Wilsons Sandbox

> I heard about an accident that happened yesterday where I live that > relates to something Gino, Mike, Fred and I, plus some others were > speculating about while standing in front of a pristine little lake above > Moab. > It was about intentionally laying a bike down in a situation where it > looked like that was the only way to go. We were questioning how realistic > that was. Could you really do it. You would have no time to think, just > react. You would almost have had to be planning it or thinking about in

your

> mind regularly, because it would almost have to be an instinctive thing,

no

> hesitation. Most of the views were it would be almost impossible to do in

a

> high speed, quick wrong move thing. > Well, the accident that happened yesterday involved a Harley, Goldwing > and a truck. > The two bikes were traveling at about 50mph, going out of town on a four > lane road. > A truck turned left in front of both of them > ( they were abreast of each other, using both lanes). The Harley guy laid > his bike down, just in time to catch the rear wheel of the truck. He came > out ok, bruised and a little road rash. > The Goldwing t-boned the truck and was seriously injured. I know one of

the

> witnesses and he said that the truck was so close when it turned, the

Harley

> guy had to have been anticipating it, because he immediately laid the bike > down, on purpose. > For what it`s worth, the driver, of course, says he didn`t see the > bikes. They both had lights on, bright sunny day, both riders dark

dressed,

> dark bikes, with traffic behind them. >

Once as a teenager, riding across the open desert with my friends, my friend Rodger saved himself from being cut in half by a strand of barbed wire by quickly laying his bike down. His bike slid under the wire, and he stopped right under it. I barely had enough time to hit my brakes and avoid hitting him and the wire, and I was at least two seconds behind (good stiff wind was carrying the trail dust away, so the visibility was good.) I really don't know where you could practice this except on the dirt, and that hurts bad. Speaking of the desert, my beloved riding grounds is now a smoldering ruin, and the fire is still spreading here at Hanford. I'm sure that before it recovers enough to once again ride on, the BLM will have it closed off forever, so I don't think I'll ever get to ride out there again. I'm really kind of bummed about it. The Arid Land Ecology Preserve is half destroyed. I was watching the CH-47 Chinook helicopters dip their tanks in the Columbia River all day today, making passes at the fire, and a fixed wing aircraft spraying fire retardant. Pretty depressing stuff. Jeff

> Speaking of the desert, my beloved riding grounds is now a smoldering > ruin, > and the fire is still spreading here at Hanford. I'm sure that > before it > recovers enough to once again ride on, the BLM will have it closed off > forever, so I don't think I'll ever get to ride out there again. I'm > really > kind of bummed about it. The Arid Land Ecology Preserve is half > destroyed. > I was watching the CH-47 Chinook helicopters dip their tanks in the > Columbia > River all day today, making passes at the fire, and a fixed wing > aircraft > spraying fire retardant. Pretty depressing stuff. > > I emphathise with you. It is always a terrible shame when a beautiful > area is lost. Forest burning is a natural phenomenon that the forest > uses to replenish itself. Unfortunately, unreasonable restrictions on > land usage have caused an overgrowth of both trees and the tinderous > undergrowth, which results in fires much larger than they should be. > We all know the groups responsible for this, so we don't need to > point the big fingers, but damn, when are they gonna learn? But, I > digress. I feel for you, and others, my friend. You were fortunate > enough to live in a gorgeous area and it has been temporarily lost. I > don't know if it will work, but perhaps you can get some fellow > riders together to rebuild a trail or two and also replant trees and > erosion protecting undergrowth. In this way, you may get your riding > area back quicker, as well as shining a glowing light on the efforts > of the local bike riders. Just a thought. Anyway, sorry to hear about > the loss of the area. >

