Road Glide banner

Yikes!!! The Dragon Bites Back!

10K views 67 replies 46 participants last post by  fossil mel 
#1 ·
#5 ·
Look at the rider's head in frame 18. He's focused on the Vette in every frame until impact. The cage pulled over and gave him room, but he never looked to the right where the clear path was.

It's easy for me to say in post analysis. I'm guilty of posing on the Dragon too. At least I'm looking to the right! :cool:


 
#13 ·
Look at the rider's head in frame 18. He's focused on the Vette in every frame until impact. The cage pulled over and gave him room, but he never looked to the right where the clear path was.

It's easy for me to say in post analysis. I'm guilty of posing on the Dragon too. At least I'm looking to the right! :cool:


Shrug you were already past the apex of the turn, and kept your eyes on the road.
This guy panicked as soon as he saw the cars coming ahead of him, mostly on the Vette, which was the first car he encountered. If he was looking ahead, he would have slowed down before he started to make the curve, and kept his lean angle, and probably would have made that curve.
This is one of the curviest roads in the U.S., and you need to be paying attention the entire time. Especially if you dont know the road.
Even if you do know the road, the road does not know you, and it don't care either.

If/when I ever get down there, I supposed I'll be one of those ones the guys behind me cuss at for going too slow.
 
#18 ·
Actually, his day wasn't so bad. But his crash caused a near fatality for a sportbike rider sharing the same stretch of road.

The fluids left behind on the road caused a sportbike rider to go down, and he almost died. Here are posts from the rider's son and wife........

Hey this is Jeff's son, he is in pretty bad shape, going to be in ICU for possibly 3 weeks.
Fractured skull around orbital area
Missing top 4 teeth
Lip split up to nose
Broken neck
Broken back (again)
2 collapsed lungs
Multiple ribs broken on both sides
Lacerated liver
Busted up kidney
Heaving bruising on right side

He is responsive only by movement of hands and a slight head nod. Thanks for all your thought and prayers!

(From today) Breathing on his own for the most part, ate food for the first time and drank water for the first time today. Trying to talk a little, still not out of the woods yet but it's definitely some progress!


A message from his wife, Mel

Jeff is now stable but still in critical condition. Injuries he has sustained include fractured skull at frontal lobe and orbital area, missing four front teeth with torn lip, facial reconstruction in the future, broken C1,C2,T3,L2,L3 and L4, broken ribs on both sides and collapsed lungs with lacerations to liver and kidney. Thank you for all your love, prayers, and support.




 
#15 ·
Amateur. :rolleyes:
 
#19 ·
I love the Dragon..I usually ride my Bike on it rather than wave at cameramen though...all I can say about that...When You ride the Dragon ..You should concentrate like every other road you ride on...except more...That accident is commonplace...usually it's a sport bike....no car...& when you ride by they are off in the woods. Hope we was not too bad off...that was rather recent...he's probably still recovering.
 
#23 ·
The problem is human nature.
Even when we drive our cars, we tend to turn our heads to view areas we never driven by. On a motorcycle this problem increases exponentially..

The best thing to do is pull over on each of the look out points throughout the parkway. Take pictures and enjoy the mountain scenery... Then on your ride back down (or Up depending where you started from) is when you can enjoy the actual ride itself, although on some of the turns you'll find you still need to keep it sloooooow.....
 
#24 ·
Have ridden that road. Great riding but forget about show boating for the cameras. I don't pay them any attention. There are several sites that post pictures of you and your bike on the Dragon. Google Tail of the Dragon photos to check for you and friends. Notice how most all riders ignore photographers but passengers wave.
 
#27 ·
The only thing I really haven't heard here is some sympathy for the driver of the Vet. He did nothing wrong, attempted to get out of the way and still lost the front corner panel of his car. Not a good day by any standards.

I really do feel for the guy who when down, but I would be extremely pissed if I was the driver who was simply out for a ride and did nothing wrong.
 
#32 ·
What poster?
 
#38 ·
If you watch the pictures again, you will see the real problem.
He caused the problem when he overloaded his bike,
Along with his saddlebags and tour pack, he has the back seat
full of junk and more stuff on top of his tour pack.
He actually starts to lowside but catches it just in time to
straighten it up and ride straight in to the Vette.
 
#42 ·
Watched the loop where all the pics are shown and couldn't help but think of a phrase often used probably applies to some (or all) of us at one time or another - "But for the grace of God, there go I." I know over the years I've gone into a curve too hot and would've had a collision, just lucky there was no one there at the time.

My "I survived the Dragon" T-shirts have a little more meaning now. Very unforgiving road that demands 100% of your attention. Saw a few close calls on it last year, feel for the Vette driver, he was a sitting duck. That bike being ridden was a Triumph Thunderbird which normally comes with ABS, hard to tell from the pics if he even applied them. This certainly would be a good training tool for new riders and veterans alike.​
 
#43 ·
thanks for the post Shrug. good reminder to us all to pay attention and look where you want to go
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top