Post #107,400
6/26/03 1:36:58 PM
|
Hey, you be careful with that thing
I watched a guy buy it on a motorcycle last week.
Just up getting a drink of water about 2:00 am, I hear this screaming engine from far off getting louder, so I look out the window at Blake street, see the guy streak by, then hear the tires begin screaming and the crash (which was itself blocked by branches of a tree from my 4th floor vantage point). I did see the debris spray though. He hit the wall/railing of the bridge over Cherry creek right in front of the fire station at Speer. Ambulance/fire truck arrived in about 2 minutes - still too late.
There have been candles, flowers, balloons, and evening vigils for a week. Not pretty.
Motorcycles is dangerous I think.
"One of the main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was that,
lacking zero, they had no way to indicate successful termination
of their C programs."
-- Robert Firth
|
Post #107,402
6/26/03 1:51:50 PM
|
Two things
Motorcycles is dangerous I think. Being stupid is dangerous. Didn't you say, "screaming engine ... streak by"? I used to ride a bike. You'd never have described me that way, because I didn't ride that way. There have been candles, flowers, balloons, and evening vigils for a week. This is sometimes known as a "tard shrine". ===
Implicitly condoning stupidity since 2001.
|
Post #107,405
6/26/03 2:05:31 PM
|
There are times...
When being adventurous *IS* being stupid.
Going that fast *IN* a city or Heavy Population areas... he wasn't being Adventerous... he was being STUPID.
Granted, I may have been stupid in that sense at one time err another... but I was being stupid in areas where most obstacles were tumbleweeds and brush... oh and sand... LOTS less chance of being flattened in those areas...
FYI, I did get thrown from a bike @speed. Have ridden one since... mainly because PEOPLE don;t see them *UNLESS* they are as Big or as Loud as a CAR. I was lucky, I got thrown into "deep-sand" or loose sand, and I was wearing my full leather outfit with scrub-pads on the elbows and knees and very stiff leather for added support in long bone areas.
I was lucky.
| [link|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net|greg] - IT Grand-Master for Anti-President | | [link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry/|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] |
THEY ARE WATCHING YOU. The time has come for you to take the last step. You must love THEM. It is not enough to obey THEM. You must love THEM. PEACE BEGETS WAR, SLAVERY IS FREEDOM, STRENGTH IN IGNORANCE.
|
Post #107,413
6/26/03 2:22:01 PM
|
Re: There are times...
You are in a car doing 90. You hit another car. Inertia says, you keep going after car stops. If you're wearing your belt (I do), great. If not, you're going to hit the superstructure of your now-mangled car at about 90. So, riding a bike is roughly equivalent to driving without a belt - somewhat safer assuming an experienced rider, because you have better visibility, better maneuverability, and less likelihood of hitting something solid on a bad day (you might get launched over the hood).
After years of riding you develop a sixth sense for traffic flow.
The main thing is - don't ride while stimulated. Concentrate. Wear a hat.
-drl
|
Post #107,418
6/26/03 3:26:10 PM
|
Yes...
I was hit from behind.
I saw the Idiot in a Beemer, coming up behind me about 3 seconds to late. In the 3 or so I had left, I went from 55MPH to ~110MPH before he clipped my rear wheel.
Funny thing about it was it happened right on CHWY 62 right in front of the Joshua Tree CHP Post. Three CHPs saw it happen, because they heard my Bike ramp up and looked.
They caught the guy in Yucca Valley 5 mile down the road... Drunk as a skunk. He didn't even know he hit me.
I am not saying I wasn't stupid sometimes... I just chose areas where I'd have less risk of becoming a rock tattoo.
| [link|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net|greg] - IT Grand-Master for Anti-President | | [link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry/|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] |
THEY ARE WATCHING YOU. The time has come for you to take the last step. You must love THEM. It is not enough to obey THEM. You must love THEM. PEACE BEGETS WAR, SLAVERY IS FREEDOM, STRENGTH IN IGNORANCE.
|
Post #107,424
6/26/03 4:08:51 PM
|
They must have been *really* moving
You're doing 110 and he still hit you from behind. From a standing start they catch up to him in 5 miles, and two of it is that steep-ass downgrade. He must have stopped in Yucca Valley before the grade down to Palm Springs, otherwise they'd have never gotten him.
