SMASH, CRASH, and GNASH

There may be nothing more embarrassing than having an accident with a motorcycle when you are riding in a group. All one’s self doubts, insecurities and believed inadequacies surface, hitting you between the eyes.

Our 5 European Countries Tour is likely no different than any other moderately large motorcycle touring group, at the outset 14 members plus 2 guides. A couple was forced to return to the USA because of a very serious family illness. The rest rode on into the depths of fenderbending, handlebar reshaping and worse, a failed drive train.

It began rather innocuously in a 'sloped' parking lot fronting an Italian bar (café). The bikes were all lined up in a nicely parallel parked organization,  a very orderly way of parking a crowd of bikes. But the key word here is ‘sloped.’ Asking someone to take a photograph of me, I wanted to use my bike as a prop and as I leaned against the bike, it began to fall down, away from me, in a dominoes effect of a chain reaction. My bike fell against another and both smashed to the ground. Apologies, given fervently, repeatedly, seemed to fall on deaf ears maybe because we are all responsible for damages for our bikes. I am most certain my apologies included “I am responsible for any assessed damages.” but who knows, perhaps in the embarrassment of the moment, I neglected to add that essential phrase. The bike owner doesn’t speak to me anymore. The bike damage, very minor scratches and some rubber rubbing marks on my windshield.

Then, one of our very best riders, told me he ‘dropped’ his bike on the very first day! No damage was mentioned other than possibly to a male ego and the issues seemed to pass into the world of the ‘unspoken and not repeated.’

Next, the dentist in our group, turned a sharp switchback corner and the oncoming car, far over its own territorial roadway boundaries, connected with the rider’s biker. A mere bump, brush and scrape. The auto driver verbally lashed out at the biker, as if bikers do not have any road rights whatsoever and drove off without doing anything else like exchanging information or assessing damage. Luckily again, bike damage was negligible.

Next morning, new day, new riding resolutions, new determinations to ride with extreme care, and less than twenty minutes into the ride, one of the senior and most skilled riders, turned another switchback and the resulting sharp turn ended in another dropped bike. The rider, for being a mature man, showed amazing self-preservation skills and jumped off the bike as it went down. With many years of riding experience, the rider immediately explained the crash as the fault of the bike, a sticking throttle. Again, our good fortune continued with the bike escaping any significant damage, ditto the rider.

A day later, one of our tour guides, the 24 year old son of the tour company owner, again a skilled rider, a seemingly good athlete. Boom, down he went and likely with some moderate speed, for his bike is damaged to the extent that the handlebars needed welding and reshaping and the ignition button needed repair. Rider injury, none; bike damage, notable. Our tour was delayed by about an hour and a half, a minor inconvenience given but no personal injuries were incurred.

And now, another day later, we may be experiencing the New Orleans voodoo for those of you who read my tour blogs from the southern USA. This time, the rider who dropped his bike on day one, had a major bike mishap. Major in this sense, the bike’s transmission seized up thereby ending the possibility of any more riding completely. Bike damage, major; rider injury, none but group inconvenience this time was significant depending how you look at it. We abandoned two riders to stay with the incapacitated bike which was now to be replaced by the dealer in Lengrries, Germany, bringing a replacement bike out to where the problem occurred, not a great distance, perhaps 75 kms, but given that the terrain is the Dolomiti Alps and thereby, lots of mountainous riding, the time to get to the bike would likely be a number of hours. The rest of the group now continued on with the tour, minus one group member and one guide.

In summary, I think we have escaped with a lot of good luck mixed with some not so good. We have had a number of mishaps, and near misses, but thankfully no one has suffered any kind of personal injury. Thank goodness.

The photo is of one of the passes of the Dolomiti range in Italy...it really is a spectacular region for its incredible scenery.

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