[martin_fierro]

Visit the FMH Swag Store & support FR!
Send FReepmail if you want on/off FMH list
The List of Ping Lists

[domenad]

My friend Andy is at bike week. Every time I hear the news of another crushed biker, I wonder if I'll be seeing him next week.

[cyborg]

Wow that's bad. Usually it's not so high.

[Supernatural]

Better dead than crippled for life.

[festus]

My wife took my two year old daughter to bike week a few years ago. She went with her parents. Though she didn't actually transport the kid on the bike.

I was not travelling with them and said something about not thinking it was a good place for a two year old.

[Straight Vermonter]

The FHP is blaming sunnie skies and good weather for the increase in deaths.

What does "sunnie skies" mean? I assume it is a meteorological condition caused by public school education.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

The stats are skewed.

They include ANY motorcycle related death anywhere in the State, even if nots not associated with Bike Week.

CBS, AP and others are doing this. The News Journals website has a more accurate nuumber. It is high.

However MOST of the deaths are due to drivers of four wheeled vehicles either running over bikers from behind or pulling out into traffic into oncming bikers.

Not many of the deaths are the fault of the bikers.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

BTW I think there is a record number of bikers in town.

And I live right off a State Road and I don't ever recall hearing as many ambulance sirens as I have this year....

[ShadowDancer]

Flashback to Spring Break 1987 in Daytona where I got on the back of a guys bike I had never met before and rode down the strip and the beach in the dead of night, no helmet, no nothing. I'd brain my girls if they ever did that but damn it was fun then.

[righttackle44]

Though not as deadly as SOME Muslim observances.

[river rat]

Many bike deaths are the result of an underskilled yahoo with underpowered mind, having enough money to buy a overpowered bike.

Semper Fi

[SouthernFreebird]

The FHP is blaming sunny skies and good weather for the increase in deaths.

I swear I think thats' the first time I've ever heard of that for an excuse.

[Melas]

I'd pay money for some demographics, especially the make and model of the bikes involved.

[SFC Chromey]

Wpw, and none of them happened on the race track. Does this mean racing is safer than just riding on the streets??

[baltodog]

Motorcycling is inherently dangerous...there is absolutely nothing safe about riding a cycle:

1) You are operating a vehicle which wants to fall over when it is not moving.

2) When you are moving, you are in a state of constant argument with the laws of physics -- you need to understand the rules of centrifugal force in order to effectively operate the machine.

3) Those same laws of physics dictate the fact that if something interferes with you -- a bird, a bug, a car, a puddle, an oil slick -- you will lose.

Henceforth, to survive the operation of a cycle, you must mitigate all risk factors involved: assume EVERY driver is out to kill you (even your Grandmother); wear what you feel comfortable wearing in regards to injury mimimalization; ride YOUR bike at YOUR skill level; consistent periodic maintenance on your machine; remember that ONE beer can affect your judgement.

Lastly, I don't go for the fact that "they died doing what they loved best" -- sliding along a median, watching a truck getting ready to run you down, while your skin is peeling off is not what I love best.

Other than that, I absolutely LOVE riding!

[Tijeras_Slim]

First yahoo who posts the INCREDIBLY ORIGINAL "donor cycle" line gets abuse pushed on them.