I spend most of my motorcycling time on Highway 2, better known locally as 'Angeles Crest'. It's a roller-coaster from flatland LA up into the mountains, over the top, and down into the desert. Something like 60-odd miles or so of the most fun a sporting motorcyclist has any right to expect.
But this road has a bad reputation. Not entirely justified, and vilified more among the non-riding population than those of us who ride and ought to know... but that reputation is not without reason.
It isn't the most dangerous road I ride. My commutes by motorcycle through rush-hour LA city traffic pose far more hazards to my safety. Freeway jaunts at peak traffic times are only slightly less risky.
This is because, for all intents and purposes, motorcyclists are invisible to other motorists. Even when they aren't distracted by adjusting the radio, checking their GPS, reading (and answering) their email, combing their hair, doing their makeup, or even a phone call, car drivers just don't see bikers much of the time. When they do see us, they usually don't understand the dynamics of bikes, and as a result do things around us that put us in danger; like tailgating, or cutting in front of us with their brakes hard-on. (Modern cars with all-wheel ABS brakes can stop much faster than even the most sophisticated motorcycle, even if the bike has ABS.)
This invisibility and lack of empathy among car drivers pose by far the greatest danger to anyone who rides a bike. Accidents and fatalities due to bike-car collisions are the most common.
The kind of accidents that typically occur on roads like Angeles Crest; however, are single vehicle, bike-only affairs. This may be why these accidents get the most attention: they aren't what we've come to think of as daily run-of-the-mill traffic risks; these are incidents where the riders have put themselves at risk, on purpose, and for recreation. It's easy for non-riders to see a convenient fix: ban bikes from those roads and that kind of activity. (Never minding that sports car owners recreate there too - and also crash).
That attitude is a cross and a prejudice all of us who love riding for pleasure are forced to bear in America. Things are easier for our brethren in Europe; there are many more bikes per capita on the road there, and people are more comfortable with their presence. Here, we are still considered by many as an outlaw minority, years after any excuse to believe that cliche has ceased to exist.
But, as I mentioned before, riding the Angeles Crest and roads like it can be dangerous. Bikes (and cars) can and do crash there on a regular basis, and some of those crashes result in fatal injuries.
I've known people who've crashed - and a few who have died - on that road, but I also know people who've ridden there for decades without any accidents. Sometimes the difference can be down to simple things: a deer jumps out in front of you, or it doesn't; newly fallen rocks have rolled into your path around a tight corner with a steep cliff and empty air your only escape route - or they haven't. Sometimes the cause might be mechanical; a flat tire, a broken chain, oil spilling onto the rear tire, even braking failure, but these are exceedingly rare.
Usually, single vehicle bike crashes on Angeles Crest are down to rider error. And even very, very experienced riders can make mistakes.
One rider I knew rode head-on into a metal gate that had been shut to close the road. In his posthumous defense, that barrier had not been closed for many years, and the concept that it might be shut probably didn't register in his mind, much like the way we sometimes blow through newly-erected stop signs when we first encounter them.
But that accident was a tragic fluke; not down to rider skill apart from human frailty. Usually, single vehicle accidents have a clear relation to experience. Experience on a bike, experience with the particular bike the rider is on, and most importantly experience with the road.
For example, another rider who crashed earlier this month took his fall by running wide on a left turn, hitting the dirt, and getting ejected into the hillside. (Street bikes with street tires don't handle or brake well in dirt). He'll survive, but with a partially-metallic shoulder and future problems with airport scanners. From all I've heard, the man was an experienced rider, but not on Angeles Crest.
The Crest is not a particularly difficult road to ride, technically, but it does lure you into complacency then throw something unexpected at you: one turn tightens when you don't think it will; another has an off-camber exit that also makes your bike want to run wide. There are also lots and lots of otherwise easy turns that bother the inexperienced because they involve changing elevation uphill or downhill. The uninitiated brake too much or too little, throttle too much or too little.
Just yesterday I witnessed the aftermath of a simple, non-injury low-side fall (where the bike falls over on it's closest side to the pavement, a bit like someone sliding into home base - only without the joy). The drop took place in a set of two turns that are tighter than you'd think they'd be after the wide-open turns that precede them. They also feature a significant change in elevation. These are easy turns for those who have ridden them, but complicated to even experienced riders who haven't seen them before (and made more complicated recently courtesy of slippery tar 'snakes' laid down to seal cracks in the road surface).
Sadly for that faller, his bike was a very expensive Ducati Desmosedici - sort of a high-end Ferrari of the biking world. Although it ran and he rode it away, I expect that learning experience will be costly.
SUMMING UP
Looking back over this post, it's clear I've been rambling a bit; my brain free-running and not as well-controlled as I'd like. But that is appropriate in a sense, because my main point in this blog post is that accidents on roads like Angeles Crest are mostly avoidable through experience. With experience comes control - of your bike and of yourself. We may be vulnerable and reliant on others for our safety on city streets and highways, but on those mountain, canyon, or back-country roads we motorcyclists love best, it's really up to us.
