"Snuze: Needs another Swede" (markg)
03/12/2020 at 14:23 • Filed to: None
3
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"Snuze: Needs another Swede" (markg)
03/12/2020 at 14:23 • Filed to: None | 3
| 21 |
Monday evening my neighbor, the one with the cool RX-7 drag car,
got plowed into by a Prius less than
1/2
a mile from the entrance to our neighborhood. I haven’t heard yet when the funeral will be, but h
e left behind a fiance and daughter.
I just saw Peter’ s post about his wreck from the weekend.
I found out last week I was going to get a nice raise and was thinking of treating myself to a new(ish) bike. I’m not so sure I’m going to do that anymore.
To all the 2 wheeled Oppos, stay safe out there.
atfsgeoff
> Snuze: Needs another Swede
03/12/2020 at 14:34 |
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Yep, physics will snatch your life from you in the blink of an eye. Motorbikes aren’t for the timid, that’s for sure. Peter’s recent hospital stay and your neighbor’s untimely passing are cold, hard reality checks for everyone not traveling in an engineered safety cage.
Textured Soy Protein
> Snuze: Needs another Swede
03/12/2020 at 14:34 |
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I considered getting a bike back when I lived in Madison but it scared the crap out of my wife. Here in DC even in the burbs the drivers are awful and I wouldn’t even think about it. A couple months ago one of my gym buddies got sideswiped by some idiot lady in a minivan while he was riding his Ducati on Rockville Pike. The bike was totaled and his whole right side of his body was road rashed pretty bad. His right shoulder and arm were in some kind of not-quite cast for several weeks and he still has red marks in that area. And...he wants to get another bike.
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atfsgeoff
> Textured Soy Protein
03/12/2020 at 14:37 |
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There’s usually one of two ways that riders involved in serious accidents react with. One is to hang up the helmet for good (or for at least a decade), the other is to double down and get right back in the saddle, effectively giving the middle finger to fate.
I respect both reactions to be honest.
AestheticsInMotion
> Snuze: Needs another Swede
03/12/2020 at 14:38 |
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I ordered better back, knee, shoulder, and elbow pads immediately after reading Pete's post. Scary stuff...
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Snuze: Needs another Swede
> Textured Soy Protein
03/12/2020 at 14:51 |
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The traffic thing is one of the main reasons I haven’t jumped back into it sooner. I swore I would as soon as I got a house and had a garage to store/work on a bike. We got the house 2 years ago I still have an old (non-running) bike and it’s just sitting there waiting on work. I think it’s because most of the time I would ride would be my commute, which is garbage (Rt. 193).
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Snuze: Needs another Swede
> atfsgeoff
03/12/2020 at 14:55 |
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I haven’t been on a bike in 10 years. I had 2 minor wrecks previously, though neither were severe, but it still wasn’t fun. Crazy thing is I didn’t stop riding due to a wreck though, life just got in the way.
Cash Rewards
> Snuze: Needs another Swede
03/12/2020 at 14:56 |
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Nope. Not in this area. Traffic, roads, drivers, all too awful. There was a fatal accident a couple years back on rt 7. Bike made a left on protected green, someone ran the red and killed him. I got a cousin-in-law who lost an uncle the same way.
VincentMalamute-Kim
> Snuze: Needs another Swede
03/12/2020 at 15:02 |
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What did me in was a rotation through the Orthopedic Outpatient Clinic. If I’m dead, I have no more worries. But y ou’re more likely to end up crippled than to die in a bike accident.
I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair or a spend a
few years on crutches, with external fixation hardware sticking out of my leg
or no longer being able to run, bike like the young guys in the waiting room
.
Riding is incredibly fun. But
I have too much anxiety and
riding became a chore looking out for danger
. Other people obviously have a different balance of fun vs risk.
Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
> Snuze: Needs another Swede
03/12/2020 at 15:02 |
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I’d love to get a scooter/motorcycle but yeah... I get in enough close calls with 2,5 00+ lbs of steel and glass surrounding me that I can’t justify riding. Maybe I’ll pick one up to work on and then sell without actually riding much...
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atfsgeoff
> Cash Rewards
03/12/2020 at 15:05 |
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Yeah the first rule of safe riding is “It doesn’t matter who is at fault if you’re dead.” Always assume nobody sees you and that nobody will yield to your presence.
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Snuze: Needs another Swede
> VincentMalamute-Kim
03/12/2020 at 15:08 |
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I was really into it back in like 2004 to 2010. But I’ve only ridden twice in the intervening 10 years. I think some of it’s age - my risk vs. fun scale has changed a bit, and also location - I did most of my riding up in upstate NY and eastern CT where there’s about 1/10th the traffic of DC, maybe less.
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Snuze: Needs another Swede
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
03/12/2020 at 15:09 |
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If you do that you’ll become a rider. Trust me, how do you think I got into it?
