Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Jeez........motorcyclists don't do well here

Years ago when I was a nurse we called them donor cycles. A lot of good donor organs come from donor cycle wrecks.

Bb

I was invited by an Uncle to go to Loa (central Utah) and help get his mother in law set up for the winter and then back for the summer several times growing up in SLC that country was absolutely gorgeous we would park in the local Fish Hatchery and everyone that worked there knew my Uncle and we would walk threw the hatchery climb up and over a wooden latter built over a barbed wire fence and go fishing when we were done we would climb back over that fence and walk right threw the Hatchery with our catch for the day. Then other days he would take me to Bicknel Bottoms( I do not know if the spelling is correct for the spelling Nazi's) and he would catch some big Brown Trout from that place. The Cheese factor was GREAT as well.
Utah has some GREAT paces in it and they also have some very screwed up places.

seems to be the norm

'Organ donors'

But for all the good 24HR riders

Ride safe.........

Stay of I 15 & HWY 6 in Utah !

I used to have road bikes for a while there and used to think I was good enough to avoid a bad situation, and, along with luck, I never had a serious accident. As I got older I wised up and realised that you can't rely on skills alone and need to also rely on others and some luck, and denial of any circumstances that would be beyond your ability and control.

There are things worse that death that are avoidable, so I stopped riding.

I lost my nerve for street bikes in 1979. I never saw the sense in being dead right.

Now that's rotten luck

Started riding when I was 10 years old got a road bike before I had a car when I was 16 both my brothers also had bikes my brother got killed in 1990....I had several close calls when and quit riding last year after having a stroke....I miss riding.....

No bike crash here......

I 70 major pile up yesterday east of here..MP 120 near Eagle Canyon

Haven't heard what happened

https://www.ksl.com/article/50449202/multivehicle-pileup-closes-eastbound-i-70-in-emery-county

Have owned motorcycles since I was a teenager. Started on a Honda 350 SL, then went off road to a 360 Bultaco and bought a HD 1000 Iron Head Sportster for on road riding in early 1970s. Bought a new Kawasaki 900 in 1974, what an engine, suspension sucked and was incapable of taking advantage of the bikes power in a safe manner.

Bought a new 1995 Ducati 900 SS (Supersport) and rode it for the next 20 years. In the midst of the timeline I saw so many distracted drivers in the new cell phone era. Young women are the worst. Had to take evasive actions a few times after being run off the road by distracted drivers making lane changes without looking. Still have the Ducati, gonna be 68 YO in a couple months, haven’t ridden the Ducati for 6 years now, but still like looking at it, it is a true work of art.

On another note there are bikers I call “lost boys” who are terribly careless in their use of a motorcycle. They carry too much speed. Carrying too much speed on any bike, especially ones that have prodigious weight are impossible to stop in a real pinch. One rule of thumb I have always used is to control your environment. Your chances of enjoying a motorcycle ride at 6:00 am on a Sunday morning on some back highway is much more safe and less stressful than riding anywhere in the middle of city traffic, especially rush hour. You can’t begin to control the environment with hundreds of drivers about. You are so disadvantaged in this scenario.

With today’s distracted drivers I would never contemplate using my motorcycle as a general transportation vehicle. Your chances of being hurt or killed go up significantly, especially with careless cell phone users at rush hour. However you can be driving an isolated highway with exorbitant speed and hit any little thing and never recover. In the case of motorcycles, speed will kill you. Some new sport bikes carry 180 hp. That is bizarre and unnecessary for any street biking use.

Well, in a car or truck, you have seat belts and air-bags... Basic 'armor'... Soooo, don't be drivin' no car/truck either..

Good post - and I do exactly what you detailed above.. And yes, I did about three years on a dirt bike and did a bunch of hill-climbing.. That experience was worth it's weight in gold..

Only thing I'd add is this (well, MY rule) = the closer dense vegetation is to the roadway, the slower you should be goin'. 70-80 OK on a lightly traveled freeway, but narrower, back-country roads like we got around here - plus the plethora of deer - it's best to be under 50, depending.. FWIW.

In my early to mid 20's, I rode a Suzuki back and forth to work. I enjoyed the adrenaline rush, same reason I was the most gung-ho guy in my fire company. I had to be the first one to pack up and charge into a burning building. Loved the rush it gave me. The thrill was something I craved.

Now at 65, and thinking about my dad passing at 68, I'm grateful for every day God grants me. I have kept my motorcycle license current all this time, but the desire has faded.

Good old Cruiser Dan. Is he still there at the Cruiser museum?

never knew Cruiser Dan

And so........

they're still piling 'em up

https://www.ksl.com/article/5045153...-injured-in-3-separate-salt-lake-crashes

I had once bounce off of my shoulder at about 45 MPH. Glancing blow. Stank to high fugk.

Agree with all but the eye contact thing. Drivers will look right at you and never see you. Focus on the big picture, the escape route, and indication of turning in front of you (slowing, wheels turning, turn signal)

Yes, Paul, there's strategy going on all the time on two wheels. I do it on four as well and it's saved my @## more than once. In Utah, actually, my first trip ever coming down the freeway into Salt Lake. Guy had a trailer with too little tongue weight and he used all FIVE lanes to not roll. Craziest, most sinous skid marks I ever saw. But I spotted his load wandering and went defensive, all I did was move over quickly to the clearest lane and then get out of the throttle and coast down so I had time to watch the show.

I'll also endorse "overtaking" when safe to do so. It is way better to be reeling in hazards and clearing them than to have them sneak up behind you. I was also doing that at Salt Lake. Only exception is probably intersections. Sometimes I will place myself to use something much bigger as a shield. If an opposing left lane looks busy, I'll sneak into the rear quarter of whoever might be on my left so there's no way a left turner can hit me. Just for a second, never linger in the blind spot....nobody's gonna see you anyway, but it can be useful. Eye contact is not.

But it's all defensive. All the time.

Started on a small cycle at age 14 and quickly grew to love the freedom and oncoming air. Obvious risk was outweighed by the rush. Eventually had some very fast bikes then and pushed them hard. Simple solo enjoyment.

Later, when married and my wife told me "we are going to have a baby", immediately sold my bike (48 Indian Chief with all of the trimmings) and did not own one again until the girls were grown and on their own. Started again - same great feeling, and better knew how to maintain one and ride more sensibly.

Last big ride was in 2014 - three former students from the late 60s invited me to join in a week-long ride through the entire SW. Flew to LV to meet them, rented a nice one, and away we went. Total blast of enjoyment.

Other factors intervened - no riding since that. Still would if things were just right, and may. The world looks very different from a bike.

For the young studs out there

Utah's 5 Miles from Hell trail

Local to me........have never rode it

Probably wasn't even a developed trail in the 80's when I rode Honda XR's

This may be easier to watch