- This topic has 37 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 03/27/2016 | 16:45 by .
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Leaving Irv Seavers at 8:30am sharp, meet for Bfast at Katella Grill at 7:00am if interested. Will be riding a good long day ride, out freeway to Joshua Tree National Park, NW entrance, through the park heading East, then back to Palm Springs, up Hwy 74 and West to the coast. My attempt at planning the route is attached. Will have maps and a final gpx file if any changes occur.
FYI, Lunch will be Picnic style at the Keys Lookout in Joshua Tree NP, so plan on bringing lunch, and yes Dale S a table cloth! Sharing your lunch is optional!
Update: The site did not let me upload a gpx file, or at least that was the message. If you are going and want a copy of the file, email me at [email protected] and I will send it out. Thanks.
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Looking forward to next weeks ride, the weather appears to be cooperating we will be able to hit the desert, a national park, up to the pines and back home along the beach. Have to love California riding!
I am having a challenge uploading the map or GPS file to this site, if you would like it prior to next weekend, email me me at [email protected]. I will have paper copies at the pre-ride meeting at 8:15am, KSU 8:30am. Look forward lots of great roads, picnic in the park (BYO Lunch!) and great views!
See you Saturday
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Well, for the full story you will have to wait until the newsletter. But suffice it to say I have way more respect for ride leaders and am still amazed at GPS gremlins! Thank you to the 15 rides and drivers we had on 13 bikes. I had a great day for the most part, very dissapointed in the GPS malfunction in Palm Springs that fractured the group. I trust sub groups mad it home. Really enjoyed meeting new member Greg and the big smile he had after running the sweepers through the east end of the park.
We went from
The coast to the desert, to the pines and ended near the coast. Went from 48 degrees at 6am to 87 degrees in Joshua Tree, back to 47 degrees in the pines near Idylwild and 69 back at the coast. We saw views from Joshua Trees to the Southern rim of the Cochella Valley down to the valley floor and then back up to see the view from the Southern rim!I do feel I have to share my biggest regret however. It is Mark & Cindy’s story to share in detail, but I know they would appreciate your prayers. The went down on the 74 as we were heading West nearing Hemet. I do not know details, however they were going to be evaluated at Riverside General. Again, they can share details, I just hoped you would pray for a good outcome. I am so sorry thier day ended this way.
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Perhaps Bill, I think we as a membership can positively consider what we as a group can do for the individual riders to reduce these incidents and yet continue to enjoy this sport however we individually enjoy it. Streemasters was and the BOD refreshing ride leader guidelines are a good start, I look forward to continuing this effort.
Thanks for your support and wisdom in this discussion.
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Thanks everyone for your prayers, good wishes, and offers of assistance. Cindy and I truly appreciate it. Right now our adult kids and my brother are helping with the immediate needs.
Even though I’m new to the club, I’ve been riding dirt and street bikes most of my life. Saturday, I found myself in a situation that I shouldn’t have been in in the first place and I freaked out. I hit the brakes hard which wasn’t the right move. It changed the bike’s trajectory out of the turn into the shoulder. At that point I lost control of the bike. The next thing I remember was coming to in the middle of Ortega Highway flat on my back.
The paramedics took us to Riverside University Hospital Trauma center. I was rung through the ringer but only had 3 broken ribs (If you’ve never had a broken rib, they hurt like a mother). Cindy is a little worse off. She has 5 broken ribs, a broken shoulder, and possibly some internal chest bruising. She was admitted for observation and pain management. Not a good ending to a pretty good day.
It certainly could have been worse. One positive thing I can say is we had state-of-the-art protective gear on from head to toe. Cordura pants with armor knee and hip inserts, leather riding jackets with full armor, high-end full face helmets, steel toed boots, and leather riding gloves. The pants wore through on my left side but hardly scratched the armor. The leather on my left boot wore down to the steel. Cindy’s helmet took a hard hit to the face that wouldn’t have been protected by a half or open face helmet. The only road rash I got was because I left my jacket half way unzipped because of the afternoon heat. That allowed it to roll back over my shoulder on impact, exposing my shoulder to the mercy of the road. Similarly, Cindy’s jacket was compromised by a faulty zipper which I think might account for her more extensive injuries. The zipper broke when we were suiting up after lunch. It zipped up but didn’t pull the zipper together. Then it got stuck and we couldn’t get it back down. We said forget it, we’ll fix it at home. Bad decision. The jacket was much less functional.
I’m sure my bike is AFU. I remember seeing it upright on the side of the road as I was getting in the ambulance. Kind of surreal. Some good samaritan’s righted it and moved it off to the side of the road. So, it might not be a total loss. A little touch up paint might do the trick.
