2009 Iron Butt Rally - Official Daily Reports

[juniorfjr]

My deepest condolences to Davo and his family. And my admiration, to a man who followed his dreams and was doing what he loved. It is the rare individual that takes the risks. Not any easier for his family and for them I greive.

 

[doctorJ]

"There are only two possibilities; you are right or she is right. Before you dismiss her out of hand, be totally honest with yourself."

Steve, I don't know you, but I have done a lot of counseling with people, and a statement like that is really a white/black all or none statement. About some things you can say that, but not about people and relationships typically. In most relational difficulties, no one person is always 100% right generally. One may be more right than the other, but usually the truth lies somewhere in the middle. OK, back to your regularly scheduled programmming.

doctorj

 

[Lonerockz]

"There are only two possibilities; you are right or she is right. Before you dismiss her out of hand, be totally honest with yourself."
Steve, I don't know you, but I have done a lot of counseling with people, and a statement like that is really a white/black all or none statement. About some things you can say that, but not about people and relationships typically. In most relational difficulties, no one person is always 100% right generally. One may be more right than the other, but usually the truth lies somewhere in the middle. OK, back to your regularly scheduled programmming.

doctorj

I am referring to the fact that she feels he will die if he attempts this. If he does do an IBA ride he will either live or die. If he lives he proves her fears unfounded. If he dies her fears were well grounded. To me that is black and white. (I guess an argument could be made for permanent disability not resulting in death, but you get my point) The question any rider doing these rides needs to ask themselves is can they access the risk well? If you have someone that cares for you tell you this you owe it to them to honestly evaluate if they are right. Not everyone can do this. If it was easy they would make it harder. As we have tragically learned, death is an option. For many riders, doing an IBR would result in certain death. Discovering if you are one of those riders before you die is probablly worth figuring out.

My point is that if there are people telling you not to do it you should listen and hear them and then deiced if they are right. It takes a lot of guts to go against social graces and say what she said. If you dismiss it out of hand you do them and yourself a disservice. I make no judgment on her motivations. As you say in a relationship there is a lot of gray, maybe she is trying to manipulate him for nefarious reasons. I don't know; I do know about LDRiding; and I know it can be fatal.

 

[dcarver]

What I'd like to know is post IBR emotions; alarm clockitis, dreams of oversleeping, the endless road unfolding, the big boni drifting away while trying to close the distance, the fact it's just over, and now the dread of cubicle life instead of persuing and living the dream.

 

[deanw]

Welcome back, Iggy. I rode home from Spokane earlier this morning... thinking of Davo the entire way.

His crash was the first thing I heard when I got there Friday morning; I think I'm glad I left for home before I knew he was gone, and didn't find out until after I got home.
PS- Most of you haven't met me; a lot of you saw me Friday morning, when the people in the lot mistakenly routed my riding buddy and I up to the scoring table... '04 FJR, yellow mohawk.

 

[user 213]

For many riders, doing an IBR would result in certain death. Discovering if you are one of those riders before you die is probablly worth figuring out.

I'm sorry, but that statement shows a serious level of ignorance. Each of us is responsible for our own actions. Wether you are riding to the store for toothpaste, or riding day 11 of the IBR, that is still true. Doing an IBR would not result in "certain death" for anyone, certainly not "many riders". Yes, it is a challenging event. But it's not that hard to do the miles. The hard part is developing the skills to route and score well under the conditions of a rally, while doing the miles. Understanding your limitations, and learning how to recognize the warning signs of fatigue, sleep deprevation, dehydration, etc in yourself is part of the responsibility of any rider, especially any rider doing long distance rides. To ignore these things, or forego learning them, is still a personal choice and the responsibility of each of us.

My point is that if there are people telling you not to do it you should listen and hear them and then decide if they are right. It takes a lot of guts to go against social graces and say what she said. If you dismiss it out of hand you do them and yourself a disservice. I make no judgment on her motivations. As you say in a relationship there is a lot of gray, maybe she is trying to manipulate him for nefarious reasons. I don't know;

That is well stated. However, I will add that you should not allow someone else's fears to stop you from doing the things you wish to do, allowing that you do listen and attempt an honest assessment of their concerns.

