I Don't Know How They Do It

[OLDE CUTLER]

Last Monday I had to make a short trip out of town by automobile and when I returned, I was on our local Interstate highway heading toward Sioux Falls. The speed limit on the Interstates in South Dakota is 80 MPH, so I had the cruise control set for that figure. There were many hundreds of motorcycles on the road in eastern South Dakota headed east towards home from the Sturgis motorcycle rally in western South Dakota. I noticed in the mirror that there were 3 motorcycles coming up from behind to pass me. As they went by I made a particular effort to see their license plates just to see how far they had to go until they made it home. There was a guy riding a Harley in the front and a guy riding a Harley in the rear, and between them was a young lady riding a three wheel Harley. I sped up slightly to match their speed for a few seconds just to see how fast they were going and I matched them at 87 MPH.The young lady at that point while steering with the right hand reached around with the left hand to a bag tied onto the seat behind her and pulled a Miller Lite out, popped the top and began sipping. It was 91 degrees that day (shade temperature), so no doubt dehydration was setting in. I really don't know how the human body can take that. Sitting in direct sun for hours on end for multiple days with 87 MPH wind at 90 some degrees blasting all exposed skin. (None of them had helmets, jackets, or even gloves on, just t-shirts tucked into blue jeans). Their license plates were from Pennsylvania, so they still had a considerable way to go. There were only 4 official motorcycle fatalities this year on South Dakota roads during the rally, half of the 8 last year. Maybe that kind of abuse to the human body is the kind of thing that you pay for dearly when you get older. I have to admit, I don't know how they do it.

[Mumbleypeg]

It's called "youth"! I did stuff in my twenties and thirties (even forties) that I can't fathom now when I think back on them.

That beer wasn't helping her, despite how good it might taste at the time. Alcohol is a diuretic, so it accelerates dehydration.

Ken

[rea1eye]

Traveling 87 M.P.H. without gear ( helmet, proper shoes, and clothes) and alcohol is a recipe
for disaster for the riders and ALL people on or near the road with them.

Just ask any Emergency Room physician, nurse, or burn unit care giver.

Being young is just not an excuse unless you want an extended life of body damage.

Hospital employee for more than 30 years here.

Bob

[RobesonsRme.com]

When I was on the Cardiac Transplant Organ Procurement Team, we referred to motorcycles as "Donor-cycles".

Charlie Noyes

[TwoFlowersLuggage]

Clearly, that rider is someone that follows the life plan of "Live fast & leave a long blood smear."

[stagman]

When my daughter was the charge nurse at University of Michigan hospital several
years ago, thats what I heard her say Charlie, a person already in waiting for a heart,
she had come to be friendly with said Lance got his heart from another donor cycle donor.
Having traveled I-90 from Sioux Falls to Spearfish I bet 15 times in 13 years, I know what
ya mean olde cutler, seen a few strange happenings myself along that route in august,
including nothing but orange clothing in the fields on both sides when I passed thru on the pheasant opener one time !!!

stag
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/stagman

[mrwatch]

I used to ride, BMW then Goldwing. I had a can holder on the left of handle bar on the Wing. Found out I could shift with out the clutch but the wind blowing over the can of coke took the fizz right out of it. now Michigan does not require helmets for over age 21. shorts, tee shirts and tennis shoes add up to lots of "road rash". helmets on a 90 degree day in slow traffic makes the sweat roll down your head.

[royal0014]

Clearly, that rider is someone that follows the life plan of "Live fast & leave a long blood smear."

Now that's funny ... .. ...

Had a guy hit a bull with a brand new Harley one night. Dude had just left the dealership.
Bike had 46 miles on the clock. Killed the bull, too .....

[XX Case XX]

When I rode, I always wore the best gear I could afford: Bates, Shoei, Arai, Simpson, Bell, Moto-X Fox, Scott, Carrera, and others. I protected myself the best I could at all costs, and that includes comfort on hot Summer days. Anyone that does otherwise might as well play "Russian Roulette" with a .357.

____________
Mike

[kootenay joe]

The question about how a person can take 87 mph winds on a 90 degree day while lightly dressed with much skin exposure is one i too would like to know. I am a retired MD and know the physiology of the human body fairly well but i don't know how one can do this unless you take frequent breaks in the shade and drink enough water to make some urine. As long as you are able to urinate about 50-100 cc per hour you are not dehydrated. I am guessing about the "50-100 cc", but it's the 'ballpark'.
kj

[KnifeSlinger#81]

I just don't understand how people can ride without a helmet, it's dangerous enough with a helmet. I don't ride without a helmet but I ride on the dirt where injury factor is greater but getting killed is not as likely. And when it comes to being in the sun, cover your head and wear long sleeves and pants. It just makes more sense.