Then, on the way to the hospital this morning, I see a couple riding on the freeway with half helmets & tee shirts going at least 70 in the carpool lane. Kind of made me shutter.
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Everyone – Cindy is doing much better today. You all must be praying. Thanks 😉
Cindy is up and walking around a bit. The doctors said she’ll be sore for a while but should be back to normal in 4 – 6 weeks. -
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Another update.
First of all Cindy & I are blown away by the kindness and support of the club members. We are new to the club and yet you have treated like family. You all are the best! I’m not kidding. Offers for dinners, house cleaning, transportation, towing for my bike, literally “anything we need” has been offered! Irv Seaver, especially Jeff in service, has been helpful too offering advice and assistance. Most importantly we want to thank everyone for your prayers.
So it’s been almost 2 weeks since the accident and there’s been much improvement. Cindy’s doing well but will be on disability for 1 or 2 months until she regains full use of her left arm. She’s in good spirits and is doing better every day. She saw her primary care physician yesterday and has physical therapy twice a week at home. Everyone is pleased with her progress.
I’m almost recovered and went back to work this week. I’m a little sore but am fine as long as I don’t cough or sneeze.
I heard from the insurance adjuster today. I’m sorry to say the bike is totaled. I was kind of surprised but it did take a hard fall. They’re paying me about 95% of what I paid for it, plus original sales tax, plus replacement cost of the damaged gear. Pretty darn good.
See you all at the next club meeting.
Mark & Cindy
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Karl – I think there is one change that would provide immediate and dramatic results: Return Bill Reitz to the role of Ride Captain for the day rides. While he was Ride Captain, there were never any performance awards or accidents AFAIK. To placate the hoons in the club, the club could organize a couple of track days (paid for by the participants, of course) so they can get their speed fix. Something more needs to be done because, apparently, the efforts to organize Street Masters and other safety related efforts are not reaching as far nor as fast as they should.
It appears someone deleted my original post.
Thank you,
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Karl – I agree with Bill. I thought we were going too fast through JT. With that said, you told us in the pre-ride meeting at Irv’s, if we wanted to go slower to just let you know so you wouldn’t be looking or waiting for us. I also want to say this is nobody’s fault but mine. I know better.
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Great to hear you and Cindy are doing better Mark. Look forward to your guys full recovery!
I received an offer to assist you with bike transport from another club member. Email me if you would like to make that contact.
See you guys soon!
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Good to hear that Mark and Cindy are not too damaged. Really great news! Everything else can be repurchased.
I remember the rider briefing on the first ride that Lisa and I rode with the Club. The instructions were to keep the bike behind you in your mirrors. If you lost them, slow until they caught up. If you think this through, it means that the pace is set by the slowest bike and that the group stays together. Bill was always good at implementing this policy.
But this system did not make everybody happy. The more sporting riders wanted to go faster to enjoy their bikes. For a while we solved this problem by splitting into two groups, one faster. one slower.
Than the rule in the fast group morphed into try to keep up with the fastest. Great fun as long as you don’t get hurt! But competition being what it is sometimes you do get hurt.
Maybe it’s time think these things through again in an attempt to reduce the accident rate on Club rides. Motorcycles are dangerous and I have always told Lisa that it is when we fall off, not if. Having said that, it still makes sense for the Club to implement reasonable measures to minimize accidents.
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OMG… I have been away from this website, and as I started to read the last posted comments – Bob H. with wordings … “Good to hear that Mark and Cindy are not too damaged“, I immediately jumped to the top to find out what happened.
Mark & Cindy, I am so glad that you guys are okay and recovering.
For those guys who haven’t ridden with Mark, let me tell you, Mark has good skills to maneuver K1600 GTL Exclusive with passenger. What happened to Mark, could potentially happen to anyone of us. In panic we all make choices – good or bad and you only find out later if it was good or bad. With that been said, let’s look on the bright side – (a) Thank God as it could have been worse, (b) Mark pointed out insight to his gear and dysfunctional items, so that should be a learning for all of us, and we need to revisit our own gear that we have been wearing for long. Lastly, (c) perhaps we should all slow down a bit, at least for a while to reflect that you need to come home alive to your families.
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Hi Bill. I went with a 2016 RT in metallic ebony. I loved my 6. It’s an amazing machine and I’d like to get another one some day, but it’s a big bike and I dropped it twice in 6 months during low speed u-turns. It’s got a high center of balance that ocassionally caught me off guard. I think I’m a pretty good rider but I was never 100% confident on it. I also considered getting a GS but Cindy wasn’t thrilled about that. After talking it over with Kevin and others at Irv Seaver’s we went with a nicely equipped RT.
The RT doesn’t have brute force power and torque of the 6 but it’s lighter, and in my opinion, more nimble and sportier too. I think it’s better looking as well. And it costs a bit less.
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