kz2zx
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posted June 13, 2004 10:24 AM
Wildlife in the Canyons, Bad Day
A very good rider I know went down hard today. I see no way he could have done anything at all that would have saved him, this was not rider or judgement error in the slightest. He went down on a road he's been riding for 30 years.
A deer jumped into him when he was travelling at 40 MPH, leaned over in a canyon turn. The other riders with him say the deer jumped off a ledge above him, he never saw it.
He was knocked off the bike, and tumbled into the canyon wall, bounced back into the center of the road, and folded in unnatural ways. I had collected a Sherriff's deputy who was pacing me, and we came on the scene a minute after it happened.
He was medevac'ed out, it took them 30 minutes to fly the 80 miles from Chandler Regional (Native Air) to where we were in the canyons. The rider will survive, but I doubt he will ever be able to ride again; he is 59 years old, with multiple compound fractures of the legs, hip, ribs, chin, right arm, and possible collarbones. He received a bad concussion.
I am wondering if I am riding too hard on the roads. There are bicyclists and boaters (trucks pulling boats) on these tight roads; and he and I were discussing deer as a hazard ten minutes before the accident - I'd seen some yesterday, and was asking if he'd seen any today.
My goal is to learn to ride fast on tracks, to buy a trailer and join a racing club, to work up from a 500 or 650 twin to (in a few years) the 10R as a racebike. I intend to get slower bikes for the street - like a ZRX for my commuter, and some kind of rumbly v-twin for the wife and I to ride places with, she's a slower rider by far and an I-4 would make me want to ride faster.
My goal is to NOT end up in Scottsdale Osborne (regional trauma center) in a body cast. I will ride the canyons, but I will have greater fear, and my wife is probably less happier about it now.
Let's be careful out there.
____________
ASMA 47
WERA 147
www.dhowellbooks.com
  
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worm~hole
Needs a life
Miles to go before I sleep....
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posted June 13, 2004 10:33 AM
40mph vs 80mph...freaky things happen no matter what type of bike you're on...its the throttle as much as the environment...I'm totally with you about the smaller bike to learn how to ride fast on the track idea...yes, lets be careful out there...
____________
“We sleep safe in our beds because rough men
stand ready in the night to visit violence on those
who would do us harm.”
-George Orwell
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k bryant
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posted June 13, 2004 10:43 AM
Unfortunet. Hope he recovers. But it sounds like speed had nothing to do with it. Sounds simply unavoidable.... 
All you can do is log it away. Doing you're fast/fastest stuff on the track is a much better way to go. But even on the track, you're not safe; "safer", but not safe. We've had riders and/or bikes cross the track and take out another unsuspecting rider. At Infinoen/Sears Point, we had riders hit deer and/or they've stopped practice because of deer sited on/near the racing surface.
But you can have the same thing happen if you're on a 250 Ninja...
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guamaniac
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posted June 13, 2004 10:52 AM
KZ....what road? Man that is terrible...I for one have chilled on the canyon carving.......and have been focusing more on the track. It's crazy out there....I've always been one of those guys in the back chilling out in the canyons, I always have the constant reminder of my wife and kids....and always think about the "what if's" .....I've been in some very close calls with oncoming traffic, traffic pulled to the side, huge direction changing pot holes in the road.....and that was in cali... Since being here I've taken rides up to Bagdad....and I don't know if all the roads have them, but they have "cattle crossing guards"....some in mid corner!!!!!!!! My first ride here some guy I just met went off the cliff right in front of me--at that time I had the adrenaline thing going, you know--finally back on a bike since the move...wonderful road.....then BAAAM off he went.... I was first to the wreckage, luckily he was talking and no visible damage to himself, tons to the bike..... He ended up being helicoptered out--and that was the last I've seen of him--didn't know him, but I did know that he "only" had a separated shoulder and a missing shoe...
Anyways, I know where your coming from and it's tough to swallow--I for one am keeping the canyon riding to a minimum and the track days to a maximum.... If I'm in the canyon's you will find me at the back of the pack--you always hear "ride within your limits", which is true...but I also believe in "riding within the limits around you".......
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worm~hole
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posted June 13, 2004 10:57 AM
...I always prefer to run 'sweep' back there...no pressure to 'perform'...just enjoy MY ride....and help out if I can...
____________
“We sleep safe in our beds because rough men
stand ready in the night to visit violence on those
who would do us harm.”
-George Orwell
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kz2zx
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posted June 13, 2004 12:11 PM
Guam, Hwy 88 north of Tortilla Flats.
