KB = Mourning

[Joni]

We all love bikes...but they can be cruel.

Yes they can be babe.... its kind of bitter/sweet.

I have lost a few very good friends, both in NZ and SA.

The ones who were injured, but lived to give me more shit I will always be greatful for. (Stonechucker, Skelstar and Shaun)

[SPman]

Yup me too... I will only post if I knew the person.


KB is an unnatural thing in a way.... In “real life” a person would never be exposed to this amount of riders on a personal level. Bikers do go down, they do get hurt and at times pass away... but with so many riders concentrated into one place like KB, it becomes a lot more common to hear about.

I would agree with that.
In 35 yrs riding, I never knew more than a handful of active riders. The 5 odd yrs on KB, I now know, personally, way more than I ever have, and, know of, or have had had online contact with hundreds more. In the "old days", riders would go down, but would be no more than a "oh shit, poor guy", from seeing a mention on the news, whereas now.........well......with the weekends tragedy, when I saw the headlines, the immediate thought was "Oh god, who is it, is it someone I know" as the brain raced through a list of names of who was likely to be there!
The idea of increased carnage, is because, more and more, we can put a name or face to those involved.
KB, and the like, have made it a lot more real and personal. If that's a good thing, or not, is up to the individual - it can certainly be a discomforting thing.
It certainly makes me more aware.

[Mom]

There have been some good posts on this thread. The KB community allows us to get to know, either online or increasinly in person a disproportionate number of people that ride motorcycles. We all know and appreciate (at least some of us do anyway) that the sport we love can be dangerous and unforgiving. We dont stop riding, but manage the risks we face in our own way.

It is always a tragedy when a life is cut short for what ever reason, it is always very sad when a life reaches its natural time to end.

My views on biker down threads are well known, I dont like them at all. I dont post on them, and have been very lucky to have not lost a mate on a bike for many years. I pray that I am never moved to make a post on a biker down thread.

[ynot slow]

Not morbid at all,even though in todays paper there was another guy fatally injured in the nth island,do we know them?Usually only via the net,sometimes personally.

I see any death as a wake up call to all road users,be it car,truck or bike.Sounds stupid but when you go to ride or drive on the road,you don't expect to get injured or killed,but it can happen.

[James Deuce]

WTF!?

[Unit:Me]

During my life I have lost quite a few mates for various reasons, mostly suicide. Those types of deaths are harder to mourn and harder to understand. Motorcycle accidents you can understand, even if it just doesnt seem right. Its real, cause it can happen to you. Since my time on KB I have made sooo many great mates and life has been awesome since I have started riding. The loss of others has really served as a reminder to me about how dangerous motorcycling really is and that I need to look after myself out there! Losing Uncle B was hard but it has been made easier through my mates on KB, we have all been there to support each other and to help "keep things real". I know that riding is dangerous but I would rather lose my life to riding than to depression.

Brilliant.
I listen. Everyday. I ride loads of Kms, in sometimes extreme conditions, I ride too fast sometimes, I ride in groups and I know way more people than I can previously remember in any one point in time of my life. I hope I take care enough to stick around a bit longer. But even if I do, it may not be my fault, and I may not see it coming. But, I love motorcycling, I love the journey and choose my bike often over a car as a means of transport.
I remember when T.I.E went down, was on my birthday so I will never forget the date. He took a very nasty knock to the head, required the helecopter, had the meanist black eye for over a month, and is still 18 months later dealing with the fallout. Back on his bike though and out and about with us all. I've nursed Chris through some pretty knarley injuries too, his leg was ripped open to the bone and it took 12 weeks for the wound to Start healing over.
But I've also lost friend to horse riding accidents.
Least we forget aye Brett

[surfchick]

Events this weekend were so tragic and sad I almost can't type
The accident -the devastating ripple of pain and instant grief amongst the riders who eventually took to the grid. The post-classics class opted not to race to bring what had become an-navigatable day to a close quicker. Riders who still took to the track opting to take it easier, who even with all that speed, noticed the place of the tragedy with each lap. Yet other riders gave the spectators the performance of their lives. I doubt the gravity of taking to the grid after this was lost on anyone, riders or organisers alike.

What struck me was that such alot of the cluster of spectators at the hairpin turned out to be on this site (from the posts in the other thread) -and there couldn't have been more than 20-30 in total. KB for me does mean a form of mourning and a form of respect giving when anyone passes who has family on this site-esp when the threads showing the extent of sadness around the death can be used as something to hang on to or have for those ones grieving.

Thoughtful post Quasi.

[rainman]

Yup, these motorcycle things are kinda dangerous. But the price of the freedom and joy of riding them is the increased chance of injury or death. And those chances get worse with the addition of factors like speed, intoxication (rider or those in the vicinity), distraction, fatigue, poor maintenance, crap road surface, animals, idiots, weather, mechanical failure (bike or surrounding vehicles), idiotic road barriers,... and just plain bad luck.