I do know about LDRiding; and I know it can be fatal.

Most certainly true. So can driving a car, taking a bath, flying, walking, eating, sleeping, and on and on. The moment you give up doing something you want to do because just because there are risks, you die. Learn to asses the risks, and act accordingly in what's best for you. For some, that may mean not doing the IBR. For others, it may mean things like getting a Spot, buying better protective gear, choosing to wear your gear all the time, even if it means being less comfortable, etc.

 

[Allan B]

What I'd like to know is post IBR emotions; alarm clockitis, dreams of oversleeping, the endless road unfolding, the big boni drifting away while trying to close the distance, the fact it's just over, and now the dread of cubicle life instead of persuing and living the dream.

You and me, both

I don't think that I have read or heard of any "in depth" description of the aftermath of these marathon rallies but I sure would be interested if anyone knows of any. I also think that it is part of the people who do these events, too private and , perhaps disturbing, to discuss those emotions openly.

Many years ago I used to commute 350km twice a week (Friday and Sunday) at night on my little 350 Jawa. I did that every week for about 18 months. When I stopped doing it I continued to have the same emotions on Friday afternoons and Sunday evenings for many months and by 5pm on either day, I was getting "antsy" to be on my way even though I had nowhere to go I still dream about riding those same roads at times, as they were then (they have changed a lot in the last 15 years). Sometimes I have woken suddenly from those dreams and had a difficult time working out where I am and why I am not on the bike. It can get a little scary sometimes, so I have no idea what these IBR guys and gals are going to be faced with over the next few weeks or months but I suspect it isn't all going to be fun.

Cheers,

Allan

 

[Cal24Master]

I feel absolutely terrible about what happened to Davo. I looked at his spot track for the rally and burst into tears when I saw the end point. (It was password protected, but it didn't take much to hack it...)

However, I feel with some of the comments made here that it needs to put in some perspective. This was the 3rd death in an Iron Butt Rally. All three were under extremely unusual, if not bizarre circumstances. The first was in 1997. Ron Major's ST1100 was found leaning against a guardrail close to the Arizona/California border on the 3rd leg. It was leaning on the right side, the kickstand up, key in the ignition, on the "on" position. There was no sign of Ron anywhere. Several riders stopped and looked for him. The police were called, and eventually his body was found far from the roadway, over a 1/4 back as I recall. It turned out he had a heart attack, hit the guardrail and was thrown out into the desert while the bike continued on for some distance leaning against the rail.

The 2nd was Fran Crane in the 1999 rally. She went into the median of I15 in Utah, lost control and went down while re-entering the roadway. She suffered some head injuries and was taken to a hospital in Salt Lake City. We were told of this at the rally banquet, and were told she was doing well and should have been going home in a day or two. The next morning we were shocked to learn she had passed away the previous evening. It turned out the hospital staff had given her a blood thinner by accident that caused her head injury to bleed out.

And now we have Davo. Now hitting a deer is nothing remarkable, or bizarre. What is perplexing to all of us is that for some reason he was not wearing his helmet. I have been doing this for a long time, and I have never seen an Iron Butt rider ride without a helmet, whether in the rally or not. I have gotten hell from fellow riders for not putting one on to ride across the parking lot. Add to that the fact that it was a cold morning, under 40 degrees, and it really makes no sense that he had it strapped to the back of the bike instead of on his head. We will probably never know for sure what happened.

I know that people are going to look at this and use it to try to prove that LD riding is dangerous. Before you do that, think about this: First of all people die of heart attacks, hospital mistakes, and hitting deer, (whether on motorcycles or in cars!) every year. That these happened during a Iron Butt Rally does not make it any different. Also, the riders in this years rally accumulated over about 1,000,000 miles during the rally. If the average motorcycle rider puts on 3,000 miles a year, that is the equivalent of 333 years of average riding. Or about one accident for every 111 years of average riding. I would say that this proves that riding the Iron Butt, statistically is much safer than average motorcycle riding.

