I arrived at about 8:20 at the POR chevron to a scene of about 16 bikes
and riders. I forgot that MD 28 is closed just east of there and had to
take the detour. (Last Summer called and wants the 28 closures back.)
Like a complete idiot I also left without my camera. Anyway, while
waiting for Malik, Mubeen, and Mohammed to get to POR I installed my
GPS system which consists of directions written on paper tucked inside
of a clear sheet protector taped with cellophane packing tape to my
tank, and I tucked the maps safely inside my suit just in case we
needed them later.
I'd say we had just under 25 riders to begin with. Present (in no
particular order) at the start was Roadrunner, REVIKE, Windblown,
Speed3, Hlister, badguyGS, Jaxxx, jamstheman, mubeen, mohammed,
3IsEnough, pbrownw, Nani Brothers, aRRs, myblue750, SMB, EuroBikerTrash
(on his new Aprilia!), and a few others I didn't catch names of. We
even had a couple guys who happened to come by POR and join the ride.
Then there was Bill who adopted us at Loch Raven and led the final,
fatigued four on a blast through the hills north of balto and York
County after a fill-up on Hartford road (MD 147).
I think we got underway with the preride briefing at about 8:50 a.m.
and rolled by 9. You know, it was Sunday--no need to be in too big of a
hurry. The weather was absolutely superb, as most already know.
Roadrunner and REVIKE both volunteered to help with the ride by
sweeping, and I greatly appreciated that. Also a big thanks to badguyGS
for taking over with sweeping when Roadrunner headed back home. These
guys made turns and major road crossings a cinch, and we needed that
with a group that large. Aside from the asshat (always at least one) in
the 'vette who didn't want to yield to us with Craig there blocking, it
worked flawlessly.
We hit some nice Frederick loop roads early on to take us up to MD
75/Green Valley, including Jeff Road and Birdseed Road. Minimal traffic
buzzkill except for the churchgoer who ruined jeff road for us. :shrug:
Oh well. Then Glissans Mill, Harrisville, and Bloom were great. We
worked our way east to Deer Park down through a finger of Liberty
Reservoir, made our way up Ivy Mill, the second roughest road I've ever
been on, then over to Reisterstown. From there we made our way north to
Pretty Boy Reservoir where we hit the roughest road, which is Spooks
Hill/Pretty Boy Dam.
It was around 1 pm when we came off of Pretty Boy, and my wrists and
knees were telling me it was definitely time for a lunch break. The
silky smooth sweepers of 137/Mt. Carmel Road were a Godsend after
getting shaken silly. Tired and hungry, we hit a little joint in
Hereford just off of 45/York Road for sandwiches and burgers. This will
probably become a usual lunch spot for this route. However, we may have
to eliminate Spooks Hill and Pretty Boy Dam roads because they are just
too bumpy. If they were smoother surfaced, holy cow. Those roads would
be sweet. Beckleysville Road is kickass and will become the new crown
jewel of the ride through Pretty Boy.
After lunch we headed east on 138/Monkton and then south on Carroll. I
think there is some exploring to do in the area Monkton cuts across.
Stay tuned. Hit Paper Mill and then a nice run through Warren/Merrymans
Mill. We worked our way down to Loch Raven Drive (the good section by
the dam). Did a few runs on that. This is when we met Bill.
If you have run Loch Raven, then you know it attracts tons of squids
and posers who spend most of their time parked at one end or the other,
watching guys like us run it. Well, I head back on my fourth pass and
see a guy coming the other way in a suit and thought he was one of our
group, but I couldn't figure out who. He said he saw us in gear and
thought, "Finally, some serious riders!" So he turned around and came
back to where we were collecting for the departure on to the next road.
We chatted, and it became obvious very quickly that he knew his way
around there, as he grew up in that area.
Bill took us up Club Hill Road to 147/Harford. I could tell right away
that he is a skilled rider with experience on the streets. REVIKE,
3IsEnough, and EuroBikerTrash broke off there after fueling, leaving
Windblown, Jaxxx, badguyGS, and I with Bill. Bill then took us on some
really nice roads going north and putting us on PA 851 headed east.
