I’ve ridden bicycles all my life for fun and exercise. Had a few close calls but nothing like this has happened to me.
Amazing that no one broke any bones. The pics are amazing, but the video is pretty jaw dropping :eek: :eek: No blood thankfully. But as a bicyclist I felt their pain.
Good lord. And the video was shot by a guy documenting how dangerous that curve is…there’s a little bit of proof.
Wow. Almost looks like the motorcycle rider had target fixation.
I’m completely stumped. If the motorcyclist wasn’t drunk, I have no explanation for why he hit the bikes.
He wasn’t going particularly fast - around 30mph - and from my measurements, he had them in his line of sight for at least 1.5 to 2 seconds, and he never braked. He may have lifted off the throttle, but not until 10 feet from impact.
All he had to do was keep his lean, or lean back down, or, I don’t know…HIT THE FUCKING BRAKES?
Even without ABS, I can drop 30 to 0 in maybe 40-50 feet.
I just don’t understand.
I would say this, he target fixated on them and that was that. Did you notice he had his left foot half on the ground too? That curve didn’t seem to be that bad, but there must be something there if they have cameras set up every weekend. If it wasn’t 3000 miles away.
Classic case of target fixation. You go where you look.
I wonder if that was an inexperienced motorcyclist? It could explain why he didn’t react quickly to avoid the accident. Heck it didn’t look like he did much of anything except hang on.
I’d say quite inexperienced to freeze like that. And what was up with his foot?
Indeed. I remember once I was riding down a long straight stretch of highway and saw what appeared to be a large rock on the road quite a ways ahead. I kinda made a mental note that I would pass it on the right since there was more space there. But as I drew closer, I noticed that now there seemed to be more space on the left. A moving rock? WTF? Anyway, it now had my complete attention and it was indeed slowly moving. I had made the decision to now pass it on the left but noticed that the bike was stubbornly heading right for it! It was like a magnetic force pulling the bike. Finally, I just stopped, got off the bike and walked over for closer inspection. It was a turtle crossing the road. I carried it off the highway in the direction it was heading and continued on my way. But yeah, target fixation.
It’s almost like he’s trying to stomp on an invisible brake pedal. Which may mean he’s not that great of a car driver either considering it’s his left foot.
Considering the people standing around, and the guy filming, I have to wonder if this is one of those roads where the MotoGP wannabees go.
That really was not a tight turn, you could have readily doubled your speed on that curve and made it with no issues, its like the rider was too stiff and not ready to lean over, probably doesn’t know about counter steering.
I never saw him use his brake at all, he started the bend tight into the middle of the road and hit the apex too early, he should have started wide, stayed there and then moved out to the apex.
When you have a bend like this, it is a very bad idea to go to the middle, as the upper body is over the dividing line and exposes the rider to risk if collision from traffic the other way - so you keep wide and get the best view around the bend, and if its clear you move over to the apex.
Conclusion, rubbish born-again biker.
A good argument for helmets. The first guy he hit landed on the back of his head but had protection on.
I’m in the -new rider / fixation- camp… Bikes & mossickles do not mix well anywhere.
YMMV
I once stopped for a turtle crossing the road and carried it to safety. In gratitude, it lunged at me and narrowly missed severing a finger or two. It was a snapping turtle. :eek:
Maybe it was just the lizard part of his brain thinking it will help him stop or somehow minimize the impact.
It’s interesting that every cyclist in the video was wearing a helmet, even when slowly toiling up the hill. I guess freak things like this happen too often.
Looks to me like he was trying to brake using his feet on the road. I’ve noticed that reflex when about to crash on my mountain bike. It would probably do less good on a motorbike though!
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It’s interesting that every cyclist in the video was wearing a helmet, even when slowly toiling up the hill. I guess freak things like this happen too often.
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Slowly toiling up hills is usually followed by tearing down the other side 
I doubt if anyone would take their helmet off while going uphill.
The whole point of the camera crew being there is because they know people like taking that turn fast and wiping-out.
Yeah, I’m a little confused that anyone thinks it makes sense to remove a helmet while climbing a hill.
Is it not the law? It is in this corner of the world.