===
Implicitly condoning stupidity since 2001.
|
Post #107,429
6/26/03 4:58:59 PM
|
Oohhh___ bench racing
Another 'Great White Cars' story ('30s Germany - Bernd Rosemeyer and such in the fabulous Auto Unions) ie 'Audi' today, with the 4-rings logo: a mere shadow of its parent Self. Someone came up with this illustration of the extreme power/weight of these cars -
You are driving at 100 mph. You pass a white car stopped on the side of the [autobahn]. Some X-seconds later (was it 9? too lazy to calc some > 1G accel values possible with sticky tires) the White car has passed you, and is disappearing .. er, Fast!
Anyway - agree with your analysis.. even 2 minutes at 110 head start needs a Kawa ZX-11 type rocket to nail anytime soon. The sot must have slowed to use the cel fone.
I'm having trouble imagining Greg's trajectory, though not a lot.. (if'n ya don't encounter anything solid while er scrubbing off momentum).
One Rollie Free (then in his '50s) once slid off his Vincent "Black Lightning" (prone position = lying flat with feet straight out) at Bonneville. This may have been *before* he stripped to swim trunks, as he was running just under 150.0 mph, heading for a long-standing US "Class C" speed record. He thought the leathers were losing him a mph or so - and he was right.
I believe the fall-off is not an urban legend (via some contemporaries' reports) - but I'm not sure whether he accomplished the longest slide imaginable on salt du jour: in leathers or *skin*. {ugh}
Anyway and fershure - bikes are Not for the bravado-besotted or the Stupid - as any idiot could figure out. Uh.. maybe not. (I think that Moto-Cross demonstrates the limits of purely human controllability of physics! in 3-D; even more so than flying - you are constantly ricocheting from 'launch point' to the next one, spending most of the time (and distance) airborne. Only kids who start at ~5 yo - ever seem capable of this much suppression of fear when older: they never fell off, so have no imaginations of being hurt! - is one explanation.)
Space flight doesn't count except for.. say, a landing like Armstrong's in '69 and a few other True-[geek + guts] scenarios. He flew that sucker seat o'pants: Like A Motorcycle! only greatly handicapped by the bizarre spatial position of his body - while maneuvering. Virtuoso performance.
Vroom vroom
|
Post #107,431
6/26/03 5:21:25 PM
|
Yep...
Yeah he stopped in Yucca Valley and got some more Beer or something...
Plus the Radio is a bit Faster than ANY car... I didna mean to imply the three CHPs caught him... one of the ones on Patrol Did. Plus he was doing near the speed limit when the CHP stopped him.
| [link|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net|greg] - IT Grand-Master for Anti-President | | [link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry/|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] |
THEY ARE WATCHING YOU. The time has come for you to take the last step. You must love THEM. It is not enough to obey THEM. You must love THEM. PEACE BEGETS WAR, SLAVERY IS FREEDOM, STRENGTH IN IGNORANCE.