This run began around 4 p.m., and the four of us were fatigued. Bill
was fresh though, and the pace was pretty darn quick.
We enjoyed a nice eastward run on 851 until the surface changed to a
kind of marbly, almost grooved asphalt. When I say marbly I don't mean
loose or pebbly or gravelly. It was solid with a textured surface, kind
of like what they do to corners on some roads in West Virginia. My
front end felt squirrely on it and I started taking it easy. I watched
Bill, Windblown, and badguyGS disappear up a hill, shortly after
passing a cruiser 2up followed by a squid on an R1.
The road started to get twisty at Bryansville, I slowed, and then I
found myself braking hard in a descending hairpin righthander on a
steep grade. I just started thinking it was about the worst corner I've
ever ridden when I rounded onto an unthinkable scene: rider under front
bumper of pickup truck, bike laying under the farside guardrail. My
first thought was that it was certainly no one I knew, but then I
realized when I saw the white SV in the rail that it was badguy. It
looked very very bad. badguy didn't look good, but he was in front of
the front tires and I saw him move his arm before I got passed the
truck.
Reason grabbed hold right away, fortunately, and I quickly yet
methodically set about the crash routine: stop in a safe place, check;
bike still in 1st gear, check; kill it with killswitch, check;
kickstand, check; let clutch out and make sure bike doesn't roll
forward down the hill, check; put bike on kickstand and make sure it's
stable, check; no traffic, check; run to badguy... Sounds like a lot
but it only took me about 5 seconds.
Got to Mike and first checked whether or not any part of the truck's
weight was on him. No part of him was under either front tire so then I
tried to determine whether either left limb had been run over. Didn't
seem like it. I was asking Mike questions during all this, but he
seemed a lot less than alert but more than completely unconscious.
Driver of the truck was out and saying he stopped forward motion before
Mike came to rest under the bumper. That was extremely good news. Also,
no blood anywhere, and his leathers didn't look to be torn anywhere. He
seemed to have movement but was keeping still as he got hold of the
situation and what was going on.
Meanwhile Jaxxx ran up the hill a ways to control traffic coming down
hill around that turn, and the man and woman on the cruiser arrived and
started helping out. The guy on the R1 stopped to help out too.
Windblown and Bill had come back and were helping with traffic. A
couple other cars had stopped on the uphill lane, and one driver came
up with a first aid kit and a phone that was actually getting service
down in the valley there. Windblown rode on up to the top of the hill
to also get service and call 911.
Things happened quickly. A sherrif's deputy was on the scene
surpisingly fast, followed shortly by two ambulances and volunteer FD.
Several more FD arrived and assisted the EMTs. Mike was responsive at
this point and didn't seem too bad off. Since he had loss of memory,
the EMTs made the decision to call in the Medevac and have him taken to
the nearest trauma center in York. I rode up to the hospital, while
Bill rode back down to his house for his truck and Windblown and Jaxxx
stayed with the bike and gear. Those guys spent the next 2 or 3 hours
waiting for PA SP to investigate and then made sure that the bike and
gear were collected and secured at Bill's house. I can't say enough
good things about that selfless effort for a fellow rider, and we were
fortunate to have you guys there.
By the time I reached the hospital, all the x-rays and such had been
evaluated, and Mike seemed to be doing well. The doc said he had a
sprained right knee but that was about it. Amen for gear! I hung out
with Mike until his father arrived to take him home. Then I hopped on
I-83 and made my way home, arriving at about 11:30 pm.
I guess the question many of you will have is just how fast were we
going through that section. I don't know how fast Bill, Windblown, and
badguy hit it, but I can tell you that I had to get down to about 20 to
feel ok in the turn before seeing the accident scene. Based on the
minor injuries Mike sustained and the minimal damage to the bike, I
speculate that Mike could not have been going much faster than 20
either when something just must have went wrong. The road surface was
hard and slick, with the marbly texture I have attempted to describe.
It's like mini-cobblestone. I'm sure that once you loose static
friction, the surface is quite slick. In the end, the alertness of the
truck driver to stop as soon as he saw the bike sliding saved Mike. Not
only did he not run over him, but he also kept him out of the guardrail.
What matters is that this ended well. I really don't think there are many coulda's or shoulda's.