Trail Riding Can Be Hazardous!

Ride Safe!!!

First ride of the New Year looked to be a fun filled day since I was riding with a group in an area I had never ridden. One of my favorite things to do is ride a new area.

The day started off on the wrong foot as we started to pull away from the truck I noticed one of the bikes was pouring a liquid out the bottom. First thing you think of is a stuck float causing gas to run out of the carburetor.  Not this time, after a closer inspection it was discovered to be a bad water pump seal, allowing coolant to pool in the skid plate. One down, four to go! So the remaining four riders, Peter, Phil, Dick and #33 decided to take the first ride promising to come back and switch off with Tim, since it was his bike with the problem.  We did exactly that and made shorter loops than planned and everyone got some seat time.

Everything worked out well until we were about ½ mile or less from returning to the trucks for the final ride. Peter was leading, with Dick, Tim and #33 following on a power line road leading back to the trucks. Unfortunately, there were a couple of younger riders on that same power line road going the opposite direction. The road was fairly straight but had a few hills and valleys. It appears that Peter met the two younger riders as he crested one of those rises, and as luck would have it they were not riding single file staying to their right as we were. With the two of them riding side by side the one on the wrong side of the road met Peter head on at the top of the rise.

Both riders were thrown from the bikes in the resulting collision and lay motionless for a few seconds. We checked the riders and they were conscious and responding without any immediate obvious outward injuries.

We had two riders return to the trucks to find the other boy’s father and notify him as well as getting a vehicle to pick up Peter and his Yamaha as it had been damaged extensively in the collision. The front end of the bike was torn off and the front wheel was destroyed.

Peter had an obvious concussion and a sore right hand, quite miraculous after looking at the bike! It was a long ride home and took 3 guys to load and unload Peter’s bike when we got back.  It is now the following day and I am wondering how Peter is feeling this morning, I think I have a pretty good idea!

Ride Safe!

#33

“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes”

For more pictures of the carnage go to the photo section.