 

[Rogue]

I feel absolutely terrible about what happened to Davo. I looked at his spot track for the rally and burst into tears when I saw the end point. (It was password protected, but it didn't take much to hack it...)
However, I feel with some of the comments made here that it needs to put in some perspective. This was the 3rd death in an Iron Butt Rally. All three were under extremely unusual, if not bizarre circumstances. The first was in 1997. Ron Major's ST1100 was found leaning against a guardrail close to the Arizona/California border on the 3rd leg. It was leaning on the right side, the kickstand up, key in the ignition, on the "on" position. There was no sign of Ron anywhere. Several riders stopped and looked for him. The police were called, and eventually his body was found far from the roadway, over a 1/4 back as I recall. It turned out he had a heart attack, hit the guardrail and was thrown out into the desert while the bike continued on for some distance leaning against the rail.

The 2nd was Fran Crane in the 1999 rally. She went into the median of I15 in Utah, lost control and went down while re-entering the roadway. She suffered some head injuries and was taken to a hospital in Salt Lake City. We were told of this at the rally banquet, and were told she was doing well and should have been going home in a day or two. The next morning we were shocked to learn she had passed away the previous evening. It turned out the hospital staff had given her a blood thinner by accident that caused her head injury to bleed out.

And now we have Davo. Now hitting a deer is nothing remarkable, or bizarre. What is perplexing to all of us is that for some reason he was not wearing his helmet. I have been doing this for a long time, and I have never seen an Iron Butt rider ride without a helmet, whether in the rally or not. I have gotten hell from fellow riders for not putting one on to ride across the parking lot. Add to that the fact that it was a cold morning, under 40 degrees, and it really makes no sense that he had it strapped to the back of the bike instead of on his head. We will probably never know for sure what happened.

I know that people are going to look at this and use it to try to prove that LD riding is dangerous. Before you do that, think about this: First of all people die of heart attacks, hospital mistakes, and hitting deer, (whether on motorcycles or in cars!) every year. That these happened during a Iron Butt Rally does not make it any different. Also, the riders in this years rally accumulated over about 1,000,000 miles during the rally. If the average motorcycle rider puts on 3,000 miles a year, that is the equivalent of 333 years of average riding. Or about one accident for every 111 years of average riding. I would say that this proves that riding the Iron Butt, statistically is much safer than average motorcycle riding.

Well put!

Another way of looking at it is 3 in 25 years, I'm not sure when they were every year, every other etc... but I'll assume about 15 IBRs. Thats 3 fatalitys (one caused buy human error) in about 15,000,000 miles of riding! That sounds like a pretty impressive record for safety to me!

 

[Allan B]

I feel absolutely terrible about what happened to Davo. I looked at his spot track for the rally and burst into tears when I saw the end point. (It was password protected, but it didn't take much to hack it...)
However, I feel with some of the comments made here that it needs to put in some perspective. This was the 3rd death in an Iron Butt Rally. All three were under extremely unusual, if not bizarre circumstances. The first was in 1997. Ron Major's ST1100 was found leaning against a guardrail close to the Arizona/California border on the 3rd leg. It was leaning on the right side, the kickstand up, key in the ignition, on the "on" position. There was no sign of Ron anywhere. Several riders stopped and looked for him. The police were called, and eventually his body was found far from the roadway, over a 1/4 back as I recall. It turned out he had a heart attack, hit the guardrail and was thrown out into the desert while the bike continued on for some distance leaning against the rail.

The 2nd was Fran Crane in the 1999 rally. She went into the median of I15 in Utah, lost control and went down while re-entering the roadway. She suffered some head injuries and was taken to a hospital in Salt Lake City. We were told of this at the rally banquet, and were told she was doing well and should have been going home in a day or two. The next morning we were shocked to learn she had passed away the previous evening. It turned out the hospital staff had given her a blood thinner by accident that caused her head injury to bleed out.

