Alarming Trend

[Pegasus1300]

I am watching the news and they are reporting on another motorcycle death in Utah. So far there have been 24 deaths this year. Last year we had 45 deaths, a new record set during a statewide push for zero fatalities. Amazingly enough 72% of those fatalities in 2014 were due to rider error. SEVENTY TWO PERCENT.The one reported tonight was a rider on Wolf Creek Pass ( a favorite road with lots of curves) who crossed the yellow line and went head on into an oncoming truck.

Take a rider course(again).Wear the gear.Practice the safety rules and knowledge and skills you already have. Learn your bike,maintain your bike,do some of the work yourself,be careful out there. As we get older our ability to maintain situational awareness decreases. Younger riders may not have done enough practice to have developed it.

I am sorry for the rant here but I just cringe every time I hear the news or read about one of you injured or killed. Access where you are in your skills and do what you have to improve and be safe.

[billmac]

last year was heading north on I-75, I was doing 75 and was passed by two bike doing about 90+ five miles up the road they were both of the road on a curve in the woods. I did not see them go off but three cars were parked on the side of the road and in the woods helping. I stopped but nothing I could do and left when the cops and med team pulled up. the people there said both bikes flew by them and didn't make the curve. Both were crutch rockets.

[cowpuc]

I totally am with you Peg!!

One of things that has become almost trendish is the loss of riders accepting the "Riding your ride" biker code - IMHO.. Allowing other bikers, being friends or whoever, to convince us to ride over our heads..

Personally I am proned to dismiss myself from a group ride if I find their riding style does not line up with my own personal safe riding techniques. I also tend to ride alone (Tip and I) a lot because there are so many areas that my safe riding idea's are out side the box of normality for many people and I dont want to be at fault in the instance of myself or someone being "led" into a bad situation..

Another perspective of this though that I have witnessed and have actually been involved in had to do with group riding philosiphy.. I rode a couple times with a huge group of riders here in our area. The ride captain, who was a personal friend of mine and who sought our ideas for conducting these rides, chose to gear the ride toward the most inexperienced rider(s) of the group. There was a lady there who had just began her riding career who willing spoke up during the riders meeting after having heard the announcement that the ride captain was looking for the most inexperienced rider(s). She openly admitted that she was not comfortable with speeds over 45 mph, wanted no one to ride beside her (should be staggered anyway) and wanted to take corners at or below 15 mph..

She ended up riding in second place in the long line of bikes, only the ride captain rode in front of her..

Given, that was a long slow ride BUT - it was a very enjoyable ride in that the ride focused on the limits of the groups weakest link and we all made it safely home..

[habfan]

I agree with you 100%.one point i'd like to add is....Don't ride if your tired... people tend to make mistakes when tired or weary....take a break if you have a long way to go, stop and smell the roses as it were..makes for a more enjoyable/ nicer ride anyway.

[Great White]

I see guys riding over their heads everyday. I've kinda stopped trying to tell them so. They tend not to listen. I don't know if it's bravado, Machismo, arrogance, they think they know it all or the new "me generation" attitude but whatever the reason; they don't seem to want to hear it.

 

Sadly, I'm to the point where I just make sure I don't ride with them anymore or just let them go since I know what is waiting for them somewhere up the road. Wrong attitude, I know, but I've got no more fight left in me for it.

 

I know they're over their heads because I've been riding/racing since I was 16 (34 years) and these 2-5 year wonder riders are already taking chances I wouldn't. Not just on sport bikes, but "feet forward" bikes too.

 

They go in to corners too fast, they brake late, thier lines suck, they stand the bike up everywhere, they run wide, they lock rear wheels and they ride the front wheel everywhere they go. Most seem more interested in popping wheelies, trying to stand on parts of the bike they have no business standing on or getting their hands as high on aapehangers bars as possible or getting thier feet as high in the air on highway pegs in town as they can.

 

Its like there's no one out there anymore who appreciates a good, sharp, technical ride. Or maybe they don't want to put in the work to learn how to be technical when they ride. That takes more than an afternoon to learn. Bragging rights with my buddies when I was young was whoever hit the apex just perfect, not who got through the corner the fastest (not always the same thing). Now bragging rights seems to be who can go through the corner standing on the tank or throwing "Gang signs" or "the bird" in the corner while your buddy stand on the corner with the go pro!

