BROKE BIKE MOUNTIAN

I’ll get back to the title of this article later on, but now that I’ve got your attention, I might as well address the safety aspect of this edition’s little piece of motorcycle wisdom.  Last month I was leading a group of four bikers through beautiful West Arkansas terrain on what was supposed to be a fall foliage tour but in fact turned out to be more green that orange.

That being said, a bad day riding the pig trails in Arkansas is a ‘heckuva’ lot better that sitting at home watching your favorite football team on the tube.  Besides, riding is good outdoor exercise, right?  At least that is what I tell the other half when I hurry out the door to fire up the old scoot for another adventure.  Anyway I digress; we were riding just to the west of Havana, Arkansas which leads to the base of Mt. Magazine when the unexpected happened.  I was cruising about sixty and an approaching flatbed semi-truck was bouncing along much faster when I spied a large (approximately 8’ x 8’) piece of 3” thick steel literally flying off the trailer like a giant Frisbee across my lane about 100 yards in front of me.

In the split second that followed I thought oh jeez that thing is going to cut me in half and take out the three guys behind me!  My immediate reaction was to go into a full bore emergency stop locking up both wheels which actually worked as it gave me time to determine which way the big Frisbee was going to go with guardrails on both side keeping it in the road.  What followed was almost comical if it hadn’t been so serious as I released by front brake allowing me to straighten my bike before ‘high-siding’ and to steer around the object as it bounced off of the guardrail and sailed on past me.

The guys behind had been alerted by this time as they later said that the white smoke (burning rubber) and screeching tires from my bike had scared the ‘bejeebers’ out of them.  They all immediately braked and began the symphony of zigzagging back and forth (seen in my rearview mirrors) in pin-ball fashion as the big piece of steel skidded by each one of them.  Needless to say the guy in the semi truck kept right on trucking as we stopped a short time later to ascertain everyone’s mental state and restroom status…  Two  to three guys in cages had observed the action and stopped, one guy told us later that it took all of them to pull the heavy piece of steel (estimated at 400 pounds) off to the side of the road – they also called the Arkansas highway patrol to report the guy for hauling an unsecured dangerous load and leaving the scene.

Oh yeah, back to the ‘Broke Bike Mountain’ part – it seems that those events always happen in threes as about ten miles later one of our riders ’98 Heritage Springer gave up the ghost (electrical problems) right at the base of Mt. Magazine and died on the spot (#2 event) for the duration.  Let this be lessons to you, (safety tip number one) always have your Harley Roadside Assistance Plan paid up – he didn’t!  Well guess who was elected to give our buddy a ride home on the ole Ultra as everyone else had a small passenger pillion?  Yep, yours truly came to the rescue and allowed my unfortunate friend to ride @$%&# all the way back to Tulsa (#3 event) so he could get his truck and trailer and come back to get his bike.

For some reason everyone else thought this was very funny as my passenger and I received many strange looks all the way back to Tulsa – hence the Broke Bike Mountain moniker was assigned to this latest adventure by the group.  But that leads me back to safety tip #2 and that is to always look well down the road in front of you when riding and especially when large trucks hauling loads are approaching.  You should always assume that something could fall of fly in this case off the trailer into your path.  Also, don’t linger when passing a loaded semi or flatbed trailer as you could end up with a piece of tire tread in your windshield or some other foreign object that will ruin your day upon impact.  And my final safety tip is to practice a full ‘emergency stop’ or two at some point in your riding – it will pay great dividends some day when you really need it!

Be safe out there,

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Clark Ogilvie, Safety Officer