Don't Ride Over Your Head!!

Krazy Hawaiian · 06-27-2004, 05:35 PM

Holy crap! I came across this at a totally unrelated site.... copy n pasted the text. Good advice....

From photo's explaination.

This is reposted without permission from the LABiker mail list. Incredible accident scene photo. I'd bet wherever it's served from is gonna have problems cause this one is gonna get cross posted everywhere. Luckily, nobody died.

Here's the story from LABiker Brandon:

This photo is from a group ride yesterday (Sunday). A bunch of friends
from Springfield, MO went for a group ride in northern Arkansas. Great
roads, great weather, great day for a ride. Unfortunately an unknown
'new kid' on a 600RR joined the ride, with a a horrible ego/skill ratio.
The guys were afraid to mention it to him, out of politeness I guess.

They should have. His riding ended up causing tens of thousands in
damage, probably hundreds of thousands in medical, and only by the grace
of God was no one killed. BARELY.

This is a shot taken at the scene of the accident, mere seconds after
the crash. 'Bo' (lower left corner, *UNDER* the truck), is the new CBR
600RR rider that overcooked the corner and proceeded to lowside and
wedge himself *under* the Chevy.

The older white Ford in the photo veered into the oncoming lane to go
around the wreck, decided against it, and started backing down the hill.
This is where Jason (Duc rider, Springfield Police Officer) met the
truck, 1/2 way around the corner. Jason jumped from the bike just
before impact, and ended up with his head/shoulder through the
windshield. Paul (following behind Jason) hit the old Ford as well,
though didn't sustain as much damage.

Luckily the other riders knew enough not to move ANYONE, so they left
Bo under the truck, and Jason on the hood. Bo might lose his right arm;
the doctors haven't decided yet. Jason was conscious the whole time,
but understood not to move. Good thing. He's got a fractured C7
vertabra (I think the same thing that happened to Christopeher Reeves).

So...next time you think it's rude or impolite to tell that 'over his
head' rider to cool down or screw off, think of this.

Justin726 · 06-27-2004, 05:48 PM

This is truely one of the best documented instances of what can happen when you push yourself over you limits on the street. If this type of situation would have happened on a race track where a rider entered a corner too fast and lowsided the bike, he would have had a good amout of run-off room to slide on his ass and probably walked away. But, since this was on the street, there happened to be a truck right in the path of the lowside.

I'll agree going through twisties is a lot of fun. But it's not a good place to push yourself too hard and too close to the limits of you own abilities or the limits of your bike. A "spirited/safe" pace is a lot more fun at the end of the day, than the possible aftermath of a "balls-to-the-walls/dangerous" run.

It's an unfotunate incident that hopefully all of us can learn from and remember the next time we get the urge to push ourselves just a little bit harder.