The most baffling thing is drinking a cold one while going down the road on a bike at 87 mph.

[OLDE CUTLER]

The question about how a person can take 87 mph winds on a 90 degree day while lightly dressed with much skin exposure is one i too would like to know. I am a retired MD and know the physiology of the human body fairly well but i don't know how one can do this unless you take frequent breaks in the shade and drink enough water to make some urine. As long as you are able to urinate about 50-100 cc per hour you are not dehydrated. I am guessing about the "50-100 cc", but it's the 'ballpark'.
kj

This personal health question is exactly what I was referring to with my statement "I don't know how they do it". Maybe the reasoning (?) is "if we drive fast enough, we will be home before we get dehydrated". LOL

[tongueriver]

Been there; done that. Harleys, booze, hard living. Made it through with nothing worse than skin cancer, so far. Now I ride a bicycle and not on a road (they like to kill bicycle riders, too). Try to do at least ten miles a day in rolling Hills under the trees with my Sweetheart, riding through the sprinklers in the cemetery is very good. We just biked down the mountain 17 miles yesterday on the Route of the Hiawatha. The first RR tunnel was 1.67 miles long and DARK and 40 degrees. Excellent. My seven motorcycles are nothing but history. And I carry pure water on my bike. Afterwards? Well... not always.

[mrwatch]

Harlo was good at building up Harley's. He told me one time he decided to stand up on the seat. I was doing good until I got above the windshield.

[btrwtr]

It's hard for me to understand how I am required by law to wear a seat belt in my vehicle with all the packaging it affords as well as the airbags but yet the person next to me on the motorcycle has no helmet on. I don't ride anymore but when I did I wore a helmet regardless of the state I was in at the time. I have one helmet-less friend that is no longer living and one that will never be the same.

It's also hard to rationalize the "Look twice save a life" signs touted by helmet-less riders in states that don't require helmets.

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/laws/he ... clehelmets

[bighomer]

Young and foolish, some just foolish. Some even make it to old age, I did, don't know how.

[TwoFlowersLuggage]

Ahh, but be careful - the thinking that you can tell someone else they must wear a helmet is the same line of thought that says you can tell someone else they can't own firearms, or they can't drive a car if they are over the age of 65, or they can't own an automatic knife. If someone wants to put there life in peril by not wearing a helmet, should we really have the right to stop them? I tend to say this is an example of "Evolution in Action." It is a thinning of the gene pool to eliminate those without sufficient common sense. Unfortunately, some of those people might be good friends and neighbors. It also unfortunate that sometimes they take other people with them, and/or their survivors sue others for money.

[OLDE CUTLER]

The Sturgis motorcycle rally opens tomorrow and we will have to see how that goes. They are expecting 250,000 people to descend on a town of normally 7000 residents. It will be the largest gathering of people in the US that has not been canceled since the Coronavirus started. I hope they can handle any and all problems that may arise. I was up by the I 90 truck stop in Sioux Falls yesterday and there were hundreds upon hundreds of bikes there on the way west. Unfortunately we know from past years that not all of them will get back home safely. Kind of glad I am 350 or so miles east of there.

[cody6268]

Brain injuries are not something to take lightly! I fell in the bathroom and hit my head two years ago this October and got a very mild concussion. My folks were adamant that I go to the ER and get a CT scan, to rule out a brain bleed. I have not been right since, despite it being a "mild" concussion.

Around here, we have loads of Darwin award winners, between the Hatfield McCoy ATV trails, and this whole Back of the Dragon thing our local officials keep trying to promote. I see very few people wearing leathers and helmets. When my Dad owned a motorcycle, he always suited up in full leathers and wore a helmet. I regularly see people going way over the limit with no PPE. I've not been to the parts of my area where the ATV trailheads are, but there for a long time, I'd pick up the paper, and would find at least two fatalities a week. Some friends of mine travelled through a town where a trailhead is, and said there were people going 50 plus miles an hour on ATVs, on public roads rated for 25.

I used to ride a horse, and am considering buying another, probably a quarter horse or Saddlebred (which is what I'm used to). My instructor was very safety conscious, and required me to wear a helmet and gloves at all times. I did ride English but am switching to Western this time (saddles fit me better, I can actually find Western saddles around here, and it is the predominant style of riding and more practical). Very few people I know that ride horses wear helmets. A Stetson hat offers zilch protection. Troxel and Stetson both have made helmets that resemble traditional Western hats, but I have no problem with a standard schooling helmet. The one I'm looking at is a Troxel with a quite nice looking leather embellishment on the outside.