|
Post #107,435
6/26/03 5:57:46 PM
|
Too bad
If he'd tried to take [link|http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?email=1&mapdata=jZ2g%252b%252fXW8V%252bMbdkcu8TK55O9Fo8yhJ1oMAqBN0NtWdRwD%252bLjT%252fqZOBB%252fxG5VYDhupM%252b6cqn%252fJk0Fp8WNbNfRnQ0152w%252bHah4FjoefHU3ABhUgtcp77EoWKL8tWjOHq4V6syexfcg%252fJJ3bAewVQZxofdvQg9CEq1UKhh8dJrqHeIlj%252bAoEX1KGc8bPRmLMiukPwPS9cXxEiJPnRYwyLZNB6znf333rc5BlM4q7LC1iWc9Ew5ya6EGIdM9mJ5RrsvLj20S1WL7qsl8k8EoASiadTtvndr%252fmfK69L%252fxm67jIFhzX%252fy1%252fBaN5GxpLoBWao3HEYPKApGQ3E4hi%252b50c1BeEcUVV26itkFtbMFa7MQ34RZx0CBhI57WrbN3H7QGi%252bk51GBARp%252bz2KZQU0n%252bCt9eGKVeJce45CAHQwkNj%252fCsCBQRlrFpUZFv6Np1MDJZ1nudo6kfrjhMyWbi9HRqEsjTWA%253d%253d|the grade] down into Palm Springs at 110+ they wouldn't have had to stop him, just scoop him up.
===
Implicitly condoning stupidity since 2001.
|
Post #107,410
6/26/03 2:17:11 PM
|
Re: Hey, you be careful with that thing
Thanks for the concern - I've got a lot of experience and nothing to prove. I'm a safe rider. I wouldn't want to mess up my bike with blood and all that :)
-drl
|
Post #107,446
6/26/03 9:36:50 PM
|
Re: Motorcycles is dangerous I think
No more so than voluntarily stepping out of a perfectly functioning aircraft at altitude.
Seriously, the best research I've read says that GA flight is roughly equivalent to motorcycle riding. IMHO, either one is inherently dangerous, but it's all about managing risk.
bcnu,
Mikem
The soul and substance of what customarily ranks as patriotism is moral cowardice and always has been...We have thrown away the most valuable asset we had-- the individual's right to oppose both flag and country when he (just he, by himself) believed them to be in the wrong. We have thrown it away; and with it all that was really respectable about that grotesque and laughable word, Patriotism.
- Mark Twain, "Monarchical and Republican Patriotism"
|
Post #107,449
6/26/03 10:10:38 PM
|
Well, there are folks on waiting lists for liver transplants
praying for motocycle rider donors, usually guys who were in pretty good health.
Alex
"Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life." -- Eric Hoffer
|
Post #107,452
6/27/03 12:06:34 AM
|
As I tell my client . .
. . every time they try to interest me in a Ducati or Moto Guzi - I tend to skate way too close to the edge. It just wouldn't be a good idea.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
|
Post #107,453
6/27/03 12:15:52 AM
|
Guzzis are nice
Polaris is now making "Victory" motorcycles - they are retro and American and much better rides than Harleys. OHCs even. Starts at 13k. It reminded me of a Guzzi for no obvious reason (it's an inline V-twin like most cruisers) - it was big and solid and understated. Honda used to make the "Silver Wing". which was an opposed V-twin 500 but it always seemed like a caricature of a Guzzi. The cops had a lot of them.
-drl
|
Post #107,473
6/27/03 8:31:25 AM
|
flying presents zero risk
its that startup and shutdown thingy that has problems :-) Usually startups are from bad planning over or misloading plane, bad preflight etc or a wind sheer. Shutdown issues are also bad planning, very rarely an oops.
thanx,
bill
will work for cash and other incentives [link|http://home.tampabay.rr.com/boxley/resume/Resume.html|skill set]
questions, help? [link|mailto:pappas@catholic.org|email pappas at catholic.org]
As the Poets have mournfully sung.
Death takes the innocent young,
The rolling in money,
the screamingly funny,
And those who are very well hung.
W.H. Auden
|
Post #107,530
6/27/03 11:16:44 AM
|
"Failure to maintain altitude" will get you every time. :)
Alex
"Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life." -- Eric Hoffer
|
Post #107,542
6/27/03 12:04:38 PM
|
Re: "Failure to maintain altitude" will get you every time.
I always liked "CFIT" - controlled flight into terrain.
Happens a lot.