And now we have Davo. Now hitting a deer is nothing remarkable, or bizarre. What is perplexing to all of us is that for some reason he was not wearing his helmet. I have been doing this for a long time, and I have never seen an Iron Butt rider ride without a helmet, whether in the rally or not. I have gotten hell from fellow riders for not putting one on to ride across the parking lot. Add to that the fact that it was a cold morning, under 40 degrees, and it really makes no sense that he had it strapped to the back of the bike instead of on his head. We will probably never know for sure what happened.

I know that people are going to look at this and use it to try to prove that LD riding is dangerous. Before you do that, think about this: First of all people die of heart attacks, hospital mistakes, and hitting deer, (whether on motorcycles or in cars!) every year. That these happened during a Iron Butt Rally does not make it any different. Also, the riders in this years rally accumulated over about 1,000,000 miles during the rally. If the average motorcycle rider puts on 3,000 miles a year, that is the equivalent of 333 years of average riding. Or about one accident for every 111 years of average riding. I would say that this proves that riding the Iron Butt, statistically is much safer than average motorcycle riding.

At some point, on one of the forums I have been frequenting during IBR time, somebody trundled out the National (USA) Accident Stats for motorcyclist deaths (I think from 2005???) which was something like 33.9 deaths per 100,000,000 miles ridden. I must admit, I looked at those figures and felt that they were way too low and I have not gone searching to check them (yet). If that is the case, then that equates to 0.339 per 1,000,000 miles. If each IBR racks up about a million rider miles and there have been nine of them with three deaths then the rate above is virtually the same! It just happens that those miles are ridden in a very short period of time in an IBR. It looks like Davo drew the short straw.

On the point of the "no helmet" thing, I was trying to reply to the discussion on ADVRider earlier today but it looks as though they have had a serious server crash and couldn't post it. I'll copy it here and you can make up your own minds but bear in mind, these are my thoughts on the matter and nothing more but presented as a possible scenario.

If poor Davo had lived through it, he may have ended up that way anyway, and now not when he was old.Everyone please keep a good helmet on. Its so much better to be BSing with your friends later about that damn deer.

Rest In Peace Davo, and peace to his friends and family also.

Like most, I, too, am puzzled by the report of the rider not wearing a helmet. I cannot imagine that Davo, under any NORMAL circumstance,

would ride without one. It is required in his native country and has been for many years and the habit of a lifetime would be impossible to

break for a rider of his experience and background of LD riding. Davo apparently crashed only 20 or so miles after the border crossing

at Eastport. I would imagine that there will be reasonably high quality video of approach and departure from this point. It should be easy

enough to confirm if he departed the border station wearing his helmet. I know, for sure, that he didn't stop after leaving there until it all went wrong a little further down the road.

Consider this, though, (and these are my thoughts, not based on any information published or otherwise) that Davo was wearing a helmet when

he hit the deer. It may have been a heavy impact and he may have hit his head pretty hard. Certainly enough to "ring his bell" and begin the

effects of concussion.

I have seen enough cases of riders, having crashed hard, get up, pick up their bikes and attempt to get mobile again, only to crash again

almost instantly because they are severely disoriented. Adrenaline and instinct are powerful things!

It is possible that Davo did pick himself up, was still cognisant of his situation, took off his helemt and secured it to his bike,

realising that his day was done. A short time later, perhaps the effects of the crash were beginning to have an effect on his mental

state and his deep instincts arose.... he knew he had to be somewhere and he knew that he had to ride his bike to get there. He was no longer

aware of the current state of his machine or his own health, he just knew that he needed to be on his way.

So, he managed to get aboard, get things running and take off... no helmet. In that short time he was mobile, I wonder if he would have

been able to control anything (throttle, brakes, clutch or whatever and that is one powerful machine he was riding...

A second biff at this point, even at a relatively low speed, either caused by another deer impact or just loss of bike control could easily

have resulted in more head trauma, on top of that which had already occurred. The result of all this, we already know, unforunately

Until proven otherwise, that is how I will think of Davo's last ride.

