Would you feel guilty

[WildKat]

If you invited a friend out for a ride, and he went down. This very thing happened to a friend of mine just the other day. They were out riding, after he invited another buddy of his to come along, and his friend went down...totally trashed the left side of his bike, and his foot is broken now.

He feels pretty bad since he invited his friend out, who's still pretty new to riding. From what he said, they didnt go balls out and lose him on purpose or anything, they kept a nice even pace, and after they came to a stop sign, noticed he wasnt behind them still,and came back and found him.

Just curious if you'd feel the same way as he is about now.

I told him you cant blame yourself, sometimes stuff just happens. He never said if his other friend was trying to hard to keep up or what, or if he just hit a patch of debris, or just flat out misjudged a corner. I'll find out more soon about it.

[BLACKDEATH]

Unless you cause the reck it aint your fault.

[BraadaJim]

Responsible leaders set a pace that is good for everyone in the group but it is every riders personal responsibility to not ride over their head. Still sometimes things just happen, that's why we wear gear.

[WildKat]

a little update here.. as far as gear, I dont know that he was wearing any, but I do know that they were riding a pretty challenging course, in terms of twisties. and apparently this guy was indeed trying to keep up, even though they told him to ride at his own pace and they wouldnt lose him or anything..i guess he got ahead of himself, and got out of his abilities and that was that.

so, can't help people who wont listen to your advice when you tell them to ride their pace. what a sensless thing to happen.

[QuickKat]

I'm going with jim, a good leader is where it's at. The guy should have used some common sence. If you cant keep up let them go you'll see them again and you can tell them,"Hey assclown why dont you slow down a bit so I can ride with you." On my first ride out it was withas bunch of harley guys, I really had to "go" so I pulled over. About 5 minutes later they all came around the corner to find me watering the bushes. It was nice of them to express their concerns about me being a newb.

[The CyberPoet]

I believe you should always put newbies in the front, about 30 feet out from everyone else... that way they set their own pace at whatever's comfortable for them, and if they go down, you have enough time to both stop and block traffic (to keep other vehicles from running over them -- a leading cause of motorcycle fatalities, esp. for newbies at night).

I'd probably feel guilty for not knowing better than to leave him behind and thereby encourage him to push it beyond his limits.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[arsenic]

This situtaion has never happened to me. I think if it did, I would feel a little guilt at least. I'd feel as though I let him or her down in some way. I voted not sure because, I'd know it wasn't my fault, but I'd still shoulder some of the blame.

[SweetLou]

If someone is going to go down, they are going to go down. I wouldn't feel guilty about it at all. I would feel bad for the guy for going down, but hey S**t happens.

[KatanaO215]

Id feel bad he went down, but its not my fault. I wouldnt feel guilty. He was the one in control of his bike, not me

[KitKat]

Responsible leaders set a pace that is good for everyone in the group but it is every riders personal responsibility to not ride over their head..

+1

[md86]

Happened to me last summer , actually . Met some people(strngers from Ohio) at a local McD's where I was having my post-ride breakfast . We got to talking , and I told them about the cool route I just rode . I got out my map and tried to show them . They got REAL interested , and asked if I still felt like riding some more so I could show them . So we organised the group (2 experienced sport riders , 2 cruisers who'd be the "sweepers" , and the newbie on the RC51) and set out . We got to the first stopsign of the route and waited about 5 minutes until a CAR showed up . I took that as a bad sign that the car beat our boys there . Next car pulls up and tells us that someone went down , so we hauled back down the road . Guess who it was ... The RC was pretty banged up , but the pilot was just a little shaken up , that's all . His mistake was that he stomped his REAR BRAKE going into the turn (Taz :-k) becuase the fronmt brake scared him too much , and he slid stright off the road . We finished the loop and they rode home . Felt kinda bad for a minute , but it wasn't my fault , and I warned them all what the route was like . At least we organised the group well so he wasn't totally left behind .

[blkpitbull]

Quick story,

A friend and I went for a short (probably only 15 miles) last summer. Here has rode before but not for a long time. He was tiding his dads intruder. He was in front and we were riding roads that we both knew. We came around a corner and a old kat 1100 (really nice) was sitting in a driveway to our left. I was really checking this bike out, I face forward and was barrelling down on my SLOWING friend. Was either hit him or try to stop. I grabbed WAY to much of the front brake and commenced to lock the front brake and stoppie all the same time. I quickly let off the front and grabbed it again, but it did the same. Front locked and pulled a stoppie. The front started to wobble bad and down i went. My bike ( the f3) slid to his left and I slid to his right. i was so pissed, not at him but myself for not paying attention, and not kNOWING that we were going to have to slow down for a low water bridge at the bottom of this hill.

Just goes to show that I have ridden on the street since around 97 and he hadnt ridden on the street for even half that time, and I was the one that made the rookie mistake. THINGS JUST HAPPEN!!!

Tore my pristine/all stock 6000 miled 97 F3 all tho shit.....Still fixing that thing!!!

[tifosi]

Correct me if I am wrong.......

but I do believe that in the riding training manual, they tell you that if your going to be riding in a group, you should have the experienced guys at the front and at the back with the newbies making up the middle, that way if something would happen to the new guys, someone would be there to help, instead of having to wait for the pack to come back and find them.

[md86]

Re: Correct me if I am wrong.......

but I do believe that in the riding training manual, they tell you that if your going to be riding in a group, you should have the experienced guys at the front and at the back with the newbies making up the middle, that way if something would happen to the new guys, someone would be there to help, instead of having to wait for the pack to come back and find them.

Exactly ! Have a sweeper just in case , but take turns so the same person won't HAVE to ride slow all day , if necessary .

[Black_peter]

About a two months after I started riding a friend got a 9new 91 Gixxer11, he had been riding for many years.

We took a trip to Maine he on his Gixxer me on my 80 CB750F. We rode a great stretch of road the second day. All twists and mountain passes (in New Hampshire) Thing was the night before I heard him telling the girl we were staying with how dissapointed he was in my riding. About how our mutual friend who had owned the CB (who was at the time deceased) "went balls out all the time"..
(This was instumental in his death BTW)
This pissed me off so the next day I used that anger to ride hard, passing him at every opertunity and taking some corners off the seat. Only the good handling of that bike, a good set of Metzlers and tons of luck kept me out of a ditch..
I was a newbie, I was full of hurt pride. I was swimming way over my head.
Recipe for disaster. I'm not strongly equating this story to N4S's but what is second nature for a good, experienced rider, like not getting over your head, is not for a newbie. Pride is a powerful force..
And a "a nice even pace" is subjective at best..

I wouldn't feel guilty about the accident.
But depending on the size of the group I would have put my friend in front of me..
Let him call the pace.
One lost day of hard carving is cheap money to help a new rider into the "deep end" safely..