Joined
·
5,760 Posts
Went for a ride with a local motorcycle group. There was a wide range of bikes, 3 VTX's 2 1300's 1 1800. The other 1300 rider is a member (Balrog). It wasn't suposed to be nice but the weather made a turn for the better (and we hoped it would hold).
Everything was fine about 20 bikes and like I said quite a mix. Then it happened, stopped at a light, light turns green and we start to go next thing I know about 6 bikes ahead I see someone go down. He had a small girl on the back and they both had a leg trapped under the bike. The remaining bikes pull over Jeff (Balrog) stops his bike in the middle of the road and starts directing traffic and before I can even get off my bike to others are lifting the bike off them.
Every one was fine, the little girl was shaken up (no wonder) and a few scrapes on dad but nothing bad, bike was just fine. I believe he had target fixation (you know, not looking where he wanted to go but looking at what he didn’t want to hit). They headed for home and now the groups broken up pretty good so we're trying to play "lets get back together". I was with a group of 4 (Jeff and I stick pretty close so we’re together in this small group) we see 3 of the group heading back towards us, then we pass one waiting in a V in the road (a woman on a sportster). We pull over a few miles down the road to wait for her, and the other 3 we passed heading the other way.
We waited longer then it should’ve taken and I was getting an uneasy feeling just as this guy in a pickup slows and says “she’s in the ditch”. I’m thinking “CRAP” and we hurry back. Luckily she just slowly went off the road as she was trying to get back on the road from the V. Got her and the bike out of the ditch got her started back up and back down the road we went caught back up with the rest of the group and down the road we went all together.
Not long down the road it now starts raining, not real hard but raining none the less. And if any of you have seen my breather, well lets just say, it doesn’t like the water. But no problems and the rest of the ride went just fine. Hit one more BAD patch of rain, but it was close to home and Jeff and I pulled out of the group since we were close, took a different route, and missed the down pour we could see they were heading into and made it back home not getting much wetter.
Sorry for the long post but had to share and I could tell the riders that went down where new to riding (at least that’s the feel I got).
So practice, practice, practice those slow maneuvers everyone, look where you want to go not at what you want to avoid.
Peace.
Everything was fine about 20 bikes and like I said quite a mix. Then it happened, stopped at a light, light turns green and we start to go next thing I know about 6 bikes ahead I see someone go down. He had a small girl on the back and they both had a leg trapped under the bike. The remaining bikes pull over Jeff (Balrog) stops his bike in the middle of the road and starts directing traffic and before I can even get off my bike to others are lifting the bike off them.
Every one was fine, the little girl was shaken up (no wonder) and a few scrapes on dad but nothing bad, bike was just fine. I believe he had target fixation (you know, not looking where he wanted to go but looking at what he didn’t want to hit). They headed for home and now the groups broken up pretty good so we're trying to play "lets get back together". I was with a group of 4 (Jeff and I stick pretty close so we’re together in this small group) we see 3 of the group heading back towards us, then we pass one waiting in a V in the road (a woman on a sportster). We pull over a few miles down the road to wait for her, and the other 3 we passed heading the other way.
We waited longer then it should’ve taken and I was getting an uneasy feeling just as this guy in a pickup slows and says “she’s in the ditch”. I’m thinking “CRAP” and we hurry back. Luckily she just slowly went off the road as she was trying to get back on the road from the V. Got her and the bike out of the ditch got her started back up and back down the road we went caught back up with the rest of the group and down the road we went all together.
Not long down the road it now starts raining, not real hard but raining none the less. And if any of you have seen my breather, well lets just say, it doesn’t like the water. But no problems and the rest of the ride went just fine. Hit one more BAD patch of rain, but it was close to home and Jeff and I pulled out of the group since we were close, took a different route, and missed the down pour we could see they were heading into and made it back home not getting much wetter.
Sorry for the long post but had to share and I could tell the riders that went down where new to riding (at least that’s the feel I got).
So practice, practice, practice those slow maneuvers everyone, look where you want to go not at what you want to avoid.
Peace.
