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I went for a ride Saturday on my Harley, with some of my friends who also own Harleys (easy to find here in MT). It was a balmy 34* when we met at the HD dealership. Of course it has already snowed, and there is some sand down, so we all agred to take it easy, both to keep upright, and to keep from freezing to death. With the well wishes of the HD dealer principle, we set off. I was selected to lead. We carefully wound our way onto the main drag, and started to accelerate. At the bottom of a small hill is an intersection with a stoplight. The guy behind me (incidentally my boss) and I went through the light. As I passed through the intersection, I noticed a lot of commotion to my rear...
One of the riders behind me was waving like mad, and all the others (about 8 of us in total) split off like pool balls. I thought at first that I had perhaps run the light, but distinctly remembered it being green. Then, as I watched in horror, the guy that had been waving (had been his wife waving, it turned out) went down with his wife, after crashing into another of the bikes from the group. There they lay in the center of the busy intersection!
I turned and stopped immediately and ran back to help. The guy and his wife were upright, and getting their bike off the road. The other rider was nowhere to be found, so as the others looked for her, I righted the bike and tried to gt it out of the intersection. It would not move once righted. A quick inspection revealed that the bright red, long scarf the rider had been wearing had fallen off and jammed the rear wheel. Another guy pulled it out, and we got the bike to the side of the road, thereby clearing the intersection.
The other rider had been found by the first rider's wife, and they showed up a few minutes later. Here is the synopsis of what had happened:
The lady's ultra long scarf worn for the cold (and to make a statement, I suspect) had drifted down as she slowed for a light at the top of the hill, and gotten wound in the rear axle. This tightened the scarf around her neck, and pulled her off her bike. Her head then jammed into the rear wheel, at which point the scarf broke, and she went tumbling down the road. The bike then took off down the hill into oncoming traffic. The other rider and his wife saw what was happening, and took off to stop the woman's bike. They got next to it, and the guy managed to steer it back into the correct lane, at which point the footpegs or other linkage tangled the two bikes together, and they both went down.
Due to gear and the relative low speed, the only damage was two scraped knees, and a big bruise on the woman's neck. After the cops and ambulance left, the woman surprised everyone with yet another part of her 'wardrobe': She had had a real live kitten in her coat the whole time, that survived unscathed!
As there was only superfiscial damage, we finished our afternoon ride--even the woman and her cat. We ended back at the dealership, and left minus two bikes turned in for insurance work.
All in all, a pretty interesting afternoon!
One of the riders behind me was waving like mad, and all the others (about 8 of us in total) split off like pool balls. I thought at first that I had perhaps run the light, but distinctly remembered it being green. Then, as I watched in horror, the guy that had been waving (had been his wife waving, it turned out) went down with his wife, after crashing into another of the bikes from the group. There they lay in the center of the busy intersection!
I turned and stopped immediately and ran back to help. The guy and his wife were upright, and getting their bike off the road. The other rider was nowhere to be found, so as the others looked for her, I righted the bike and tried to gt it out of the intersection. It would not move once righted. A quick inspection revealed that the bright red, long scarf the rider had been wearing had fallen off and jammed the rear wheel. Another guy pulled it out, and we got the bike to the side of the road, thereby clearing the intersection.
The other rider had been found by the first rider's wife, and they showed up a few minutes later. Here is the synopsis of what had happened:
The lady's ultra long scarf worn for the cold (and to make a statement, I suspect) had drifted down as she slowed for a light at the top of the hill, and gotten wound in the rear axle. This tightened the scarf around her neck, and pulled her off her bike. Her head then jammed into the rear wheel, at which point the scarf broke, and she went tumbling down the road. The bike then took off down the hill into oncoming traffic. The other rider and his wife saw what was happening, and took off to stop the woman's bike. They got next to it, and the guy managed to steer it back into the correct lane, at which point the footpegs or other linkage tangled the two bikes together, and they both went down.
Due to gear and the relative low speed, the only damage was two scraped knees, and a big bruise on the woman's neck. After the cops and ambulance left, the woman surprised everyone with yet another part of her 'wardrobe': She had had a real live kitten in her coat the whole time, that survived unscathed!
As there was only superfiscial damage, we finished our afternoon ride--even the woman and her cat. We ended back at the dealership, and left minus two bikes turned in for insurance work.
All in all, a pretty interesting afternoon!
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