 

More than once I've had a guy following me through the corners ask me after the ride what the hell I was looking at. They've noticed I'm looking up past the corner I'm in and on to the next one and don't undestand how or why. They don't get why I don't end up off in the weeds somewhere when I'm not even looking at the corner I'm in. They usually notice on fast "esses" as my head is pointed opposite to where the bike is going. I explain it and they either don't get it, don't want to get it or think I'm just plain wrong because it goes against what they think about hustling a bike though the twisties fast.

 

Probably why I can often run away from a guy on a sport bike on my Venture. It's strange but true, its actually happened. They're in my mirror, I'm riding my pace and they just keep dropping back. I've flat out left guys for dead on thier new "xyz900zz" flash in the pan bike with my "clunky" old FJ1200 "sport tourer". Boy oh boy do those kids get po'd when they catch me at a stop and see a head of silver and an air cooled bike older than they are. Takes more than a check book to ride fast sonny....

 

I had one guy comment once how cool it was that I broke the rear tire loose in a turn one day (long ago on my vf750f, not on the Venture) and why didn't I hold it on and do, I quote: "one badass drift around the corner". I explained to him i did break the rear loose on purpose with throttle but I had run out of cornering clearance and I was doing a "power slide" a la "King Kenny" used to do to tighten up his line. Once I had the line I wanted, I backed off and let the rear tire grip under my control instead of it deciding when to grip and then spitting me off in a high side. I got deer in the headlights for a couple seconds and then he came back with I could have drifted "fast and furious" style and it would have been easier, faster and cooler. I don't ride with him anymore either.

 

I also don't ride that fast on the street anymore either. It was a very tight low speed hairpin corner, but I was still over the speed limit by about 20-30 mph. Yeah I got away with it, but I (used to) have the skills to pull it off. I dont ride that way anymore. Skills are cold, bones are old and I don't heal like I used too....

 

Its cold, it's cruel and it's probably not the best way to look at it, but; if a guy won't listen and won't help himself you just have to let events take thier course.

 

I'm kinda off on a rant here now, so I'll end it here.

 

Edited July 15, 2015 by Great White

[MikeWa]

Having taken several riding safety courses where a great deal of discussion was focused on taking curves. A lot of attention is paid to entering a curve, the apex and the exit. My personal feeling is 'if you have to worry about the apex SLOW DOWN you are going to fast".

 

Mike

[cowpuc]

Just to go a little deeper into the rabbit hole of the subject at hand. One of the things that has been disconserting to me for a long time is the idea of new riders being "sold" a bill of goods on the whole "rider course" successful status making them ready for the road. I have a friend who did both the State of Michigan riders course and then paid the big money for the Harley course - successfully completed both courses, got CY endorsement on the DL, bought a bike (750 Shadow) and was ready.. I watched as the person dropped a brand new 750 Shadow 3 times in their driveway the first day of ownership - all while heading out to the street to go for a ride.. I walked over to their house, helped pick up the new bike on the third spill and humblely offered my assistance. Asked my advice and I said we needed to take the bike to a parking lot and spend some time learning to start, stop, clutch/throttle control and learn it all until it all became "habit" before the roadway should even be considered. Reluctants was there because of the passed the "courses" with flying colors and this person had been approved road ready. I posed this question: If the riders course folks REALLY cared and REALLY felt their approval meant road ready - what would that stamp of approval be worth after a car runs over you when you fall in an intersection. After a few weeks of cone work and, even though I consistently reminded them of how well he was doing (it was working great) they finally came to me and said it was just more than it originaly appeared to be. That person currently rides a trike so all "balancing" would be out of the picture and doing very well..

After all this, I went down and spoke with a trainer at our local Harley shop.. After explaining what I had witnessed with, not just this person but several new riders coming out of the "schools" I got asked what, if anything, I would have them do differently.

Besides a few "field" changes like teaching slow riding techniques (being able to stop and start without putting feet down) and some other stuff, I mentioned that if a company as huge as Harley Davidson would invest in a Computer Monitored Riding Machine, something with image screens of all sorts of everyday traffic conditions being played in front of a "test rider" who was physically riding/shifting/braking a stationary motorcycle while being presented with the images on the screen. All the while having a computer record the riders actions/reactions in response to the images.. ####Picture this, a shadow appears under a car - does the rider respond to the shadow,, or - the roadway turns unannounced to loose dirt, does the rider slam on the brakes in the loose dirt or throttle up.. Or more basic, the rider comes to a stop light in heavy traffic - the turns for red to green just as the rider is putting their foot down - do they find themselves - by habit - already in first gear cause they habitually work their way thru downshifting or are they stumbling around trying to figure out what gear they are in while angry drivers who could care less whether you live or die are piling up behind you..On and on the scenarios could be..

