Bad News

[The Stranger:Me]

Shit I am bloody gutted.

A mate of the kids bought a 250cc bike about a month ago. A real nice guy, 23, pretty sensible, whilst still in the "at risk" age group you sure could not call him young and stupid.

We just found out that he had an off last sunday. We have no idea how the accident happened.
We have some detail as to the extent of his injuries, but as he has been in intensive care for the last week we have not seen him. The deatil we do have is not good though.

We do know he had all the right gear and was wearing it at the time.

We had tried to get him along to a training course. He did not have the time. Would training have helped him?
I have no idea. But it bloody well may have.

Any of you out there whom are thinking it wont happen to you, you may just be in for an unpleasent surprise. So if you are thinking that say $45.00 is too much or that you can't find the time to give up a Sunday just think how much time you could be wasting.

[bugjuice]

that's sad to hear.. Hope he pulls thru and fully recovers..
As for 'would training have saved him', it could have helped, but it depends on the cause and situation of the accident. Sometimes, you're so far out of control of the situation, that you're just there for the ride. Not good at all. But a lot of the time, you do have control (to some degree) of the circumstances. Training could have improved his chances.. 'Cause, it always pays to ride in groups and be around others for tips n tricks. Best source of knowledge is those of others..

Hope he pulls thru, and hope his friends (and your kids) don't get too stressed about it all either.. sad to hear..

[onearmedbandit]

Bad news indeed, but how hard is it to make some listen and heed good advice. As some stage in our younger years we all knew it all.

[SPORK]

If he was wearing the right gear, that's taking some advice. Maybe it had nothing to do with how much he knew/didn't know, and was simple bad luck?

But sad to hear, none the less. Hope he makes a full recovery.

[SuperDave]

That really sucks to hear and I hope the dude comes out of it okay. As for whether training would have helped him, agree with others as we can't say unless we know more details of this particular incident.

[Paul in NZ]

Bad news mate... Hope he makes it OK... Shes a risky old business life...

[Coyote]

Don't get worked up about not getting him trained soon enough. Nobody has the magic of foresight, you could've known that he would have a serious 'off' so soon getting into riding. I haven't had any proper training yet and I've had 3 years or road/dirt riding and no injuries

Best wishes on his recovery

[Ixion]

I don't think training really makes a difference at that early stage. No, I'm not being smart (I wouldn't in this context). But until a new rider has a bit of time under his/her belt, I think that training is too "theoretical" . Once a rider has survived 6 or 12 months, then the training "rings a bell". "Oh , so that's how to do that, I've been struggling with that- oh that's why I got into trouble in that corner " etc.

Don't flog yourself, anything you said wouldn't have registered.

(Personally, I never had any training - wasn't available back in the day. Probably why I'm such a nana - used cowardice instead.)

[MSTRS:Me]

It's always upsetting to hear this sort of thing, and can't help thinking "There, but for the grace of.....". Basic handling is all a noob can take in at first, the rest is time & luck. Hope he comes thru OK.

[Apache]

Hey yeah sorry to hear hope he comes through ok

[The Stranger:Me]

We have a little more information available. I post it with the hope that maybe others will be wary of similar situations.

From what we do know training probably would not have helped, but I would point out that what we know is second hand.

There were 3 riders, an experienced rider in front and in rear and the new guy in the middle. The leader overtook a cage and disappeared around a bend, as the new rider went past the cage on the RHS, the cage pulled right on him and took him out. Now it gets a bit bloody confusing here as to why the cage pulled out on him, the reasons that I have been told do not make sense to me and I am tempted to jump to an alternate conclusion.

[The Stranger:Me]

It's always upsetting to hear this sort of thing, and can't help thinking "There, but for the grace of.....". Basic handling is all a noob can take in at first, the rest is time & luck. Hope he comes thru OK.

So let us say I am wrong and you are right.
If the noob takes my advice the potential worst result is he/she wastes say $45.00 and a Sunday, but on the other hand may recieve some advice that saves their life.

I firmly believe that the potential downside if you are wrong is far greater.

[Leong]

CaN, Sorry to hear about your kids' friend, hope he pulls thru this OK.

I don't think training really makes a difference at that early stage. No, I'm not being smart (I wouldn't in this context). But until a new rider has a bit of time under his/her belt, I think that training is too "theoretical" . Once a rider has survived 6 or 12 months, then the training "rings a bell". "Oh , so that's how to do that, I've been struggling with that- oh that's why I got into trouble in that corner " etc.

Sorry Ixion, but I don't agree. I've had my bike for a month and no previous experience beforehand. I've learnt heaps from the course today, and can relate to most of what was said today. The other advantage is that I haven't developed any bad habits, that I may have to change after doing the course. I can attempt to teach myself to "look where you want to go" or look straight ahead when braking hard from day one. The fact that they allow you to demonstrate to yourself that these techniques work alone makes these courses worthwhile.

Sure I looked a bit silly when I couldn't figure out what gear I was in a couple of times after the hard braking, and trying to get the bike into gear with the stand down, but that didn't stop me from learning lots more. Must admit that I have age on my side ie, at 45 I know that I do't know everything!!

[bugjuice]

We have a little more information available. I post it with the hope that maybe others will be wary of similar situations.

From what we do know training probably would not have helped, but I would point out that what we know is second hand.

There were 3 riders, an experienced rider in front and in rear and the new guy in the middle. The leader overtook a cage and disappeared around a bend, as the new rider went past the cage on the RHS, the cage pulled right on him and took him out. Now it gets a bit bloody confusing here as to why the cage pulled out on him, the reasons that I have been told do not make sense to me and I am tempted to jump to an alternate conclusion.

a bit of 'evasive action' training *could* have helped. A quick jab on the brake, or drop a gear and gas it while swerving could have worked a treat. Of course, we could speculate til the moo's come home..

And as for why the car turned/swerved, who knows.. I've seen a good friend overtake a car, only then the car wanted to go down a turning on the right, so they had to brake hard to stop from going up the arse. Just bad luck I guess. But then on the ride north yesterday up to Wellsford (where I turned back), I got some bitch in a blue merc, out in the middle of nowhere, with no cars around, swerve into me as I was over taking, and pulled the finger out of the window at me.. 'kin charmin.. If I had been a bit quicker, I would have slapped my arse as I pulled in front.. or something like that.. But I was more concerned with the position I was faced with, 'limping' the bike with the broken can..

Anyway, we can't predict others' behavior, especially cage drivers with no understanding of the dark side. Could have been a 50/50 thing.. Lets just hope that he if no one else, learns from this for future avoidance..

[XP@]

There were 3 riders, an experienced rider in front and in rear and the new guy in the middle. The leader overtook a cage and disappeared around a bend, as the new rider went past the cage on the RHS, the cage pulled right on him and took him out. Now it gets a bit bloody confusing here as to why the cage pulled out on him, the reasons that I have been told do not make sense to me and I am tempted to jump to an alternate conclusion.

Well the group ride was, by the sounds of it, properly laid out. I hope the experienced riders were keeping to a good speed for your mate.
Hopefully the cage will be done for this... not much consolation for him though.

As for the training, in this case he may have been taught that cars hurt, but i doubt he would have gained the experience to know the driver was planning to change course. This sort of skill comes with experience, and sometimes even that experience dosent always help.