Bad day today

Being a public holiday today, the local Ulysses club organised a charity ride for St. John's Ambulance. It was a massive turnout with what seemed like a couple of hundred bikes of all shapes and sizes. We all got a pre-ride briefing telling us to take care and then set off. A short time later the line of bikes came to a complete halt on the motorway (I was towards the back with my wife as passenger) and we found out there'd been a bike go down further ahead.

Straight piece of road and it sounds like the guy may have braked for some unknown reason and then gone right into the wire rope barrier on his Harley. When we went via a bypass road he was getting CPR and unfortunately he didn't make it. Really put a dampener on the day and was a sobering experience for all.

I won't speculate on the cause as I don't know, and it's not the point of this post. Just a reminder that we all need to be careful. Those wire rope barriers are a two-edged sword. On one hand they protect us from people coming the other way, but on the other they are completely unforgiving of motorcyclist error.

I don't know who he was, but he and his family have my sympathies.

Keep safe, people.

RIP rider

Sorry about the poor call reception Kewwig must have been the wind.

The reason we were so far behind the main group was that I stopped to pick another Harley rider up off the deck. As we were coming off the gravel slip road (past the crash) back up the rise to the Highway a Harley rider dropped his bike. A few riders rode past and took off, meanwhile I was gutted as we had to stop opposite the site and sadly watched the fire guys doing chest compression while we waited for the other bikes to clear the slip road.

Took the edge off the day and camera never came out to get photos of the ride.

He was not a Ulysses rider as was reported.

My sympathies to all.

Sad news like this is always a reminder of the dangers of riding.

Boatz wrote:Sad news like this is always a reminder of the dangers of riding.

Periodically I think about it, especially when I get home and my kids just throw themselves at me. I work on the basis that I won't get out of this life alive, so barring dying doing something I love (somehow the wife's not so keen on that scenario...), I want to fill the bits in the middle with the things I enjoy.

I do appreciate ABS more and more these days

kewwig wrote:

Boatz wrote:Sad news like this is always a reminder of the dangers of riding.

Periodically I think about it, especially when I get home and my kids just throw themselves at me. I work on the basis that I won't get out of this life alive, so barring dying doing something I love (somehow the wife's not so keen on that scenario...), I want to fill the bits in the middle with the things I enjoy.

I do appreciate ABS more and more these days

I feel the same way too, it is dangerous but you can't wrap yourself in cotton wool. Enjoy riding while taking care is all you can do.

One reason i dont like the LARGE group ride thing , just not enough space .

gus wrote:One reason i dont like the LARGE group ride thing , just not enough space .

Agreed. We rode towards the rear where there's a lot of space. I hate being near the front where people push you along and bunch up. I used to ride bicycles in large touring events and saw first hand the chaos caused by a moment's inattention and then a whole bunch goes down.

After a few attempts by the grim reaper to have me join him ( not motorcycle related ) I`ll be damned if I`ll cocoon myself away somewhere when there is life to be lived & bikes to be ridden . Life`s too short not to do the things we love, & hopefully the ones we love also agree .

paul wrote:After a few attempts by the grim reaper to have me join him ( not motorcycle related ) I`ll be damned if I`ll cocoon myself away somewhere when there is life to be lived & bikes to be ridden . Life`s too short not to do the things we love, & hopefully the ones we love also agree .

+1. My wife is cool with me riding, and my little son loves riding on the back.

RIP and the main reason I don't ride in large groups is I don't know the skills of those around me.

RIP and the main reason I don't ride in large groups is I don't know the skills of those around me.
+1

2wheelsagain wrote:RIP and the main reason I don't ride in large groups is I don't know the skills of those around me.

+2

In my younger days I used to race pushies. Was happy when I got to A grade as the skill level was amazing and racing elbow to elbow down a hill at 100 kmh was even fun. Have not seen that level on the road unless it is Mr Stoner and his friends in the GP world. That's why I tend to ride alone - and I am an anti social bastard also.
Mark

2 people died on bikes in my neck or the woods last weekend and on my favorites roads... big sign to all, you can not be too careful. Some of the motorcycle cowboys give us a bad name. but no one deserves to die on our roads.. keep vigilant and asume everyone else is an idiot and you will be fine. I have done a couple of 'ride for Daniel' rides and big rides have their appeal but keep heaps of space between you.

I only do the Xmas runs these days. I have even decided to Marshal rather than ride with the group as there are too many "Casual riders" who only dust off there bike for these types of rides. Having seen how some of them ride I can understand why that movie Wild Hogs was made. I can count being passed on the left hand side by certain shiny machines on more than one occassion. Now at the end of the day it's a charity ride, not a race. If you need to over take then I don't mind, but do it safely and over take on the right side at least.
RIP to the rider. To end up in a cheese grater something major must have happened. Maybe he had a heart attack? I hope it was quick.

Very sad and all too familiar.

Was just chatting with the Road Capitan and lead rider and it appears there were four off's excluding the main incident.
The silliest was a rider parking up who forgot to put his feet down. As a result he and his wife had a lay down, apparently she was not impressed at all.

Rustic wrote:Was just chatting with the Road Capitan and lead rider and it appears there were four off's excluding the main incident.
The silliest was a rider parking up who forgot to put his feet down. As a result he and his wife had a lay down, apparently she was not impressed at all.

Good grief - where do these people learn to ride? It's quite scary to see some people on bikes worth 20 - 40K who simply can't ride

kewwig wrote:

Rustic wrote:Was just chatting with the Road Capitan and lead rider and it appears there were four off's excluding the main incident.
The silliest was a rider parking up who forgot to put his feet down. As a result he and his wife had a lay down, apparently she was not impressed at all.

Good grief - where do these people learn to ride? It's quite scary to see some people on bikes worth 20 - 40K who simply can't ride

What's worse is it's the basics they are failing at...

As having my off on the weekend i have come to 2 two conclusions one of those was being tired as i had a shit night sleep and two travelling too far, a 600 ks ride for my skill & fitness level was just too far in one day. and it happened only a hour away from our destination

I was damn lucky that i ended up in a very soft landing with just a scratched & slightly bent bike.

i will not be travelling that far in one day again and make sure i get a good nights sleep in future

Lose concentration in a car is dangerous, lose concentration on a bike is deadly

A Lesson learn't

Jimcoleman wrote:As having my off on the weekend i have come to 2 two conclusions one of those was being tired as i had a shit night sleep and two travelling too far, a 600 ks ride for my skill & fitness level was just too far in one day. and it happened only a hour away from our destination

I was damn lucky that i ended up in a very soft landing with just a scratched & slightly bent bike.

i will not be travelling that far in one day again and make sure i get a good nights sleep in future

Lose concentration in a car is dangerous, lose concentration on a bike is deadly

A Lesson learn't

That's a good base line Jim but it depends on the type of riding involved.
For me that's a bit less than Bombala and back and I do that easy however I couldn't do here to Bright and back unless there was a very urgent need (over Hotham)
I'd hate to think you passed up a ride based on km only.
My 2c worth.

Thats a "thread" in itself .I can ride 200 kls and come back stuffed ,yet can do 900 kls on other days . I sense a high jack so i will start a new thread .

I blame Julia. Forcing people through financial hardship into having to ride bikes for transportation in order to make ends meet.