The guy laughed at me and said what I was describing would probably result in a whole lot less people being interested in motorcycles (thought went thru my mind of wondering if he was actually pointing out how that may influence motorcycle sales?????) as it could appear that riding a bike is more difficult than most people think it is.. To that I said - that may be true BUT - maybe the ones who actually passed your classes would live longer...

[videoarizona]

[Guest divey]

You can go fast on a motorcycle but don't ever be in a hurry!.........

[Dale124]

After Venture West this year, "Divey" and I travelled east from California, through Nevada, into Utah. The speed limit on the highways kept increasing the further east we went, from 70 mph in California, then 75 mph in Nevada, and finally 80 mph in Utah. We stayed in Salt Lake City, near the airport, and the next morning, we had to navigate the highway that heads through the city, on our way to Wyoming. Surrounded by cars, going at least the posted 80 mph limit, was by far the most uncomfortable situation I had been in during this trip. Everyone was in such a hurry to get to work, zig zagging in and out of lanes, etc. I have to wonder why they have such a high speed limit in that area, when it is human nature to go a bit faster than the limit. This may not factor into the motorcycle death increase Utah is noticing, but it just might.

Dale

[SilvrT]

As we get older our ability to maintain situational awareness decreases. Younger riders may not have done enough practice to have developed it.

 

How true these words are!

 

Myself and those like me who have been riding for many, many years have developed habits and skills that have been finely tuned over the years. It's these skills that I'm sure, have saved my bacon many times over. The problem now is, as I'm so close to 70 that I can almost taste it, is that while the skills and such are still in my brain, it's taking longer to transmit those "commands" to the necessary body parts to carry out. Additionally, my eyes are not as good as they were 20 years ago so that adds to the delay because it's your eyes that trigger the brain to send the appropriate commands to your body.

 

Those of us who are older need to be aware of this and realize that although we THINK we are as good as we once were, we're NOT! The phrase "Ride Your Own Ride" and "Ride Within Your Limits" do change over time and it's important to reassess them before it's too late.

 

Without going into details, my recent trip to Yreka woke me up to this ... almost to the point of ending my riding days.

[SilvrT]

I agree with you 100%.one point i'd like to add is....Don't ride if your tired... people tend to make mistakes when tired or weary....take a break if you have a long way to go, stop and smell the roses as it were..makes for a more enjoyable/ nicer ride anyway.

 

I was just reading in the paper today that people who drive are generally most tired between 3 and 5 AM and 2 and 4 PM. While I've rarely ridden that early, I do know that I'm generally a bit dozy in that 2-4 PM slot. I call it "post-lunch syndrome".

[SilvrT]

The guy laughed at me and said what I was describing would probably result in a whole lot less people being interested in motorcycles (thought went thru my mind of wondering if he was actually pointing out how that may influence motorcycle sales?????) as it could appear that riding a bike is more difficult than most people think it is.. To that I said - that may be true BUT - maybe the ones who actually passed your classes would live longer...

 

It isn't ???? Coulda fooled me! DOH!

[SilvrT]

Well, here it is ... 3:12 PM and I'm imprinting my forehead with my keyboard ... again!

[YamahaLarry]

Having taken several riding safety courses where a great deal of discussion was focused on taking curves. A lot of attention is paid to entering a curve, the apex and the exit. My personal feeling is 'if you have to worry about the apex SLOW DOWN you are going to fast".

 

Mike

 

AMEN! And another thing I always tell people, is if you ever 2nd guess a decision when riding your bike, don't do it.

[Great White]

Actually, the decisions about the entrance, apex, exit, speed and escape optiins should have been made before you even enter the corner. You should be looking up to the next corner and/ or the road ahead.

 

Never ride the front wheel, you have to force yourself to look up ahead to protect yourself until it becomes natural to look ahead. Its how you corner fast and catch those chowderheads pulling out or doing something stupid that may take you out when you get there....

Edited July 15, 2015 by Great White

[videoarizona]

There is that!