Platinum Pig
Guest
Hello Friends,
I'm back home in the USA now, but as you all are fondly missed, I'll relate this cautiounary tale gleaned from the scenic byways of upstate New York.
It's autumn now on the East Coast of America. And the countryside is ablaze with fall color (is it likewise in the UK?). This brings out the bikers in droves. What a great time of year to be alive and have a bike to tour on! This season also brings out the weekenders in cars with the same sentiments/proclivities. Therein lies the problem. NOBODY among them all is looking at the road this time of year!!!
Several years ago, in upstate NY, I witnessed my first motorcycle fatality, as a nearby Autumn hiker climbed into his car after a ridgewalk (just ahead of us fellow hikers also returning to our autos from the trailhead), and pulled out onto scenic 9-E from a small wayside parking area. He obviously didn't see the motorcycle on the highway shooting toward him. On impact, the biker cleared the car (the bike hit the front driver's side quarterpanel, and then followed shortly behind), but the poor chap broke his neck on impact with the tarmac. Dead in an instant.
This scene left a profound impact on me (this was before I was even a biker myself). And I think of the poor bloke every time fall rolls around.
So I'm taking another country drive last weekend (in a car, sadly). I see packs of bikes everywhere throughout the countryside, which is now resplendent with deciduous foliage in full color display. And as a result of these bikes, and this great day full of balmy air and pyrotechnic trees, I'm seriously jonesing for my GSA (which is presently for sale, back in London --see the buy/sell forum in our UKGSer). A clutch of 4 blokes on bikes is just ahead of us as we meander up the road (one's on a GS, just to further add to my cold turkey misery). They lose us for a time. Then we round a long sweeper of a right turn, and behold the "yard sale" of machinery strewn about the road.
It was my bike bretheren. Thankfully, they were all OK (all were in full kit, which suddenly looked the worse for wear). But several of the bikes were broken, and the scene was bedlam. Unlike the Autumn fatality of years ago however, this was the biker's fault. A parking lot entrance (poorly placed as it is) to a large nature reserve was just around the corner. And as it was high season, there was a line of cars backed up out onto the highway. These bikers, in their fall reverie, broke a simple rule of motorcycling going into the turn --expecting it to be clear around the blind side, and in the process, --plowed into the back (more like a glancing blow, luckily) of a Volvo waiting to make a turn off the highway into the reserve.
Doesn't matter who's at fault, in this season or any other, if you're dead as a result. Stay alert when it's leaf-peeping season, my friends. Because nobody else is, if years of fall bike accidents witnessed by this rider/hiker/driver are any testimony.
Ride safe and live!!!
Frank
I'm back home in the USA now, but as you all are fondly missed, I'll relate this cautiounary tale gleaned from the scenic byways of upstate New York.
It's autumn now on the East Coast of America. And the countryside is ablaze with fall color (is it likewise in the UK?). This brings out the bikers in droves. What a great time of year to be alive and have a bike to tour on! This season also brings out the weekenders in cars with the same sentiments/proclivities. Therein lies the problem. NOBODY among them all is looking at the road this time of year!!!
Several years ago, in upstate NY, I witnessed my first motorcycle fatality, as a nearby Autumn hiker climbed into his car after a ridgewalk (just ahead of us fellow hikers also returning to our autos from the trailhead), and pulled out onto scenic 9-E from a small wayside parking area. He obviously didn't see the motorcycle on the highway shooting toward him. On impact, the biker cleared the car (the bike hit the front driver's side quarterpanel, and then followed shortly behind), but the poor chap broke his neck on impact with the tarmac. Dead in an instant.
This scene left a profound impact on me (this was before I was even a biker myself). And I think of the poor bloke every time fall rolls around.
So I'm taking another country drive last weekend (in a car, sadly). I see packs of bikes everywhere throughout the countryside, which is now resplendent with deciduous foliage in full color display. And as a result of these bikes, and this great day full of balmy air and pyrotechnic trees, I'm seriously jonesing for my GSA (which is presently for sale, back in London --see the buy/sell forum in our UKGSer). A clutch of 4 blokes on bikes is just ahead of us as we meander up the road (one's on a GS, just to further add to my cold turkey misery). They lose us for a time. Then we round a long sweeper of a right turn, and behold the "yard sale" of machinery strewn about the road.
It was my bike bretheren. Thankfully, they were all OK (all were in full kit, which suddenly looked the worse for wear). But several of the bikes were broken, and the scene was bedlam. Unlike the Autumn fatality of years ago however, this was the biker's fault. A parking lot entrance (poorly placed as it is) to a large nature reserve was just around the corner. And as it was high season, there was a line of cars backed up out onto the highway. These bikers, in their fall reverie, broke a simple rule of motorcycling going into the turn --expecting it to be clear around the blind side, and in the process, --plowed into the back (more like a glancing blow, luckily) of a Volvo waiting to make a turn off the highway into the reserve.
Doesn't matter who's at fault, in this season or any other, if you're dead as a result. Stay alert when it's leaf-peeping season, my friends. Because nobody else is, if years of fall bike accidents witnessed by this rider/hiker/driver are any testimony.
Ride safe and live!!!
Frank
I did a detour on the way home, this usually involves hitting the back roads, anywhere from Wickham, West / East Meon, Bishop's Waltham, Owlselbury.
Covered in leaves and very steep (shame there's no ring-piece icon available!) made it to the bottom (pun) but had to spend a few minutes pulling the seat out of me bum where I'd puckered so hard 
.