Ride Well and Ride Safe ...
But this road has a bad reputation. Not entirely justified, and vilified more among the non-riding population than those of us who ride and ought to know... but that reputation is not without reason.
It isn't the most dangerous road I ride. My commutes by motorcycle through rush-hour LA city traffic pose far more hazards to my safety. Freeway jaunts at peak traffic times are only slightly less risky.
This is because, for all intents and purposes, motorcyclists are invisible to other motorists. Even when they aren't distracted by adjusting the radio, checking their GPS, reading (and answering) their email, combing their hair, doing their makeup, or even a phone call, car drivers just don't see bikers much of the time. When they do see us, they usually don't understand the dynamics of bikes, and as a result do things around us that put us in danger; like tailgating, or cutting in front of us with their brakes hard-on. (Modern cars with all-wheel ABS brakes can stop much faster than even the most sophisticated motorcycle, even if the bike has ABS.)
This invisibility and lack of empathy among car drivers pose by far the greatest danger to anyone who rides a bike. Accidents and fatalities due to bike-car collisions are the most common.
The kind of accidents that typically occur on roads like Angeles Crest; however, are single vehicle, bike-only affairs. This may be why these accidents get the most attention: they aren't what we've come to think of as daily run-of-the-mill traffic risks; these are incidents where the riders have put themselves at risk, on purpose, and for recreation. It's easy for non-riders to see a convenient fix: ban bikes from those roads and that kind of activity. (Never minding that sports car owners recreate there too - and also crash).
That attitude is a cross and a prejudice all of us who love riding for pleasure are forced to bear in America. Things are easier for our brethren in Europe; there are many more bikes per capita on the road there, and people are more comfortable with their presence. Here, we are still considered by many as an outlaw minority, years after any excuse to believe that cliche has ceased to exist.
But, as I mentioned before, riding the Angeles Crest and roads like it can be dangerous. Bikes (and cars) can and do crash there on a regular basis, and some of those crashes result in fatal injuries.
I've known people who've crashed - and a few who have died - on that road, but I also know people who've ridden there for decades without any accidents. Sometimes the difference can be down to simple things: a deer jumps out in front of you, or it doesn't; newly fallen rocks have rolled into your path around a tight corner with a steep cliff and empty air your only escape route - or they haven't. Sometimes the cause might be mechanical; a flat tire, a broken chain, oil spilling onto the rear tire, even braking failure, but these are exceedingly rare.
Usually, single vehicle bike crashes on Angeles Crest are down to rider error. And even very, very experienced riders can make mistakes.
One rider I knew rode head-on into a metal gate that had been shut to close the road. In his posthumous defense, that barrier had not been closed for many years, and the concept that it might be shut probably didn't register in his mind, much like the way we sometimes blow through newly-erected stop signs when we first encounter them.
But that accident was a tragic fluke; not down to rider skill apart from human frailty. Usually, single vehicle accidents have a clear relation to experience. Experience on a bike, experience with the particular bike the rider is on, and most importantly experience with the road.
For example, another rider who crashed earlier this month took his fall by running wide on a left turn, hitting the dirt, and getting ejected into the hillside. (Street bikes with street tires don't handle or brake well in dirt). He'll survive, but with a partially-metallic shoulder and future problems with airport scanners. From all I've heard, the man was an experienced rider, but not on Angeles Crest.
The Crest is not a particularly difficult road to ride, technically, but it does lure you into complacency then throw something unexpected at you: one turn tightens when you don't think it will; another has an off-camber exit that also makes your bike want to run wide. There are also lots and lots of otherwise easy turns that bother the inexperienced because they involve changing elevation uphill or downhill. The uninitiated brake too much or too little, throttle too much or too little.
Just yesterday I witnessed the aftermath of a simple, non-injury low-side fall (where the bike falls over on it's closest side to the pavement, a bit like someone sliding into home base - only without the joy). The drop took place in a set of two turns that are tighter than you'd think they'd be after the wide-open turns that precede them. They also feature a significant change in elevation. These are easy turns for those who have ridden them, but complicated to even experienced riders who haven't seen them before (and made more complicated recently courtesy of slippery tar 'snakes' laid down to seal cracks in the road surface).
Sadly for that faller, his bike was a very expensive Ducati Desmosedici - sort of a high-end Ferrari of the biking world. Although it ran and he rode it away, I expect that learning experience will be costly.
SUMMING UP
Looking back over this post, it's clear I've been rambling a bit; my brain free-running and not as well-controlled as I'd like. But that is appropriate in a sense, because my main point in this blog post is that accidents on roads like Angeles Crest are mostly avoidable through experience. With experience comes control - of your bike and of yourself. We may be vulnerable and reliant on others for our safety on city streets and highways, but on those mountain, canyon, or back-country roads we motorcyclists love best, it's really up to us.
Ride Well and Ride Safe ...
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