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Harley-Davidson

Snowfan

aka Eric Nelson
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Joined
Oct 23, 2016
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1,459
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Here and there.
Needs to learn how to tie his shoes!
LOL!

As a former firefighter/paramedic I can share that many trauma victims shoes are missing. Even while tied. Can not explain how but when arriving on scene, if shoes are astray...deeper level of examination is in order. Bizarre phenomena but very common.
 

scott43

So much better than a pro
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Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
13,549
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Great White North
As a former firefighter/paramedic I can share that many trauma victims shoes are missing. Even while tied. Can not explain how but when arriving on scene, if shoes are astray...deeper level of examination is in order. Bizarre phenomena but very common.
This is a running (grim) joke with my buddies and me. The lone shoe on the road trick..
 

crgildart

Gravity Slave
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16,321
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The Bull City
As a former firefighter/paramedic I can share that many trauma victims shoes are missing. Even while tied. Can not explain how but when arriving on scene, if shoes are astray...deeper level of examination is in order. Bizarre phenomena but very common.

I've seen forst responsers taking shoes off the accident victims at the scene.. But you can clearly see those exploding off the feet as the dude goes splat.
 

scott43

So much better than a pro
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I did accident investigations in college, looked at a lot of photos of wrecks..and I noticed that the cars were FILTHY..so much garbage I couldn't figure out how they could operate the pedals. So the long-term full-time Transport Canada guy says.."that's crap from under the seat and the back..it gets launched into the footwell when the rest of the car stops in 1.5'.."
 

François Pugh

Skiing the powder
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Nov 17, 2015
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Needs to learn how to tie his shoes!

LOL!
LOL he needs to learn how to a ride bike; that wheelie looks like he wasn't even planning on doing it. It can be a challenge to keep the front tire down when putting a lot of torque and power to the rear wheel.

Regarding the two year thing, your first year or two, you know you don't know much and are very careful, especially if everyone has been telling you owning a fast bike would kill you. But later after thousands of miles of and hard cornering and a track day or two, you begin to push the limits a little too far. It's amazing how far out one's internal speedometer can be with just a year or two of experience on a well-behaved bike that was designed to go fast. Sliding through a few potholes on your backside will fix that problem (if it doesn't kill you).
 
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scott43

So much better than a pro
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Nov 12, 2015
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Great White North
Oh, and group rides are a disaster waiting to happen. Pick one or two people you know ride well and take it slowly. Trying to keep up to a big group when you're at the back is a recipe for disaster. I can't tell you how many collisions I've seen where people were trying to catch up only to launch themselves into the back of the pack when they're slowing down. It's among the stupidest examples of pack behaviour I've ever seen. Please, just ride by yourself or with one other person who is very skilled at leading and following. These are no-joke skills.
 
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TS
C

Coach13

Making fresh tracks
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Nov 15, 2015
Posts
2,091
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No. VA
Oh, and group rides are a disaster waiting to happen. Pick one or two people you know ride well and take it slowly. Trying to keep up to a big group when you're at the back is a recipe for disaster. I can't tell you how many collisions I've seen where people were trying to catch up only to launch themselves into the back of the pack when they're slowing down. It's among the stupidest examples of pack behaviour I've ever seen. Please, just ride by yourself or with one other person who is very skilled at leading and following. These are no-joke skills.

The tightly packed group created several issues starting with if one has an issue there’s no room to regain control without affecting the others. When I was teenager there was an accident on a 2 lane road involving a dozen or so friends who rode together every Sunday. A women driving a pickup following a large livestock truck too closely swung out in the other lane to pass and hit the tightly aligned group head on. Killed almost the entire group. 8 or 9 fatalities if I remember correctly. That taught me a lot as a young rider.
 

scott43

So much better than a pro
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You bet. I was fortunate to get to ride with a bunch of great track racers with great skills and discipline when I was young. I learned from them and fortunately didn't make any mistakes. That allowed me to gain enough skills, wisdom and experience to have a long life on bikes. A buddy and I were sport-touring through the city and we happened to catch up to a group ride..it was a complicated highway area in a valley with many ramps and turns. We came up on the group but we were going a different way so we were in the process of passing them on the left about to go up a different ramp and 2 people came flying from behind, didn't anticipate the 30kmh ramp the group was about to negotiate and plowed right into the back of someone. She broke her neck and he got launched into a rock-cut. He was banged up but nothing as serious as the broken neck. Just, not paying attention, peer pressure and lack of experience. So many incidents..fatalities..saw a guy do a bee-line into a telephone pole at warp 9. There was plenty of space on either side to avoid the pole but he hit it dead centre. That's target fixation. And not trusting his bike..he could have made the turn, just panicked and straight on. It does make you question your choice of transportation..
 
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TS
C

Coach13

Making fresh tracks
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No. VA
I was always told to never look at anything while riding that you don’t want to hit!
 

Zrxman01

Out on the slopes
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Apr 25, 2017
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405
Yeah I know... the heart wants what the heart wants. Take a current MSF course and ATGATT.

Still I could not resist......
501A13A8-B405-4422-8E62-D52114CCDFC1.jpeg
 

crgildart

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The Bull City
Yeah I know... the heart wants what the heart wants. Take a current MSF course and ATGATT.

Still I could not resist......
View attachment 110295

Reminds me of the saying... Mopeds are fun as hell to ride, but you don't want other people to see you enjoying the ride.
 

crgildart

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That's not the WHOLE saying. Just saying... :geek:
Right.. Mopeds are like 4 door sport sedans. Both are fun as hell but you don't want your friends to see you enjoying them.
 

Andy Mink

Everyone loves spring skiing but not in January
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Right.. Mopeds are like 4 door sport sedans. Both are fun as hell but you don't want your friends to see you enjoying them.
Close enough.
 

sparty

Out on the slopes
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Feb 15, 2018
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...That allowed me to gain enough skills, wisdom and experience to have a long life on bikes. A buddy and I were sport-touring through the city and we happened to catch up to a group ride..it was a complicated highway area in a valley with many ramps and turns. We came up on the group but we were going a different way so we were in the process of passing them on the left about to go up a different ramp and 2 people came flying from behind, didn't anticipate the 30kmh ramp the group was about to negotiate and plowed right into the back of someone. ...

I still remember being on a group ride when someone pulled out of a driveway ahead of us and almost everyone stopped right-quick...except for the guy in the back who went up the middle of the group, but still managed to stop without colliding. I think we must've been riding staggered, otherwise, I'm not quite sure how that would've worked.

He did apply a lot of front brake to get the bike stopped, as I recall that his back wheel was off the ground as he went by.

IMO, small group rides are worth the trade-offs, particularly as long as you're willing to check your own ego and ride your own ride, but things can quickly go haywire as the numbers of riders involved goes up. I was lucky enough that I happened to end up riding with a bunch of guys who were into riding as a sport, thus both putting in enough seat time and putting in the effort to actively improve their riding (a significant percentage of that group had track habits).

Giant group rides are...different. I rode in the Killington Classic parade to Rutland one year for the heck of it, and it was kinda cool to be in a line of bikes as far as I could see, but I don't think I'd have wanted to go any further. I did witness some scary "riding", particularly people who really struggled to make sweeping turns at parade speed.
 

François Pugh

Skiing the powder
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Great White North (Eastern side currently)
I'm a loner, a bit of a speed deamon, and a reformed squid. I've never been on a group ride, but I have riden with a couple of friends/aquaintances/neighbours/co-workers. We took turns in the lead. Keeping up with each other was never an issue; we all knew where we were going and that if we got separated, the leader would pull over and wait a while.
 

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