dalroo
Road Bike
I rode with a group of friends in a toy ride today, and unfortunately, as much as I enjoy seeing a huge group of folks on bikes coming out to provide a Merry Christmas for children who might otherwise not have much joy, today was most likely the last time I participate. First, I am usually pretty choosy on who I ride with, and don't enjoy novices or idiots. Novices can gain experience, idiots typically remain so. My preference is to avoid idiots, and to let the novices learn somewhere a long way away from me. And though I enjoy a frosty brew as much as anyone, not at 10 AM, and not while I'm riding with a couple of thousand of other bikes.
With all that said, things were going okay until about 1/2 way through the 20 mile ride. The rider immediately ahead of me was riding on the left side of the lane, when for some reason he decided that he and his passenger needed to move to the right hand side of the lane and high-five the spectators standing on the shoulder. Not sure why, but after shifting to the right, he grabbed a BIG handful of front brake and lost the front tire. His passenger landed on her butt and was very nearly run over by the bike staggered to my right. Fortunately, like me, he saw it coming and was already slowing. The rider slid with the bike for several feet, bounced his head on the pavement (no helmet, and the Santa hat probably didn't help much) and then rolled onto his belly looking back in fear waiting for me to run over him. I didn't. I had already slowed down and wasn't riding real tight to start, and no one was on my tail to rear-end me. There were lots of people already moving their way, and since I have absolutely zero medical training, I kept moving so not to create even more of a traffic hazard. A friend of mine was further back and saw that the bike had already been moved off the road, and the people we off to the side sitting. That is good news
So to make matters (almost) worse, about a mile further up the road, a dude passes me, merges back into the parade several bikes in front of me, starts waiving to spectators on an overpass, just as the parade slows in front of him. He JAMS his rear brake, spews a ton of gray smoke, and I'm thinking, "okay, this one is gonna be worse", but fortunately he was able to get off his brake, and run onto the shoulder avoiding what could have been a really severe accident.
I come from 15 years on Harleys, and this is not anti-HD. It is more in line with the way I feel when I see sport bike riders doing wheelies in traffic on the freeway. You can gain experience and live to be an old biker. But there aren't many old idiot bikers. If you are a knucklehead, find another hobby that better suffers fools. Motorcycling is not for you.
So, going back to my original thinking that I don't want to ride with novices or idiots - riding with a huge group of strangers is probably not a decision I will be making in the future. Instead, I will send in my donation.
With all that said, things were going okay until about 1/2 way through the 20 mile ride. The rider immediately ahead of me was riding on the left side of the lane, when for some reason he decided that he and his passenger needed to move to the right hand side of the lane and high-five the spectators standing on the shoulder. Not sure why, but after shifting to the right, he grabbed a BIG handful of front brake and lost the front tire. His passenger landed on her butt and was very nearly run over by the bike staggered to my right. Fortunately, like me, he saw it coming and was already slowing. The rider slid with the bike for several feet, bounced his head on the pavement (no helmet, and the Santa hat probably didn't help much) and then rolled onto his belly looking back in fear waiting for me to run over him. I didn't. I had already slowed down and wasn't riding real tight to start, and no one was on my tail to rear-end me. There were lots of people already moving their way, and since I have absolutely zero medical training, I kept moving so not to create even more of a traffic hazard. A friend of mine was further back and saw that the bike had already been moved off the road, and the people we off to the side sitting. That is good news
So to make matters (almost) worse, about a mile further up the road, a dude passes me, merges back into the parade several bikes in front of me, starts waiving to spectators on an overpass, just as the parade slows in front of him. He JAMS his rear brake, spews a ton of gray smoke, and I'm thinking, "okay, this one is gonna be worse", but fortunately he was able to get off his brake, and run onto the shoulder avoiding what could have been a really severe accident.
I come from 15 years on Harleys, and this is not anti-HD. It is more in line with the way I feel when I see sport bike riders doing wheelies in traffic on the freeway. You can gain experience and live to be an old biker. But there aren't many old idiot bikers. If you are a knucklehead, find another hobby that better suffers fools. Motorcycling is not for you.
So, going back to my original thinking that I don't want to ride with novices or idiots - riding with a huge group of strangers is probably not a decision I will be making in the future. Instead, I will send in my donation.