06-24-2007, 09:52 PM
Sorry about the title, it was RJ's idea. 
RJ and I were leaving the track this past Saturday after back-tracking to get something we forgot. There's a section of road just outside the track that's fairly twisty and a few of the turns can catch you out if you're not paying attention. As we're approaching a 90┬░ left hander, probably no more than 50 feet from it, when we see an R6 coming through the turn way too fast. In the blink of an eye the rider, who had a passenger, had run wide into our lane. It was clear he was headed off the road because he was in too deep and way too hot at about 50mph in a 20mph turn. He realized this grabbed as much front brake as he could.
The front wheel locked up, washed out nearly immediately and the bike low-sided. The bike actually fell on them but it's momentum carried it off the road as they started to tumble across the pavement. I hit the brakes and they probably passed not more than 30 feet in front of us. They tumbled past us and kept rolling into the tall grass off the road. We pulled off the side of the road and went over to see how they were. They ended up probably 30 feet into the 5 foot tall grass and the bike maybe another 20 beyond that.
He was up pretty quickly but was wearing a t-shirt, shorts and skate shoes that weren't tied. The right side of his body was pretty torn up and he lost a shoe, but he didn't seem that bad off. His girlfriend, who really wasn't moving when we got to her, didn't fare as well. She was lying on her side but we asked her repeatedly about her neck and back before we rolled her over onto her back. We then tested that she could track an object with her eyes before we took her helmet off. Her helmet was pretty scratched up and the shield flew off on impact, we think because it was up when the crashed. She had a leather jacket on but it wasn't zipped up all the way and ended up with road rash on her... sensitive parts. They were both wearing gloves but it seemed pretty clear she had broken at least her thumb, if not her wrist. She had jeans that saved her legs but was wearing sandals so she also had rash on her one foot. She couldn't put much weight on the same foot so she probably sprained it when they went down.
I had RJ get the first aid kit out of my trunk and they wiped down all the rash and applied bandages. RJ then stood the bike up and inspected it for damage, which was bad enough that it wasn't road worthy. I don't remember all that was busted, but we ended up leaving it there to transport them back to his truck at the track. He thanked us for stopping and I told him we were both riders and not to worry about it. On our way back to the track, we tried to convince them to visit EV, but he wanted us to take them back so he could drive to the ER. He thanked us again, asked for my number and we went on our way. I got an unconfirmed report this morning that they ended up getting transported by EV because they were drunk and didn't want to drive. Not sure if that's true, but hopefully they learned their lesson if it is.
I've been riding for 2.5 years and this if my first time seeing someone go down. My friends have gone down a bunch of times and one actually went off at triple digit speeds at VIR this past Friday and broke a bone or two. Even seeing countless "after" effects, it really doesn't put what going down does to your body into perspective. Seeing them tumble across the ground, seconds before we go to the turn, was a pretty stark reminder of the responsibility we take when throw a leg over. The fact of the matter is these people were extremely lucky. The rolled into a field but could have easily ended up running into a tree, a fence, a culvert or even worse, my car. Had they hit my driver's door doing 50, I probably would be just as messed up as them. Who knows, they might even be dead right now. Anyway, be safe out there folks, your safety is your own responsibility.
For the record, it doesn't have me reconsidering riding.
RJ and I were leaving the track this past Saturday after back-tracking to get something we forgot. There's a section of road just outside the track that's fairly twisty and a few of the turns can catch you out if you're not paying attention. As we're approaching a 90┬░ left hander, probably no more than 50 feet from it, when we see an R6 coming through the turn way too fast. In the blink of an eye the rider, who had a passenger, had run wide into our lane. It was clear he was headed off the road because he was in too deep and way too hot at about 50mph in a 20mph turn. He realized this grabbed as much front brake as he could.
The front wheel locked up, washed out nearly immediately and the bike low-sided. The bike actually fell on them but it's momentum carried it off the road as they started to tumble across the pavement. I hit the brakes and they probably passed not more than 30 feet in front of us. They tumbled past us and kept rolling into the tall grass off the road. We pulled off the side of the road and went over to see how they were. They ended up probably 30 feet into the 5 foot tall grass and the bike maybe another 20 beyond that.
He was up pretty quickly but was wearing a t-shirt, shorts and skate shoes that weren't tied. The right side of his body was pretty torn up and he lost a shoe, but he didn't seem that bad off. His girlfriend, who really wasn't moving when we got to her, didn't fare as well. She was lying on her side but we asked her repeatedly about her neck and back before we rolled her over onto her back. We then tested that she could track an object with her eyes before we took her helmet off. Her helmet was pretty scratched up and the shield flew off on impact, we think because it was up when the crashed. She had a leather jacket on but it wasn't zipped up all the way and ended up with road rash on her... sensitive parts. They were both wearing gloves but it seemed pretty clear she had broken at least her thumb, if not her wrist. She had jeans that saved her legs but was wearing sandals so she also had rash on her one foot. She couldn't put much weight on the same foot so she probably sprained it when they went down.
I had RJ get the first aid kit out of my trunk and they wiped down all the rash and applied bandages. RJ then stood the bike up and inspected it for damage, which was bad enough that it wasn't road worthy. I don't remember all that was busted, but we ended up leaving it there to transport them back to his truck at the track. He thanked us for stopping and I told him we were both riders and not to worry about it. On our way back to the track, we tried to convince them to visit EV, but he wanted us to take them back so he could drive to the ER. He thanked us again, asked for my number and we went on our way. I got an unconfirmed report this morning that they ended up getting transported by EV because they were drunk and didn't want to drive. Not sure if that's true, but hopefully they learned their lesson if it is.
I've been riding for 2.5 years and this if my first time seeing someone go down. My friends have gone down a bunch of times and one actually went off at triple digit speeds at VIR this past Friday and broke a bone or two. Even seeing countless "after" effects, it really doesn't put what going down does to your body into perspective. Seeing them tumble across the ground, seconds before we go to the turn, was a pretty stark reminder of the responsibility we take when throw a leg over. The fact of the matter is these people were extremely lucky. The rolled into a field but could have easily ended up running into a tree, a fence, a culvert or even worse, my car. Had they hit my driver's door doing 50, I probably would be just as messed up as them. Who knows, they might even be dead right now. Anyway, be safe out there folks, your safety is your own responsibility.
For the record, it doesn't have me reconsidering riding.
'76 911S | '14 328xi | '17 GTI | In memoriam: '08 848, '85 944
"Here, at last, is the cure for texting while driving. The millions of deaths which occur every year due to the iPhone’s ability to stream the Kim K/Ray-J video in 4G could all be avoided, every last one of them, if the government issued everyone a Seventies 911 and made sure they always left the house five minutes later than they’d wanted to. It would help if it could be made to rain as well. Full attention on the road. Guaranteed." -Jack Baruth
"Here, at last, is the cure for texting while driving. The millions of deaths which occur every year due to the iPhone’s ability to stream the Kim K/Ray-J video in 4G could all be avoided, every last one of them, if the government issued everyone a Seventies 911 and made sure they always left the house five minutes later than they’d wanted to. It would help if it could be made to rain as well. Full attention on the road. Guaranteed." -Jack Baruth