-drl
|
Post #107,976
6/30/03 11:55:39 PM
|
The biggest one is...
continued VFR into IMC. That's a hell of a lot easier to do than you might expect. First family XC about a month ago. Was trying to make it to Six Flags near Cleveland. Got withing 29 NM and it got shitty. Ceilings kept dropping, there I am with my entire family aboard and the thought did cross my mind, "Hell, I'll be there in 15 minutes, I can keep going even if I am only 600 AGL and 400 below MEL". Thankfully, those thoughts didn't stay in my head more than a few seconds before I realized, "This is fucking crazy. What the hell am I doing?" and I 180'd and landed. But it was tempting even for me. I learned a damned good lesson that day. There really is a "get-home-itis", even for low time pilots like me. Dangerous stuff.
bcnu,
Mikem
The soul and substance of what customarily ranks as patriotism is moral cowardice and always has been...We have thrown away the most valuable asset we had-- the individual's right to oppose both flag and country when he (just he, by himself) believed them to be in the wrong. We have thrown it away; and with it all that was really respectable about that grotesque and laughable word, Patriotism.
- Mark Twain, "Monarchical and Republican Patriotism"
|
Post #107,550
6/27/03 12:26:22 PM
|
That, and excessive air in the fuel tanks ;-)
|
Post #107,974
6/30/03 11:48:16 PM
|
A) Speed B) Altitude Pick one.
But be damned sure you have one. ;0)
bcnu,
Mikem
The soul and substance of what customarily ranks as patriotism is moral cowardice and always has been...We have thrown away the most valuable asset we had-- the individual's right to oppose both flag and country when he (just he, by himself) believed them to be in the wrong. We have thrown it away; and with it all that was really respectable about that grotesque and laughable word, Patriotism.
- Mark Twain, "Monarchical and Republican Patriotism"
|
Post #107,577
6/27/03 4:03:24 PM
|
Jumper scientist friend
did some risk analysis on skydiving and best equivalence she had was that 1 jump ~= driving 1000 miles on US roads.
Skydiving is about the safest "extreme" sport there is. Ahead of skiing, rock climbing, mountain biking, and hang gliding. There are hundreds of thousands of jumps every year and about 40 fatalities. Pretty good.
"One of the main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was that,
lacking zero, they had no way to indicate successful termination
of their C programs."
-- Robert Firth
|
Post #107,583
6/27/03 4:50:12 PM
|
Re: Jumper scientist friend
What causes most of the fatalities? Stupidity (controlled descent into terrain) or bad equipment?
-drl
|
Post #107,659
6/28/03 12:13:26 AM
|
Stupidity
specifically - failure to land perfectly functioning parachutes correctly. The transition time from intermediate to advanced seems to take out a lot of jumpers.
There are high performance canopies on the market that are under 100 square feet in size, that are jumped by 180 lb jumpers, and fly with max forward speeds of something like 30-40 mph. It takes some skill to flare these things on landing and convert speed to lift at the end. Misjudge the performance curve and you're toast.
I don't fly stuff like that but its considered "cool" to "swoop" your landings (dive to gain speed, pull out and convert speed to lift for a long "turf surf" a foot or two above the ground). Problem is, some people don't initiate the recovery from dive soon enough and pound in.
You don't have to fly stuff this zoomy - only if you wanna be "cool". I'm not cool.
"One of the main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was that,
lacking zero, they had no way to indicate successful termination
of their C programs."
-- Robert Firth
|
Post #107,973
6/30/03 11:46:49 PM
|
Huh. Interesting.
The transition time from intermediate to advanced seems to take out a lot of jumpers.
And pilots. Most accidents occur when the PIC has 150-200 hours.
bcnu,
Mikem
The soul and substance of what customarily ranks as patriotism is moral cowardice and always has been...We have thrown away the most valuable asset we had-- the individual's right to oppose both flag and country when he (just he, by himself) believed them to be in the wrong. We have thrown it away; and with it all that was really respectable about that grotesque and laughable word, Patriotism.
- Mark Twain, "Monarchical and Republican Patriotism"
|