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Textured Soy Protein
> Snuze: Needs another Swede
03/12/2020 at 15:10 |
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Ah yes, good old Georgetown Pike, where the most optimistic digital traffic sign in the world is located. (Well, this is between it and the GW Pkwy but you get the idea.)
I took that pic back when I commuted from Rockville to Tyson’s. Thankfully now my commute is largely free of traffic because I live in the SE corner of Rockville and commute to the NW corner of Rockville. I head north on 270 in the morning and south on Rockville Pike in the evening, to avoid left turns.
The only mildly interesting parts of the drive ramps on and off of 270. Sure , I apex the hell out of them but they don’t exactly merit buying a bike.
This hairpin is usually too clogged with cars but when it’s clear it’s pretty fun.
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Snuze: Needs another Swede
> Textured Soy Protein
03/12/2020 at 15:24 |
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That made me LOL. I know that sign, and you’re right, it is a very optimistic sign. I’m heading up to my buddy’s house in Gaithersburg after work this afternoon and not looking forward to the drive up there.
I’m familiar with both those ramps, lots of fun, but you’re right, that doesn’t exactly warrant buying a bike.
I basically live in Sterling (technically a Great Falls address, but the very western edge) . I work in W est Bethesda, so my commute is Algonkian Pkwy > Rt 7 > 193 > 495 > Clara Barton. It’s 12 miles door to door and takes me minimum 30 minutes, often times closer to an hour. That said, a few times (usually really late at night) I’ve caught 193 wide open and it can be a very fun road, but 23 hours a day it’s a cow path.
themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
> Snuze: Needs another Swede
03/12/2020 at 15:31 |
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Remember your pre-ride checks too. I went to ride on sunday and my tire was low. I added some air and went for a trial spin down the block and noticed it went almost co mpletely flat in just a couple hundred feet. I can’t find the pu ncture or leak, but I’d probably be in for a fucked up day if I had gone out for a proper ride and the tire deflated like that while I was in traffic and not preparing for it.
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Cash Rewards
> Textured Soy Protein
03/12/2020 at 15:46 |
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I know that sign. It's untrustworthy
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Snuze: Needs another Swede
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
03/12/2020 at 15:52 |
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This, and generally keeping your bike in good mechanical condition, are very important.
Crazy story time - I’m out riding with the motorcycle club I used to be in. I’m 4th in a group of 5 and we’re all rolling down the highway one evening at a reasonable speed, heading to a movie theater. Suddenly a giant silver thing comes flashing into view, it looks like a giant nut, and I had but a split second to duck under my tiny wind screen on my CBR1000RR as it goes flying through the space my face was just occupying.
About this same time g uy in #3 spot starts waving his arms. I roll up next to him and e ventually, after a lot of gesticulating, I figure out he want’s me to stop guy #2 (I’m on a 1,000, #2 is on a 750, but #3 is on a 600 and has his fiance on the back). So I roll up on #2 and he thinks I want to play, so he speeds up, so I nail it, get in front of him and start f lailing my arms and gesturing to the side of the road and eventually get him to slow down and finally pull over.
He had gotten a new rear tire put on the day before. The flying thingy was his rear axle nut, which had worked itself loose, came flying off, bounced off the highway, off number #3's steel toe boot, and went sailing over my head.
bob and john
> Snuze: Needs another Swede
03/12/2020 at 16:19 |
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Well....i went 9 years as a budding, sporty riding enthusiast. Frankly..
Im shocked its taken this long for something to get me
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Snuze: Needs another Swede
> bob and john
03/12/2020 at 16:28 |
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I rode for about 6 years. A few months after I started I slid out on my CB-1 - some asshole ran a light - I saw it and panic stopped, didn’t get hit, but I locked up the front, got into a headshake, and laid it down. I was fine but the bike was messed up - cracked the block. Then in 2010 I low-sided my CBR1000RR on the track. Again, I was fine but the bike was messed up. So no injuries other than my pride.
At that point I was getting ready to go back to college, broke, and didn’t have a place to keep or work on my bikes so I had to hang it up for a while. I swore as soon as I had a house and garage I’d fix up the CB-1 (I’d sold the 1000 back in ‘13 to pay for a honeymoon), ride it some, then trade up for a Ducati (my dream bike). Well I’ve had the house for 2.5 years now and am no closer to getting that Duc than I was before I got the house.
I don’t know that I’m ready to totally throw in the towel just yet, but between your wreck, and my neighbor, I dunno. I might need to think about it some more. Might be yet a while longer before I get around to that CB-1.
NojustNo
> Snuze: Needs another Swede
03/13/2020 at 22:44 |
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new rider here. ive had “be extra defensive” drilled into my head by fellow riders and my motorcycle course teacher. Trying to take it slow and cautious and be observant.
Sorry to hear about your nei ghbor!
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Snuze: Needs another Swede
> NojustNo
03/14/2020 at 08:42 |
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Nice bike!
And you are absolutely right. You basially have to ride with the mindset that everyone is trying to kill you. Be safe out there!