I read stories like this to remind myself to never get complacent. Glad that nobody was seriously hurt. Use your friends accident as a training lesson on how fast things can go bad. Leave yourself room and a way out. Those lessons from way back on the MSF training still hold true.

 

Really? 12 seconds? sounds like a good way to have a cage in between every bike in the group......
I was on a toys for tots ride years ago, bikes nose to tail - I hated it and was telling myself that I was going to bug out and never do this again - when 3 bikes in front of me got tangled up and went down. I missed the sliding bikes and riders, and when I stopped to help, I did the same thing with the side stand, bike fell over.

 

F*ck em everyone makes mistakes and these dicks arent perfect either take the advice **** on the criticism and be glad you all were not hurt and can live another day to learn from the mistakes and help others to not make the same ones you may or may not have made

 

The crashes I've had have been few, fortunately. I learned from each one. It's probably not a bad thing to tell another man (or woman) what you think went wrong in their case. Such could be helpful for someone who's not been riding all that long, e.g., 3 years. It's someplace to start from, in understanding. But in the final analysis, it's up to the rider, him- or herself, to analyze the accident, understand it and why it happened, and if there's anything that could have been done to avoid it, to take steps to do so in the future.

Commiseration is ok, too. And maybe that's all the OP was after. But I'd recommend thinking about what happened, and making a plan so that it's never likely to happen to him again.

Alan

 

Glad everyone is going to be okay.

 

Yeah 12 seconds could be like a quarter mile I thought

I like riding with a group, but it seems like mostly what I do is pay attention to the guys in front, side, and back of me instead of enjoying the ride.

 

I like riding with a group, but it seems like mostly what I do is pay attention to the guys in front, side, and back of me instead of enjoying the ride.[/quote]



This is the main reason I don't do group rides anymore, besides you always have two different people wanting to go two different routes or wanting to stop and and eat at two different spots. The hell with all that BS my wife and I always have the best time when we are by ourselves. To the OP glad to hear you all are ok, and as far as the negative opinions just remember opinions are like ********. Live and learn is all you can do.

 

I can't believe that 5 pages have accumulated in this thread without anyone mentioning the one thing that might have prevented this mishap from happening.....


ABS

 

We all warn each other of stuff, some hand signals and a good knowledge of everyone else's ability in a group leads to a good time had by all, I have one buddy who when we ride together we ride real close because we know how each other ride but we still ride staggered, if we have to drop in line then the distance heads out a lot, I avoid riding in big groups with strangers.

 

ABS cannot make up for stupid riders who are following too close.