Yes, I was in the back of the pack, staying with a new rider to the group. We had picked up the deputy coming from the dirt side of the mountain (Apache Lake), and were trying to act as shields by being slow so the deputy wouldn't see the faster riders across the canyon, or at least this was my intention.
I would have been at the back of the pack with that group anyway, or more likely riding trail - they are a lot faster than I am, having years more experience on that road than I do, and years of tracktime.
I'm not going to give up riding the canyons or anything that drastic, but I am reevaluating my quest for speed in turns on the street - if I take turns as fast as they do, I could never have stopped for the accident, and would have plowed right into the downed rider or one of the others dismounted. As it was, I stopped, barely, and the deputy almost didn't either. The new gal simply went around everyone through the debris, then came back.
I think I don't want to be that fast on the roads, is what I'm saying. I need to find ways to get on the track. Kerry, I hear your words that the track is not the end-all-be-all of safety, it does not remove all risk.
I just had a dramatic reminder of my mortality; but motorcycling is in my blood and soul; I'll get over this.
____________
ASMA 47
WERA 147
www.dhowellbooks.com
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Zed
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posted June 13, 2004 01:51 PM
What bad, bad luck... Please pass "Get Well!" wishes on from this side of the pond, once the unfortunate rider is seeing visitors.
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Live long, and Faster
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kz2zx
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posted June 13, 2004 02:13 PM
I got an update from the hospital, and he will recover, though his injuries are extensive.
I am feeling relieved.
____________
ASMA 47
WERA 147
www.dhowellbooks.com
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ice 1
Novice Class
Posts: 32
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posted June 13, 2004 03:17 PM
 Edited By: ice 1 on 13 Jun 2004 16:18
Really sorry to hear about the deer incident.
Riding on the track will lessen the likelihood of hitting a critter, but I've seen deer on the track at Texas World and Road Atlanta in the last couple years. Here is a thread with photos of a deer on the track at a WERA event last weekend...
http://forums.13x.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=52815
So you still can't get away from them on the track. Does anybody remember the cobra that a GP racer took out with his knee puck in Malaysia about 8 years ago?
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Erich
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posted June 13, 2004 05:59 PM
Edited By: Erich on 13 Jun 2004 19:00
These reminders always make you look at what you do, but at the end of the day, its all part of the risk we take to go from here to there on 2 wheels.
This is the worst example of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, just like being on an airliner with a cracked wing pylon when if finally lets go.
I had 2 close calls a week apart. Amost got wiped out by a stunter when an 11 o'clock salute as we where passing. It went sour on him and his belly pan was headed for my helmet when I dove right and he locked up the back and it cartwheeled past me missing by 5 feet or less. There is one less GSXR in this world. Then Friday I was pulling over to wait for a buddy and as he was pulling in behind me he check up and started yelling and waving his arm behind me. Though I kept hearing him yelling 'brake' 'brake' 'brake'. After about 3 seconds and wondering why he wants me to hit my brakes when I'm stopped and why his eyes where bugging out of his helmet, it hit me he was saying 'snake' 'snake' 'snake'. Turns out this rattler was just about to strike as I put it in gear and bugged out. He said it struck my rear tire as I took off.
Both cases I was just minding my own business. But I still think of the what ifs today.
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D
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posted June 13, 2004 08:38 PM
Accepted risk - it's our constant state of being with this passion of ours.
The more ya do it, inevitably the more ya see.
Thing is to try and use it all as a learning experience - "What can I take away from this?".
I was reminded today of what it's like to follow someone who is fast - left me wondering if I was ever even close to that level back in my "fast" days.
What I do know is this - I ride my own ride, soemdays it's good and somedays I'm just there for the view.
Point is - I'm there for more days and I try to make the best of every one of em by bein on a bike.
Hope yer rider pulls though.
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k bryant
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posted June 13, 2004 08:50 PM
And thatz why I'll ride with you anytime.
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worm~hole
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posted June 14, 2004 01:04 AM
...I always ride to ride another day...
____________
“We sleep safe in our beds because rough men
stand ready in the night to visit violence on those
who would do us harm.”
-George Orwell
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psycho1122
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posted June 16, 2004 07:26 AM
My reguards to your friend, kz2zx......
We saw your group on the way out that a.m. It was about 6 a.m. I was on my 12 and my buddy was on his R1.
We ride that early to avoid many of the perils you have mentioned. In hundreds of runs in the Canyon, we have NEVER even seen a deer walking about!
quote:
This is the worst example of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, just like being on an airliner with a cracked wing pylon when if finally lets go.
In re; to speed. If your friend were going 2mph faster, the deer would have missed him. This is a One in a Million circumstance. Sorry it had to happen to your friend.
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You say PSYCHO like it's a BAD thing!!
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