Local HOG chapter met another chapter midway between the two towns, and then on for hot dogs.

Roughly 50-60 bikes, riding on beautiful two lane roads. I'm near the front, my father in law behind me, and when we came to a straight section I could see all the bikes behind my FIL. Then, a few more curves, and then another straight, and nobody behind my FIL.

****, that can't be good.

Found out that there was a car that was waiting to get on to the road, got irritated about waiting, and after my FIL passed the car the driver apparently saw a gap that he thought he could fit in to and gunned it on to the road. This was in the middle of essentially a blind curve. My FIL said the car came on to the road so fast he thought the guy was going to run up on his rear end.

Apparently, as the next few bikes rounded the curve, one rider saw the car where only another bike had been a few seconds earlier, was startled, locked up the rear wheel, and crashed without even getting close to the car.

And, obviously, bikes don't stop nearly as well while sliding on pavement on tiny little points of engine guards, footboards, and bag guards as they stop if the front brake is properly used, so if the rider had simply used the front brake correctly, nothing would have happened.

So, naturally, everyone was blaming the cage driver.

Ok, so the jerk pulled into the middle of the line of bikes, but this happens every day...a car pulls into a line of traffic, and you have to brake in order to slow down enough to not hit the car that pulled into your lane. It's normal. It's part of driving in traffic.

And, on a bike, you need to know how to use the brakes, sometimes aggressively. It's part of riding.

Luckily, the rider wasn't seriously hurt, although she got a ride in an ambulance.

Skills, folks, it's all about skills. If you've never taken a riding course, take one.

 

This is why I don,t do group rides any more...squids, amateurs, big egos and major A-holes.
Was gonna try one but got kicked out before I could join up and that was actually a good thing for me...blessing in disguise.

 

There's another local riding group besides the local HOG chapter. We went on one ride with them.

ONE.

The lead rider, the road captain, entered one curve going so fast that he barely made it. When we stopped for lunch he was laughing about it: "Yeah, I was dragging my footboard thinking PUSH, PUSH, trying to make the curve. Got my attention! HAHA!"

WTF. This is the lead guy? What a jagoff. Last time we rode with that group.

 

Sounds like the same kind of guy that booted me.

 

BOOM, there it is! Yeah, you can hold the cage partially responsible, but like OP implied, something like this was easily preventable.

I have to say, I full well expected this to be just another "rider down & did absolutely nothing wrong" thread. It's refreshing to finally see someone actually put the blame where it belongs. Nice going OP!

 

Completely agree with this. Nice to see someone not waving their blame finger around and not taking responsibility for their own actions or lack thereof.

 

Reasons why I stay in groups of 3 to 5, and I'm picky about those too.

 

amen!

 

I ride with a group. Me, Myself, and I. That way I can devote my full attention to Myself and Me. And every thing else around us.

 

Thank you, gentlemen. Honestly, I was more than a little afraid of the possible reaction to my post.

I had a related conversation recently with another rider who utterly rejected the possibility that, just maybe, the cage driver isn't always 100% at fault. I ended up sharing this thought with him, and I sincerely do not intend for this comment to be taken as sarcastic or snarky in any way, but:

Just because a car pulls out in front of you does not mean you are obligated to hit it.

In fact, if possible, you should do everything possible to avoid such an end result. While there are certainly situations where there was absolutely nothing a rider could have done to avoid the crash, in the vast, vast majority of cases at least some of responsibility rests with the rider, if nothing else than doing a better job of paying attention.

It's on us, it's always on us. Ride safe, guys.