can for the moment and unless some militating evidence to the contrary, shows up, they move on. The thinking right now without much to go on except the talking head version is that if may have been heart failure, heat exhaustion or stroke, veering to miss an animal, or some form of mechanical failure. The possibility also exists of the asshat scenario. Anyway guys, Thanks..
Sorry to hear it BB. Tough pill to swallow. I haven't been able to read the linked articles yet but this makes me think back to when we lost Havcar.
For sure.. I tried all the linked articles I could find and put some of my contacts on it too. Not much so far except almost word for word copies of the same article. My club is the Seattle based club (VME) that hosts the yearly "Isle of Vashon TT". I am expecting they will have a memorial function of some kind that will widen the information search. No conspiracy is implied, it's just the way the media works.