Every time you get on a bike you fully accept these economics. You may think you have super skillz are ten feet tall and bulletproof and it'll never happen to you... whatever, your delusions are irrelevant - you choose to ride, so you choose to accept the risks. Ain't being grown up fun?

And mourning loss is just part of being human, it's how we're wired. If you didn't do it you'd be a sociopath.

[jrandom]

it seems to me that the last few years have been quite tragic...

I'm with the folk who put it down to increased membership numbers combined with the ongoing fact that bikers die on the road, end of story. Always have, always will. Two wheels and an engine with a young man in control is, statistically speaking, a recipe for carnage.

Weighing it up, I've always felt that the positives of knowing lots of other riders outweigh the negatives. I won't hide away from it all.

I've been on KB for almost five years, now, and I've known and ridden with several of the guys on your list. I wasn't as close to any of them as you were to Bruce and Daryl, but I know that it's entirely possible that one day, one of my close friends will cop it.

I've considered that fact at length, and I'll deal with that when it happens. I don't think it'd change an awful lot for me.

Not that I'm meaning to sound fatalistic; after all, every moment on a motorcycle, we're in control, we make the decisions. Sometimes, when we fuck up, it's fatal.

Nature of the beast. Accept, move on. Do one's own best to stay safe. Nowt else that can really be said.

[Katman]

It's the deaths that result from idiotic behaviour that get me though. Those that happen under controlled circumstances like racing and even the ones on the road that are a mixture of bad luck and/or questionable decision making, while still tragic, can be understandable. Stupidity that results in death should not be acceptable because, like it or not, they reflect on us all in the public's eye and in my mind Biker Down threads try to throw a blanket of acceptibility over accidents regardless of the circumstances.

[Skyryder]

Not much I can say that has not already been said. We do what we do and hope to keep on doing it. There are no guarentees in life and there are less with riding.

Skyryder

[Skyryder]

Like any other addiction we make excuses for our motorcycling habit, the recent Pukekohe double tragedy was a great example. two people die at the event and the event rolled on like nowt has happened???...cries of "that's what the victims would have wanted"..."HTFU"....."that's racing"...and "riders have put a lot of time and money to be here this weekend" , only reinforce how twisted the motorcycle mind can become. Life has become so cheap to us that we make any excuse to continue on with our deadly pursuit.

Just like junkies!

There was a time when a death occured the meet was cancelled out of respect.

Changing times, changing values.

Some still do

http://archives.tcm.ie/breakingnews/...tory109527.asp



Skyyrder

[Mom]

It's the deaths that result from idiotic behaviour that get me though......Stupidity that results in death should not be acceptable because, like it or not, they reflect on us all in the public's eye and in my mind Biker Down threads try to throw a blanket of acceptibility over accidents regardless of the circumstances.

You cant stop stupidity mate, nor bad decisons, nor youthful exhuberance, nor non-youthful exhuberance, read my posts regarding biker down. People make their own choices, good or bad. We love them or we dont (both people and choices) Its life.

We are going to read more and more about members and friends of members dying on bikes as this forum grows, we have to accept it, there is nothing that can be done to alter anyones behaviour, or how long they spend on this earth.

[merv]

As Finn says it is a numbers game. If we were a cage forum would we be lamenting the 300 - 400 lost per year i.e. 6 to 8 per week. Now other than SpankMe I guess most of us drive cars too and while the risk is probably lower per km driven we still risk our lives every time we leave home in the car. On the bike its the same. The World is out to get you and we just have to be as vigilant as we can be.

This type of medium sure brings it all close to home. As for racing, the 60's & 70's was the time when deaths were frequent all over the world with many high profile names disappearing - e.g Bill Ivy, Kim Newcombe, Cal Rayborn. The safety record of late has been better - we don't have the two strokes seizing all the time, the tracks are safer.

If we get too concerned about this we would never get out of bed in the morning, but then perhaps still get anxious how lying in bed something fatal may happen to us like a truck or plane crashing into our house.

[Manxman]

I actually believe sites like this have something to do with it. Back when I started riding motorcycles like an idiot I had plenty of people telling me I was an idiot and not many saying "You're the man". Via the internet it's not terribly difficult to get enough supporters behind you that you begin to not hear the ones calling you an idiot. These days it's possible to even organise large group rides made up entirely of idiots.

I take the positive view that this site helps reduce the number of accidents, not increase them. To read that sobering first post by Quasi and then not have even a little voice going on in the back of yer head, means yer probably gonna be toast regardless. I mean, if you're not persuaded to take fewer risks/ride safer by threads such as "Survival Skills", then you're a lost cause and will prolly end up as a statistic whatever form of transport you use.

Is it possible that as this site has grown (exponentially), it increases the chance that you will know someone who leaves us...?

Conclusion: I suspect more people are safer because of this site. I'd like to think I am...