RIP Davo.

Allan

 

[Fletch6]

I just had to register and reply here at this point. Because of the great info coming out of the board during the IBA I have been lurking for the last two weeks. If you figure the Ron's death was a heart attack and I had never heard this before, and Fran's death was an error at the hospital you can only claim the one recent death as related to riding the IBA. I still find it very hard to believe the Davo was not wearing a helmet and hope it will be proved otherwise. I have for several years struggled of the thought of an running an event with that would have the loss of life and just this week and with the loss of Davo found the answer for me. Its not that someone died but all the others that lived. running the IBA gives all who succeeded a chance of dream and live a full life. When you do what you love it is hard for others to understand unless they are of the same mind set. I hope Warchild keeps running the IBA and the more I understand realize what a great job he and the others are doing.

 

[Chuckles]

G’Day from Aust.

One day in the late 1970’s I came across an accident, bike verses gutter.

Stopped and went to his assistance, had a badly gashed knee, local shop called OOO ( triple O, like 911 ) ambulance arrived and took him away.

Left me holding his helmet, after I had helped him take it off.

Here’s me holding his scratched up helmet, next to his scratched up bike.

I didn’t want it, not mine, so I strapped it to the carrier frame of the bike.

When the tow truck came he took the lot.

Besides that I wouldn’t be riding around, with out a helmet, at highway speeds,

with the temperature being about 40 degrees.

What about the wind-chill factor, and at that time of the morning, sunrise was about 6:10am. So Sunglasses are out.

At highway speeds it would have just slowed you down without a helmet and visor to keep the bugs out.

With the communication gear ( GPS, Mobile Phone, UHF, etc ) he had hooked up to his helmet, it would be just plain silly to just hang it off the back of the bike.

It’s just as easy to plop it on your own head, than waste time looking for somewhere safe to tie it,

and hope the gear inside doesn’t fall out.

In Australia it is an offence to not wear a helmet, no excuses.

After years and many kilometres ( miles ) it is second nature to have one on, you feel naked without it.

Thank you to this forum and its members for the best coverage of the IBR, it was great to follow.

P.S. I hope I haven't stepped on anyones toes, but I can not believe he wasn't wearing a helmet.

 

[Silver Penguin]

QUOTE (Allan B @ Sep 6 2009, 02:15 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
It is possible that Davo did pick himself up, was still cognisant of his situation, took off his helemt and secured it to his bike, realising that his day was done. A short time later, perhaps the effects of the crash were beginning to have an effect on his mental

state and his deep instincts arose.... he knew he had to be somewhere and he knew that he had to ride his bike to get there. He was no longer

aware of the current state of his machine or his own health, he just knew that he needed to be on his way.

So, he managed to get aboard, get things running and take off... no helmet. In that short time he was mobile, I wonder if he would have

been able to control anything (throttle, brakes, clutch or whatever and that is one powerful machine he was riding...

Until proven otherwise, that is how I will think of Davo's last ride.

RIP Davo.

Allan
Until proven otherwise, that seems a likely scenario. I didn't know Davo (but wish I had done) but have read a lot about him in the last few days. For many reasons, it would be illogical for him to ride without a helmet. As for being able to control the basic of the bike, after an accident, betcha the man could do that on auto-pilot. His hands and feet have been trained over thousands of miles, to do what they do, to ride a motorcycle. It wouldn't take a high level of thought, for him to get the bike rolling, even in a highly impaired state. The effects of the initial deer strike could have caused him to behave in a totally irrational manner.

And while his death is a terrible loss, the option of existing with a traumatic brain injury could possibly be worse. Like our dear departed friend TWN, Davo died in the saddle, holding the reins. Never for a moment did he drool into the pillow of a nursing home recliner. He has not had to have caregivers change his diaper and feed him strained carrots. I've taken care of many non-helmeted bicyclists and skateboarders, with not good outcomes.

Again, my deepest condolences to Davo's family.

