m/c accident and one tough 75 yr old dude
 

This past weekend I was riding m/c's with three friends. We were on a fairly curvy/scenic road running between 50 and 55 mph. I was 3rd in line and the man behind me was the 75 year old man. I looked in my mirror after going through one of the curves and all I saw was a big ol dust cloud. I stopped the other two guys (the guy in the front of the line was the 75 year old dudes son). We all go back to him and he is laying there telling us not to tell his wife;) and complaining about his shoulder hurting. He takes the ambulance ride to the hospital, gets x-rayed which shows nothing broken, gets some road rash bandaged and walks out of the hospital later on and goes home. He was real lucky and is probably one of the toughest 75 year old man I have ever run accross. It messed his Harley up pretty bad and his wife did find out about it. I just hope I'm still walking around at 75.

Having gone down more than once on motorcycles when young, I have no desire to ride them anymore considering how long it would take to heal at the age of 58.

When I see folks my age and older riding around on their bikes I have to wonder if they have ever gone down on one.

I know I would still love riding one, but just don't want the risk. I would rather be able to go on a hike with my grandchildren.

There is a very nice fellow who I see at the y when I go over to exercise who had a bad accident years ago on his harley. His one leg is about two inches shorter and rigid. I imagine it even is problematic when he swims.

Tom W

I was told it's not a matter of IF you go down it's WHEN you go down. I found that to be true.
My friend tim lost a leg in a MC accident. A truck trailing a boat cut in front of him. He missd the truck but hit the boat.
My friend George was in the hospital for about a week. A van went into the left turn lane then decided he didn't want to turn and cut back into the driving lane. Unfortunately George was allready in the lane.

I fell twice. The first time wasn't so bad. The second time my shoulder was hurting for about 3 weeks. I got up and walked away though. It was kind of surreal. I was skidding along the pavement and my bike slid by me. I thought that was kind of odd. Then I saw the sidewalk coming at me and my thought was "This is gonna hurt". That's how I hurt my shoulder. Had to push the bike home about 1/2 mile.

I still ride, I'm never gonna stop!
http://cmaser6.org/FL/SERVANTSOFTHESON/leadership.aspx
I'm el'presidente'. Don't make fun of my picture.

Danny

Good to hear from you Jim. :)

Second that. Been wondering how you're doing? Still aboard the RK it seems.;)

Safe Group riding means among other things the lead rider being conscious of the riding skills of the "weakest" member and not force him to exceed his limits.

Don't know the particulars of course, but maybe dad should have been in front of son, in the #2 spot.

I've seen a number of crashes when the leader paid no attention to the skills of anyone but himself and the result was not good in every case. :eek:
Too bad they don't teach much on group riding at courses like the MSF ERC.

My $.02 as a M/C rider for 30+ years and 15 yr. HOG member and past HOG chapter director.

Riding a bike is one of the few things I have no desire to do. I'll get my speed fix inside 4 wheeled vehicals, thanks.

Sounds like he got really lucky!

A friend of mine was in a Motorcycle Accessories store when some guy came in with a really messed up looking Bell helmet and asked to buy another one.

The salesman asked him what on earth had happened to the helmet he had.

The guy said he was riding across the Golden Gate Bridge and he hit a patch of oil and his bike went down, and a truck ran over his head.:eek:

I have an old Bell full bucket from days gone by. Don't wear it any more. But I do still wear good hard DOT lids.
As far as going helmet-less or wearing the novely $20.00 german or jockey lids, well: "Ten cent head...ten cent helmet!":rolleyes:

I was in a group ride years ago, near the end of the pack, with 4 bikes behind me. WE came over a rise and just then a dog shot out from the left. The group was traveling about 50 mph. In a second or two I realized that the dog wasn't goind to be a threat to me. Looked in the rear view mirror a second later, and only saw three headlights. The woman behind me had panicked,skidded, went off the road to a (sandy) shoulder lost the bike and did a few somersalts. Broke her leg badly. Never rode again. Still has a limp. AND HER NOVELTY HELMET CAME OFF WITH THE FIRST BOUNCE!:eek:

She would have been a lot better off to have hit the dog. I doubt that hitting a dog would make you go down. The gyroscope effect of the wheels is very strong.

I knew a guy who was riding a bmw boxer in Alaska with his wife on back (or some scenic place). So he was looking at a beautiful scene and ran off the road on the inside of a curve. There was a 6" tall curb. He hopped it and then hopped off when he got to the other side of the inside of the curb, all at highway speeds. No harm done.

'course, he had to stop and clean out his underwear!;)

I have ridden with one other couple. you simply could not pay me to ride with a huge group of folks. Any dummy could cause a problem in front of you and suck you into a wreck.

Kinda like racing at talledega.

Tom W

learned my lesson 39 years ago form a bsa 441 victor, never been on another bike since

Tom,

I agree with you on the group risks. Especially on large charitable rides, toy runs, etc. whenever the whole gamut of rider experience comes together. It's especially dangerous when such a group is on a highway with overpasses and people waving at you from above. Very high risk scenario. All it takes is one or two in a line to look up, ease the throttle back, and keeerash!:grim:

Back in the 70's I was coming back from picking up my lunch at work and rode around a curve at the entrance to work, and my eyes caught a Bouy Tender offshore changing a bouy. Just that split second distraction caused me to overdrive the curve. Did a low side drop, the bike slid into a guardrail and I did a few somersaults down the hard shoulder. Got up, shook myself off and rode on. Only broke a turn signal and dented the front rim. The top of the helmet sure was scraped up tho. Glad it wasn't my scalp.:eek::eek: