thedrizel
10-03-2006, 07:48 PM
So I'm just back from my last mtn trip for this year. What an interesting 4 days. We had pretty good weather, the roads were in pretty good shape. Just shy of 1200 miles done from Friday to Monday noon. Had a lot of fog in the mornings so we kept getting late starts (around 9am). We got a little rain Saturday just outside of Mtn. City NC. Hwy 28 down around Fontana had a helicopter waiting in a small roadside parking lot with the rotor turning and we found out why about 1/4 mile further up the road. Seems a cruiser augered into a tree. Godspeed to the rider.....didn't look good.
I did find out Givi bags on a KTM Adventure do crash very well as I witnessed a cool lowside right in front me. Some guy was running low on gas and wanted to keep it in 6th gear (so he told me when I pulled him out of the woods) so as not to use too much fuel. I was approaching a corner and he was already on the ground sliding off the road. Dragonslayer'
But by far, the most interesting thing we saw was a young dude in a Ford Focus SVT. He appeared like he wanted to play and keep us behind him....and he did for about 10 seconds!
THEN
http://www.dualsportridersoflouisiana.com/photopost/data/500/medium/focus1.jpg
We estimated he left the road over 100mph (and I'm NOT joking) and made impact with a 10 ton boulder on the side of the road which instantly flung him up and over landing in the exact position you see in the picture.
http://www.dualsportridersoflouisiana.com/photopost/data/500/focus2.jpg
Somehow I was able to stop VERY quickly, jumped off the bike and jumped into the creek to help the guy because the car was on fire at the time. WOW! To see that happen is just amazing. The thing just look like it blew up. There were pieces of car, fenceposts, grass, smoke, fire, steam, everwhere. The battery was slung out of the car and was about 20 ft away WITHOUT the terminals. They were still attached to the cables....lol
The more amazing part of it all, the guy climed out of the car himself and we found out later the next day, the hospital released him that night after finding NO broken bones and NO head injuries. He was bruised as you could imagine, but all of us on the scene expected him to be dead. The man upstairs was really looking out for this guy.
Anyway, we made it back last night just before midnight and none of us were hurt so it was a good trip. I've got a few months before planning the next ride....I'm gonna need it!
I did find out Givi bags on a KTM Adventure do crash very well as I witnessed a cool lowside right in front me. Some guy was running low on gas and wanted to keep it in 6th gear (so he told me when I pulled him out of the woods) so as not to use too much fuel. I was approaching a corner and he was already on the ground sliding off the road. Dragonslayer'
But by far, the most interesting thing we saw was a young dude in a Ford Focus SVT. He appeared like he wanted to play and keep us behind him....and he did for about 10 seconds!
THEN
http://www.dualsportridersoflouisiana.com/photopost/data/500/medium/focus1.jpg
We estimated he left the road over 100mph (and I'm NOT joking) and made impact with a 10 ton boulder on the side of the road which instantly flung him up and over landing in the exact position you see in the picture.
http://www.dualsportridersoflouisiana.com/photopost/data/500/focus2.jpg
Somehow I was able to stop VERY quickly, jumped off the bike and jumped into the creek to help the guy because the car was on fire at the time. WOW! To see that happen is just amazing. The thing just look like it blew up. There were pieces of car, fenceposts, grass, smoke, fire, steam, everwhere. The battery was slung out of the car and was about 20 ft away WITHOUT the terminals. They were still attached to the cables....lol
The more amazing part of it all, the guy climed out of the car himself and we found out later the next day, the hospital released him that night after finding NO broken bones and NO head injuries. He was bruised as you could imagine, but all of us on the scene expected him to be dead. The man upstairs was really looking out for this guy.
Anyway, we made it back last night just before midnight and none of us were hurt so it was a good trip. I've got a few months before planning the next ride....I'm gonna need it!