SpyderCop715
10-19-2014, 12:50 PM
Last week we had our annual Ohio Spyder Ryders club rally:yes::yes:. 1st I want to say that all the planning & hard work put in by the Ohio Spyder Ryders team along with the Pa. Spyder Ryders team was absolutely impressive:thumbup:. The ride routes were unbelievable:yes:.
We had a couple of incidents & seeing as how we had over 100 Spyders in attendance everything went fairly well. We had a safety team at the Rally location that was on site the whole 3 day event & unfortunately they were needed on a few occasions & did a fantastic job.
Now to my point. While on one of the rides there was an accident that could have been disastrous. Before each ride, the ride leaders gave safety briefings & described the ride in hopes to let the novices :lecturef_smilie:stay away from certain rides due to the nature of the ride & experience level of the rider. This particular ride had a lot of tight curves & some long down hill sweeping curves leading up to the hills. Prior to the start of the ride the Leader made mention that we had a new couple riding with us, (Unknown if they were new to the Spyder or just the group). For this reason they were placed behind the leader & because it was a fairly long ride he said that he would let them set the pace as this was listed as a spirited ride. During the ride I was quite impressed at how the group of approximately 30 were keeping together & the ride was going at a very fun pace, & we were hitting some great curves & I was impressed at how well the new couple was riding. Then about 30 miles into the ride we were just coming out of a set of tight curves & were on a long downhill sweeping curve that should have been no problem. I was near the rear & did not see the wreck, but as soon as I came out of the tight curve & started the downhill I saw bikes stopping & people running to help. After talking to several people that saw it, the new couple was coming down the hill into the long sweep & kept drifting into the oncoming lane. The driver could not bring the his bike back into his lane & then attempted to stop & struck a guardrail. His wife went air born over the the guardrail & down a hill:yikes:. Luckily the ground was fairly soft & she balled herself up & rolled:pray:. She had a cut across the bridge of her nose & a couple of good sized knots on her head. Her helmet had one small nick which is where the largest knot was, but it saved her life. After we made sure they were ok, one of the passenger riders that were behind them checked the suspension setting on the bike because she had noticed during the ride that they tended to drift quite a bit on the sweeping curves. She found that the suspension was set all the way down on the soft setting, which was making it very hard for them to maintain control on this type of ride, her husband told her to mind her own business. Well my opinion, safety is everyone's business. I talked to the driver later & did learn that he had ridden 2 wheelers for years. I didn't ask how long he had been riding the Spyder.
Thankfully they were ok:pray:, because it could have been much worse. To the planning part, it was more than impressive:thumbup:. No one could get a cell phone signal, so the ride leader rode to the nearest house & called the safety team who responded & towed the bike back to the Rally area. After putting our heads together :dontknow:we where able to dig a big enough hole to get the left wheel back underneath the guardrail & push it out. I was not impressed with how many 4 wheelers just drove by us & didn't offer any help:mad:, but our leaders & the excellent planning paid off.
I know this is a long post, but if it saves one person from making this type of mistake in the future then it is worth it.
Please know your :spyder2:. Know your limitations & experience level. Please do not mess:lecturef_smilie: with your suspension settings unless you know exactly how your Spyder will respond. I am by no means knocking the operator, only trying to give some advise. When in doubt:dontknow: let the RT adjust itself.
We had a couple of incidents & seeing as how we had over 100 Spyders in attendance everything went fairly well. We had a safety team at the Rally location that was on site the whole 3 day event & unfortunately they were needed on a few occasions & did a fantastic job.
Now to my point. While on one of the rides there was an accident that could have been disastrous. Before each ride, the ride leaders gave safety briefings & described the ride in hopes to let the novices :lecturef_smilie:stay away from certain rides due to the nature of the ride & experience level of the rider. This particular ride had a lot of tight curves & some long down hill sweeping curves leading up to the hills. Prior to the start of the ride the Leader made mention that we had a new couple riding with us, (Unknown if they were new to the Spyder or just the group). For this reason they were placed behind the leader & because it was a fairly long ride he said that he would let them set the pace as this was listed as a spirited ride. During the ride I was quite impressed at how the group of approximately 30 were keeping together & the ride was going at a very fun pace, & we were hitting some great curves & I was impressed at how well the new couple was riding. Then about 30 miles into the ride we were just coming out of a set of tight curves & were on a long downhill sweeping curve that should have been no problem. I was near the rear & did not see the wreck, but as soon as I came out of the tight curve & started the downhill I saw bikes stopping & people running to help. After talking to several people that saw it, the new couple was coming down the hill into the long sweep & kept drifting into the oncoming lane. The driver could not bring the his bike back into his lane & then attempted to stop & struck a guardrail. His wife went air born over the the guardrail & down a hill:yikes:. Luckily the ground was fairly soft & she balled herself up & rolled:pray:. She had a cut across the bridge of her nose & a couple of good sized knots on her head. Her helmet had one small nick which is where the largest knot was, but it saved her life. After we made sure they were ok, one of the passenger riders that were behind them checked the suspension setting on the bike because she had noticed during the ride that they tended to drift quite a bit on the sweeping curves. She found that the suspension was set all the way down on the soft setting, which was making it very hard for them to maintain control on this type of ride, her husband told her to mind her own business. Well my opinion, safety is everyone's business. I talked to the driver later & did learn that he had ridden 2 wheelers for years. I didn't ask how long he had been riding the Spyder.
Thankfully they were ok:pray:, because it could have been much worse. To the planning part, it was more than impressive:thumbup:. No one could get a cell phone signal, so the ride leader rode to the nearest house & called the safety team who responded & towed the bike back to the Rally area. After putting our heads together :dontknow:we where able to dig a big enough hole to get the left wheel back underneath the guardrail & push it out. I was not impressed with how many 4 wheelers just drove by us & didn't offer any help:mad:, but our leaders & the excellent planning paid off.
I know this is a long post, but if it saves one person from making this type of mistake in the future then it is worth it.
Please know your :spyder2:. Know your limitations & experience level. Please do not mess:lecturef_smilie: with your suspension settings unless you know exactly how your Spyder will respond. I am by no means knocking the operator, only trying to give some advise. When in doubt:dontknow: let the RT adjust itself.