This little town of 1200 people only has 5,500 people in the entire county. We've had two riders to go down within one week.
The first guy ran off the road, hit a small tree, bounced off and hit a telephone pole with his face. He was wearing a full face helmet. He broke several bones in his cheek. He was messed up pretty badly, but is home and doing ok now.
Last Saturday night, another guy just straightened out a curve. They were wanting to air lift him to Nashville, but, the weather was too bad so they brought in a surgical team to a small local hospital. He had four broken ribs and they removed his spleen. He was critical for a time, but is doing OK now.
I know both of these guys, but don't really socialize with either one very much. Either one of them could have been drinking, or they might have been stone sober, I don't know. Either way, it just makes me stop and think about how vulnerable we are riding these machines.
I just wanted to give everyone a heads up. Be careful out there and watch your every move. All it takes is one second of not paying attention and you could be messed up for life. Watch the other driver. Watch the dogs and deer. Watch your riding buddy. Watch for things in the road. Watch for things falling off trucks. Have fun, but be careful. Helmet or no helmet, if your head hits a tree at 75 MPH, it's not going to be good. I've made some great friendships with some of you site members. I don't want to be attending your funeral.