gcal
Registered
Dear Squids
True story. The sun will be coming out and the t-shirts on-I am sure. Many will be convinced that the higher the temperature rises, the softer the pavement, gaurdrails and cars become.
From http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/f...&threadid=73956
Hi. I'm Rob. I'd say that 99.9% of the membership here does not know me. And from most of the posts you might know me from are mindless flame wars with fr0ng. So I don't know how serious most of you will take this matter. Despite all that, I'm sure you'll see that this post will be as straight up as it gets. And whether you know me or not, it is my wish that the message I'm about to give you all hopefully at least convinces one person out there to change their ways.
Today, I went for a ride. I was excited about this since my bike has been out of action for a while and I finally got a set of fork seals on that don't leak. I did my usual loop and came back home form Santa Cruz via Highway 17 North. Usual weekend congestion. After the summit and a handful of the sweepers, traffic starts coming to a standstill. I of course figure it's an accident, and just lanesplit all the way to the front of the backup. It was somewhere around the Bear Creek Road exit. I already knew what happened before I even got within 500 feet of the scene.
I got to the front of the pack with another rider on a new GSXR and parked it. At the front of the stoppage were two CHP officers administering CPR to a young Asain man probably in his mid 20's. He was laying face up in the #1 lane. A white/blue GSXR of about 2-4 years old was laying in the middle of the road about 200 feet ahead. I overheard one of them say, "no breathing, no pulse," and I realized I was standing less than 10 feet away from a man that just died. Other emergency services arrived on the scene over the next 10 minutes and tried their best to revive him, but after about 15-20 minutes, they called it.
There was a prime witness in a cage and several other motorists who were looking on say they say the guy doing wheelies and weaving in and out of cars. Your basic "the public road is there for my own personal amusement" type of rider. From what I saw, the gear the rider had the epitomy of what we all make fun of as being a squid. The only real "protection" I saw on his body were some gloves that looked more at home working in the garden than having any business grabbing onto a pair of motorcycle grips. And of course, the nice Arai helmet with replica graphics. Other than that...just regular demin pants, sneakers(one of which flew off), and I poop you not...a basketball jersey. That being said...looking at myself standing there with $2500 worth of top of the range gear of, even a spine protector, if I had done what this guy did...I would be just as dead. The prime witness said he lost control of the bike, got thrown, and hit the guardrail head first. The top of his helmet was caved in at least three inches, and the damage was over 8 inches wide. So I'm probably sure this guy died instantly at least, and didn't suffer.
I have been riding for over 14 years. And sure, I've driven by accidents before, usually after the body is covered up or has been taken away. But today was the very first time I had a front row seat to just how quickly a motorcycle can end a life in the wrong hands. And based on what I heard and saw, this guy had no business riding a bike. Reckless riding on a public road, especially a dangerous road like Highway 17 with lots of traffic, can cost you more than you can imagine. In this rider's case, it cost him his life. Had he been able to see into the future this morning and see that his riding habits would make this his last day...I'm sure he would have gotten a good wake up call and mellowed out just a little and not tried to push it 10/10ths at any time.
And I don't want to be anyone's mother and tell them what they can and can't do, but incidents like this only make it worse for the rest of us. I'm sure there will be increased CHP enforcecent on 17 now, as if there wasn't already an insane amount already. And that's one more check mark for the insurance companies' bean counters to raise rates on these type of bikes. So for all you riders out there who ride like way this guy did...whether you have the proper gear or not, consider this post a possible look into your own future. And for the love of whatever god you believe in, slow down! There's a time and a place to ride like that...but that time is NEVER when you are on the public road. Anytime you wan to see why, head down Highway 17 North and look for the orange paint outlining a body with a trail of blood from the middle of it. This incident today isn't going to change my life. And it isn't going to teach me something I didn't already know. But I hope that my telling you of this incident changes your life, and teached you something, if you ride like the road is your own personal racetrack.
Thanks for reading.
Rob
as you can tell i didnt write it but its o so true.
please slow down for your own sake.....