 

[jmh_bhm]

G’Day from Aust.One day in the late 1970’s I came across an accident, bike verses gutter.

Stopped and went to his assistance, had a badly gashed knee, local shop called OOO ( triple O, like 911 ) ambulance arrived and took him away.

Left me holding his helmet, after I had helped him take it off.

Here’s me holding his scratched up helmet, next to his scratched up bike.

I didn’t want it, not mine, so I strapped it to the carrier frame of the bike.

When the tow truck came he took the lot.

Besides that I wouldn’t be riding around, with out a helmet, at highway speeds,

with the temperature being about 40 degrees.

What about the wind-chill factor, and at that time of the morning, sunrise was about 6:10am. So Sunglasses are out.

At highway speeds it would have just slowed you down without a helmet and visor to keep the bugs out.

With the communication gear ( GPS, Mobile Phone, UHF, etc ) he had hooked up to his helmet, it would be just plain silly to just hang it off the back of the bike.

It’s just as easy to plop it on your own head, than waste time looking for somewhere safe to tie it,

and hope the gear inside doesn’t fall out.

In Australia it is an offence to not wear a helmet, no excuses.

After years and many kilometres ( miles ) it is second nature to have one on, you feel naked without it.

Thank you to this forum and its members for the best coverage of the IBR, it was great to follow.

P.S. I hope I haven't stepped on anyones toes, but I can not believe he wasn't wearing a helmet.

I posted a similar scenario to some of the staff on Friday when I first heard about the accident. I find it almost impossible to believe that he was riding without a helmet. If the deer impact caused the helmet to come off and there was any time period between the impact and other riders or LEO's arriving on the scene, it is not too far fetched to think that a well meaning witness/bystander could have picked up the helmet and attached it to the bike for safe keeping, trying to be helpful. Hopefully, those directly involved will learn more about the accident time frame and get reports from those first involved to clarify what actually happened. Given the publically known facts (his experience, the time, the temperature, that it was a known deer strike area, and even the rally rules), to me it just does not add up that Davo not wearing the helmet at the time of impact.

 

[Sportster]

...it is not too far fetched to think that a well meaning witness/bystander could have picked up the helmet and attached it to the bike for safe keeping, trying to be helpful.

Hopefully the family will ask for an autopsy to look for injuries consistent with a properly secured helmet coming off secondary to impact.

Also, the riders in this years rally accumulated over about 1,000,000 miles during the rally. If the average motorcycle rider puts on 3,000 miles a year, that is the equivalent of 333 years of average riding. Or about one accident for every 111 years of average riding. I would say that this proves that riding the Iron Butt, statistically is much safer than average motorcycle riding.

Another way of looking at it is 3 in 25 years, I'm not sure when they were every year, every other etc... but I'll assume about 15 IBRs. That's 3 fatality's (one caused buy human error) in about 15,000,000 miles of riding!

Or: 15 IBR's x 11 Days = 165 IBR days. 165 IBR day's / 3 Fatalities = 1 Death every 55 IBR days.

Enough with the parsing, OK?

Death is death and I'm sure it sucks to be the person going through it.

RIP to ALL of our lost riding friends.

Sportster

 

[Mr Bill]

[SIZE=8pt][/SIZE]

QUOTE (Allan B @ Sep 6 2009, 05:15 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
avo apparently crashed only 20 or so miles after the border crossing at Eastport. I would imagine that there will be reasonably high quality video of approach and departure from this point. It should be easy enough to confirm if he departed the border station wearing his helmet. I know, for sure, that he didn't stop after leaving there until it all went wrong a little further down the road.
[SIZE=12pt]Maybe he forgot to strap the helmet at the crossing, I've done that, and the helmet came off on his get off. Someone comes up to the scene and finds his helmet laying on the ground and straps it on his bike so it won't get lost. I don't believe he was not wearing a helmet.[/SIZE]

RIP

 

[wingshot]

As I sit here this morning on vacation in South Dakota, I am catching up on the last few days of posting. The most appropriate comment that comes to my thoughts is that my heart and mind are like a pendulum swinging to each end of the spectrum.

