Ride report 8/20/06...and tragedy
Aug 21, 2006 8:32:26 GMT -5
Post by desmo2 on Aug 21, 2006 8:32:26 GMT -5
Plans were set to meet today at 1:00pm for the Sunday ride, but I awoke to rain. Sport riding ain't much fun in the rain in my book, especially considering my prior rain experience. :rolleyes:
At 1:00 the rain had stopped, but the roads were still wet. I actually kind of gave up on going out. At 1:30, I got a call from one of my riding buddies asking where I was. I looked out to see sunshine and dry pavement! Hooyaa! I threw on the duds and out the door I went.
I met the group on the road. We had 10 bikes today, including four riders I had never met before. One of them was the wife of a regular and not a very experienced rider. She rode within her limits, however, and stayed at the rear of the pack. The other three were cousins, all on Kawi's, and all had an obvious drag racing influence. Their bikes all had some mod more suited to a drag strip than a twisty highway. I talked with them briefly, though, and they seemed like good guys. They weren't young, new riders, didn't seem to be street racing thugs, they admitted they were aware of the limitations of their bikes in the curves, and they took up the rear of the pack, as well.
We set out for Hwy 179 which is a rural highway with some pretty satisfactory curves. It intertwines with a couple of highways, providing ample opportunity for stops to allow everyone to catch up. The three Kawi's and the new sportbike girl usually took a minute or two to catch up, which was fine with me. I was following our resident sportbike girl and we were actually taking a pretty conservative pace in the middle of the pack.
After one particularly twisty stretch we came to a T intersection and pulled off to wait for everyone. We shot the bull for a bit before we realized it had been a couple of minutes. We had only gone about 10 miles since the last catch-up intersection. One of the Kawi guys had been experiencing an occassional overheating problem, so we hoped that was what was holding up the last four...the three Kawi cousins and the new girl.
When it became evident there was a problem, we retraced our route. The butterflies began their migration around my gut.
Barely half a mile from the intersection where we had last gathered all 10 of us, my fears were realized. I saw cars pulled off before a curve with four-way flashers on and people waving to slow down traffic. We get into the curve and I am surprised to see a firetruck already on scene (a rural station was less than half a mile away). Two of the Kawasakis are wadded up together in the ditch. Oh, man.
Then I notice three volunteer firemen. Kneeling over one of the riders. Administering CPR.
Oh my God.
We had to get through the curve and to the top of the hill to park the bikes, then sprinted back down. Jesse, the most accomplished drag racer of the three, is dead. The other cousin that went into the ditch is beat up a bit, but is beside himself with a mix of shock, guilt, and grief.
I guess we will never know exactly what happened. The new girl was directly behind them as they entered the curve and went down. She said they had been riding too close together in her opinion, but did not know what happened, either. She looked behind her to peek at the third Kawi rider who was behind her, and when she looked back to the road the bikes were down and spilling into the rocky ditch. She braked hard and managed to stay clear of them and keep her line in the curve.
I guess there are two possibilities. One is that the first rider entered the curve too fast, panicked, and laid it down. The second rider may have target-fixated and simply followed him into the ditch. The second is that the first rider braked for the curve and the second rider hit him from behind, sending them both down and into the ditch. The skids and scrapes were hard to decipher, but I'm leaning towards the first scenario.
We got a trailer out to us and loaded the two crashed bikes, as well as the third Kawasaki and the new girl's bike, as they were in no shape to ride home.
I've seen plenty of death in the line of duty and I don't let it affect me. This kept me up for several hours last night after I went to bed, and still haunts me. I can't say I knew the man, but he was with us sharing our ride.
That's all I can say for now. More later.
At 1:00 the rain had stopped, but the roads were still wet. I actually kind of gave up on going out. At 1:30, I got a call from one of my riding buddies asking where I was. I looked out to see sunshine and dry pavement! Hooyaa! I threw on the duds and out the door I went.
I met the group on the road. We had 10 bikes today, including four riders I had never met before. One of them was the wife of a regular and not a very experienced rider. She rode within her limits, however, and stayed at the rear of the pack. The other three were cousins, all on Kawi's, and all had an obvious drag racing influence. Their bikes all had some mod more suited to a drag strip than a twisty highway. I talked with them briefly, though, and they seemed like good guys. They weren't young, new riders, didn't seem to be street racing thugs, they admitted they were aware of the limitations of their bikes in the curves, and they took up the rear of the pack, as well.
We set out for Hwy 179 which is a rural highway with some pretty satisfactory curves. It intertwines with a couple of highways, providing ample opportunity for stops to allow everyone to catch up. The three Kawi's and the new sportbike girl usually took a minute or two to catch up, which was fine with me. I was following our resident sportbike girl and we were actually taking a pretty conservative pace in the middle of the pack.
After one particularly twisty stretch we came to a T intersection and pulled off to wait for everyone. We shot the bull for a bit before we realized it had been a couple of minutes. We had only gone about 10 miles since the last catch-up intersection. One of the Kawi guys had been experiencing an occassional overheating problem, so we hoped that was what was holding up the last four...the three Kawi cousins and the new girl.
When it became evident there was a problem, we retraced our route. The butterflies began their migration around my gut.
Barely half a mile from the intersection where we had last gathered all 10 of us, my fears were realized. I saw cars pulled off before a curve with four-way flashers on and people waving to slow down traffic. We get into the curve and I am surprised to see a firetruck already on scene (a rural station was less than half a mile away). Two of the Kawasakis are wadded up together in the ditch. Oh, man.
Then I notice three volunteer firemen. Kneeling over one of the riders. Administering CPR.
Oh my God.
We had to get through the curve and to the top of the hill to park the bikes, then sprinted back down. Jesse, the most accomplished drag racer of the three, is dead. The other cousin that went into the ditch is beat up a bit, but is beside himself with a mix of shock, guilt, and grief.
I guess we will never know exactly what happened. The new girl was directly behind them as they entered the curve and went down. She said they had been riding too close together in her opinion, but did not know what happened, either. She looked behind her to peek at the third Kawi rider who was behind her, and when she looked back to the road the bikes were down and spilling into the rocky ditch. She braked hard and managed to stay clear of them and keep her line in the curve.
I guess there are two possibilities. One is that the first rider entered the curve too fast, panicked, and laid it down. The second rider may have target-fixated and simply followed him into the ditch. The second is that the first rider braked for the curve and the second rider hit him from behind, sending them both down and into the ditch. The skids and scrapes were hard to decipher, but I'm leaning towards the first scenario.
We got a trailer out to us and loaded the two crashed bikes, as well as the third Kawasaki and the new girl's bike, as they were in no shape to ride home.
I've seen plenty of death in the line of duty and I don't let it affect me. This kept me up for several hours last night after I went to bed, and still haunts me. I can't say I knew the man, but he was with us sharing our ride.
That's all I can say for now. More later.