I'm getting our 30-year-old Kawasaki ATV up and running, as it has not been driven since 2006, and I want something that will fit through a narrower gate, since the Kubota RTV900 UTV that replaced it cannot go through anying narrower than 4-5 feet, and a 4-foot gate is a squeeze. And, it's got toolboxes and a rifle rack added to it already. I will be buying a helmet. I will not operate it at breakneck speeds. I doubt it can go that fast, though my Dad and Granddad have both wrecked it (Dad rolled it, Granddad hit an aggressive bull, I forgot to lock the brake, let it run off when I was like . Public roads are limited to roughly 100 feet on the paved state-maintaned road I have to traverse to reach the mailbox.

[thankgod4rkids]

I would agree. I would never ride a cycle without a helmet. But seeing as I just stepped on a green broke 4 yr old gelding a week from my 55th birthday I'm probably a hypocrite. I'm always teased for wearing long sleeves and wranglers in the summer time but have always thought that sun baking my skin was worse than the clothing.
Bill

[thankgod4rkids]

Amd Cody I got that Stetson 35 years ago for my wedding I ain't gonna quit her now

[kootenay joe]

The Sturgis motorcycle rally opens tomorrow and we will have to see how that goes. They are expecting 250,000 people to descend on a town of normally 7000 residents. It will be the largest gathering of people in the US that has not been canceled since the Coronavirus started. I hope they can handle any and all problems that may arise. I was up by the I 90 truck stop in Sioux Falls yesterday and there were hundreds upon hundreds of bikes there on the way west. Unfortunately we know from past years that not all of them will get back home safely. Kind of glad I am 350 or so miles east of there.

The effects of Sturgis Rally will be seen in about 3-4 weeks time after the riders get back to their home towns and States. Riders come from every State (except Hawaii ?) and some will bring Covid with them. Then many more are likely to bring Covid back home with them and give it to friends and family.
By late August/early September there could be a big jump in new Covid cases.
"Live Free and Die", Harley motto.
kj

[Ripster]

The Sturgis motorcycle rally opens tomorrow and we will have to see how that goes. They are expecting 250,000 people to descend on a town of normally 7000 residents. It will be the largest gathering of people in the US that has not been canceled since the Coronavirus started. I hope they can handle any and all problems that may arise. I was up by the I 90 truck stop in Sioux Falls yesterday and there were hundreds upon hundreds of bikes there on the way west. Unfortunately we know from past years that not all of them will get back home safely. Kind of glad I am 350 or so miles east of there.

The effects of Sturgis Rally will be seen in about 3-4 weeks time after the riders get back to their home towns and States. Riders come from every State (except Hawaii ?) and some will bring Covid with them. Then many more are likely to bring Covid back home with them and give it to friends and family.
By late August/early September there could be a big jump in new Covid cases.
"Live Free and Die", Harley motto.
kj

Morning all, just read this posting for first time. kJ ,agree about the Covid and sturgis thing. I have been riding HD Motorcycles for 45 years, and my friends wanted us to go to Sturgis like many times before, but said no.Even told my best friend,he shouldn’t go and why.Well,he’s on his way as of about a hour ago.was hard waving as the group rolled out, many of the group and I have made the Rally many times. As far as Riding ,helmets or not ,hydrating ,etc,etc,we’ve all done some things that have pushed the limit, but are older now and I can’t do it without more breaks,
Want to say one thing about cycles and cars, 1996 a drunk driver in a car hit 4 of us on motorcycles.
3 of us almost didn’t make it . My left femur and knee were shattered both shoulders pulled out of sockets ,etc etc. my friends just as bad. We were sober, she was a drunk special ed teacher. So folks it’s a two sided coin,She almost ruined 3 life’s ,2 of us live with pain and limp . So to wrap it up, we’ve all done things that our fellow Americans don’t all ways agree with, but we live in a country where we have some freedoms to choose our lifestyles or hobbies.And that is still the best thing going. Pleas don’t be so judgmental of others. Be safe out there

[kootenay joe]

Ripster, what a horrific 'accident' that was ! My only point was about this year & Covid. What i have read is that the majority of accidents involving motorcycles, the other vehicle, car or truck, is at fault. The times when the motorcyclist is to blame nearly always involves new riders with little experience. The people who go to Sturgis are likely some of the safest 'drivers' on the road. Experienced bikers rarely make mistakes.
kj

[Ripster]

All good KJ ,it’s the things we all go through, some good ,some just plain suck, that makes us who we Are. And we ,you ,me, all of us become who we Are . As we get older we get wiser ( hopefully) and we even see things from a different perspective. And sometimes now I, don’t know how we do it, but we all do. Thanks to all here ,been a good reminder, we all differ in some ways ,but a knife guy or gal we are similar ,and that’s cool.Be safe folks .