True story. The sun will be coming out and the t-shirts on-I am sure. Many will be convinced that the higher the temperature rises, the softer the pavement, gaurdrails and cars become.
From http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/f...&threadid=73956
Hi. I'm Rob. I'd say that 99.9% of the membership here does not know me. And from most of the posts you might know me from are mindless flame wars with fr0ng. So I don't know how serious most of you will take this matter. Despite all that, I'm sure you'll see that this post will be as straight up as it gets. And whether you know me or not, it is my wish that the message I'm about to give you all hopefully at least convinces one person out there to change their ways.
Today, I went for a ride. I was excited about this since my bike has been out of action for a while and I finally got a set of fork seals on that don't leak. I did my usual loop and came back home form Santa Cruz via Highway 17 North. Usual weekend congestion. After the summit and a handful of the sweepers, traffic starts coming to a standstill. I of course figure it's an accident, and just lanesplit all the way to the front of the backup. It was somewhere around the Bear Creek Road exit. I already knew what happened before I even got within 500 feet of the scene.
I got to the front of the pack with another rider on a new GSXR and parked it. At the front of the stoppage were two CHP officers administering CPR to a young Asain man probably in his mid 20's. He was laying face up in the #1 lane. A white/blue GSXR of about 2-4 years old was laying in the middle of the road about 200 feet ahead. I overheard one of them say, "no breathing, no pulse," and I realized I was standing less than 10 feet away from a man that just died. Other emergency services arrived on the scene over the next 10 minutes and tried their best to revive him, but after about 15-20 minutes, they called it.
There was a prime witness in a cage and several other motorists who were looking on say they say the guy doing wheelies and weaving in and out of cars. Your basic "the public road is there for my own personal amusement" type of rider. From what I saw, the gear the rider had the epitomy of what we all make fun of as being a squid. The only real "protection" I saw on his body were some gloves that looked more at home working in the garden than having any business grabbing onto a pair of motorcycle grips. And of course, the nice Arai helmet with replica graphics. Other than that...just regular demin pants, sneakers(one of which flew off), and I poop you not...a basketball jersey. That being said...looking at myself standing there with $2500 worth of top of the range gear of, even a spine protector, if I had done what this guy did...I would be just as dead. The prime witness said he lost control of the bike, got thrown, and hit the guardrail head first. The top of his helmet was caved in at least three inches, and the damage was over 8 inches wide. So I'm probably sure this guy died instantly at least, and didn't suffer.
I have been riding for over 14 years. And sure, I've driven by accidents before, usually after the body is covered up or has been taken away. But today was the very first time I had a front row seat to just how quickly a motorcycle can end a life in the wrong hands. And based on what I heard and saw, this guy had no business riding a bike. Reckless riding on a public road, especially a dangerous road like Highway 17 with lots of traffic, can cost you more than you can imagine. In this rider's case, it cost him his life. Had he been able to see into the future this morning and see that his riding habits would make this his last day...I'm sure he would have gotten a good wake up call and mellowed out just a little and not tried to push it 10/10ths at any time.
And I don't want to be anyone's mother and tell them what they can and can't do, but incidents like this only make it worse for the rest of us. I'm sure there will be increased CHP enforcecent on 17 now, as if there wasn't already an insane amount already. And that's one more check mark for the insurance companies' bean counters to raise rates on these type of bikes. So for all you riders out there who ride like way this guy did...whether you have the proper gear or not, consider this post a possible look into your own future. And for the love of whatever god you believe in, slow down! There's a time and a place to ride like that...but that time is NEVER when you are on the public road. Anytime you wan to see why, head down Highway 17 North and look for the orange paint outlining a body with a trail of blood from the middle of it. This incident today isn't going to change my life. And it isn't going to teach me something I didn't already know. But I hope that my telling you of this incident changes your life, and teached you something, if you ride like the road is your own personal racetrack.
Thanks for reading.
Rob
as you can tell i didnt write it but its o so true.
please slow down for your own sake.....