Oh, I'm sure that the trails that were there are still there. Erosion is a non-issue out here really, and drifting sand is a bigger hazard to trails, but that just adds to the fun. (A lot of the time, I would just head straight across the desert floor.) As for trees, well the biggest trees were the "Artemesia tridentata" or big sage brush. Granted, some of those were hundreds of years old, but they will grow back, and probably some of them will even survive. The desert itself will now be more fertile with the ash added to the soil. My big concern is for the ALE, or Arid Land Ecology site, which included Rattlesnake Mountain, which is the tallest treeless mountain in North America. The ALE was the only spot of pristine desert left. Now that the indigenous plants have been burned, the more invasive, non-indigenous opportunistic plants will move in, like the tumbleweed. (the seeds of which came over in a wheat shipment from Russia in the 1800's, when they wanted to grow the hearty winter wheat from the Russian Steppes here.) There was also a large herd of elk at the ALE, which have now lost a lot of fodder. Fires happen here in the semi-arid desert steppe land, they happen all the time and are part of the natural cycle that adds nutrients back to the soil and keep it from becoming depleted. (This is also important for the forest. Douglas fir seeds don't even germinate unless subjected to scorching and ashy soil. And in the Everglades, without fire that area would turn into solid land and the swamps would be gone forever.) This fire started from a car crash though, and not from a lightning strike. Also, the fire breaks that used to be maintained along the highway haven't been for the last eight years or so, and the fire easily jumped the highway. The desert will come back, but probably not the same as before, and meanwhile, the BLM will probably close off the remaining areas I had to ride in. A really funny story I heard about this. The national media called a local scientist, concerned about the buildings here at Hanford with the fire. "Was any radiation released?" they asked him. "Well yes, of course!" was his answer. "Can you give any estimates on how much radiation was released?" the smug "I told you so" doomsayer media spokesmouth asked. "Well, you have to estimate the amount of biomass per acre, then the number of BTU's per kilogram of biomass, and then multiply that by the total number of acres burned." was the scientist's answer. People don't seem to understand that they are subjected to radiation on a daily basis. Right now you are getting irradiated by your computer screen. Not to worry, the major buildings built here at Hanford were built to withstand fire and earthquakes. Thanks for your kind words, but things aren't as bad as they seem today, life goes on. I feel really bad for the people out in Benton City and West Richland who lost homes and barns. (I think I heard that a total of 32 structures were lost.) Jeff

> Not to worry, the major buildings built here at Hanford were built to > withstand fire and earthquakes.

ROTFLOL!! I hope that you don't work for Fluor Hanford.... But I worked for a small nuclear waste remediation company that bid on one of the tanks out there so I have some intimate knowledge of the site, most specifically the tanks. We'll just leave it at I don't think their deteriorating single shelled tanks could withstand anything more than a swift kick, much less rapid heating, cooling and earthquakes. I hope that you wrote that comment in jest... If not I'll see if I can get ahold of some of the scariest footage I've ever seen (you ever been able to see _through_ a tank because it had decayed so much? Or witness a maintenance worker throw a 2 foot cresent wrench into a waste tank simply because they didn't want to decon it? Talk about wrecking havoc with remediation technologies, try fitting that one into your system requirements). Zack

> Here is what I've experienced > > 1. One or my riding buddies (Harley) from long ago "laid 'er down" Right > arm had to be amputated - but he lived and has adjusted to his handicap,

but

> no more bike riding.. > > 2. I t-boned a car that failed to yield the right of way by turning into

my

> path. It happened so quick that all I could do was grab the binders, "Oh

no,

> I'm going to hit, ....." - and BAM! I lived (thank you Lord), few broken > bones and deep knee wound, full recovery in 6 months. There way no way to > lay it down and if I could have I wouldn't have - good tires on pavement > offer more control than metal and plastic sliding on pavement. If I had

laid

> it down, I would have wadded up under the car instead of flying over the

car.

> In this case, "flying over" was much better than "wadded under". > > Here is my take on "Laying it Down". Don't do it on purpose. I believe

that

> if you are going too fast to turn thus avoiding impact, that your best

option

> is to stand the bike up and apply maximum braking effort, less speed=less > force at impact=less damage to bike and body. If you scrub off enough

speed

> you might be able to avoid impact at the last second.. When you "lay 'er > down" you have no control and could very likely wind up hurt much worse, > JMHO. Riding a bike safely is all "being seen" and being in control > .......ride like your life depends on it, cuz it does. >

Panic stops and emergency counter-steer maneuvers are great things to practice, and this has saved my life in the past. You really only need three feet of room, and most times you can find this in between cars. I recommend going to an empth parking lot, with those concrete parking stops. Ride straight at one at speed, then practice your panic stop and counter steer, stop just before one, or go around it and in between. If worst case, you can bump over it without any damage hopefully. Great training aid, and I practice this myself a couple of times a year, great time to practice all low speed maneuvers and wheelies too. Jeff