First, exstatic and charged to know someone like Super Dave could do so much in a mere 11 days at his age. WOW, Do I ever wish to be like him when I grow up.

Then to read above Davo. My heart goes to his family and friends as I can in no manner phathom the heart break and sorrow they must feel. Rest in Peace DAVO.

Hopefully, the pendulum will settle in the middle again after some time to contemplate and a good breakfast.

Special thanks to WC for the constant updates and to all the FJR riders, WOW, what an effort.

 

[zorkler]

Thanks to Warchild and company for a terrific vicarious trip during the rally. Hats off to all the IBR participants for the moxy to attempt such a challenge.
And Godspeed Davo. May we all live as well as you.

Craig

Craig you could not have said it any better . Mike

 

[Lonerockz]

For many riders, doing an IBR would result in certain death. Discovering if you are one of those riders before you die is probablly worth figuring out.

I'm sorry, but that statement shows a serious level of ignorance. Each of us is responsible for our own actions. Wether you are riding to the store for toothpaste, or riding day 11 of the IBR, that is still true. Doing an IBR would not result in "certain death" for anyone, certainly not "many riders". Yes, it is a challenging event. But it's not that hard to do the miles. The hard part is developing the skills to route and score well under the conditions of a rally, while doing the miles. Understanding your limitations, and learning how to recognize the warning signs of fatigue, sleep deprevation, dehydration, etc in yourself is part of the responsibility of any rider, especially any rider doing long distance rides. To ignore these things, or forego learning them, is still a personal choice and the responsibility of each of us.

All I can say is that you have more faith in humanity than I do. I have encountered way too many stupid people in my time. Remember half of all people are below average. Add stupid, fatigue and motorcycle and death can result. It doesn't even take stupidity, just an inability to access your skills. Read my post "So you want to be an IBR rider..." and you'll see the kind of rider I'm talking about. You talk about the responsibility to learn what you as a rider are capable of. I'm sorry but I have encountered way too many people that don't take this responsibility. Some of those people are under the delusion that they can do an IBR and even attempt to enter.

There were several riders that had the sense to realize they were fried and dropped out of this years rally. I commend them on realizing this and doing the smart thing. There were a few riders that had single vehicle accidents this year. Their ATGATT planning paid off where their judgment may not have.

I commend the IBA and their skills at culling the riders that should not be in the rally. If you let all 2000+ applicants participate I imagine that the fatality rate would be much, much higher than the very low rate it is. The Riders that the IBA manages to get are well prepared, know what their doing and the result is the low fatality rate. The universe of riders that want to do the IBR contains many individuals that do not fall into the well prepared knows what their doing mindset. But I know that everyone that enters thinks they can finish and no one plans to die on the rally. The rider I'm talking about is the one that believes loud pipes saves lives, helmets cause injuries and a few beers doesn't impair his riding.

Its too bad this is in the same thread as Davo's sad tale. I doubt we will ever know the exact details of what happened, and Davo is not the kind of rider that I am discussing (one of the reasons that I posted in that other thread). Davo was well prepared and knew what he was doing. Due to unfortunate circumstances he may have taken his helmet off; or maybe his deer strike was so horrendous it managed to do enough damage even with it on. All I can say about Davo is I grieve for his family.

 

[Cal24Master]

QUOTE (Allan B @ Sep 6 2009, 02:15 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
It is possible that Davo did pick himself up, was still cognisant of his situation, took off his helemt and secured it to his bike, realising that his day was done. A short time later, perhaps the effects of the crash were beginning to have an effect on his mental

state and his deep instincts arose.... he knew he had to be somewhere and he knew that he had to ride his bike to get there. He was no longer

aware of the current state of his machine or his own health, he just knew that he needed to be on his way.

So, he managed to get aboard, get things running and take off... no helmet. In that short time he was mobile, I wonder if he would have

been able to control anything (throttle, brakes, clutch or whatever and that is one powerful machine he was riding...

Until proven otherwise, that is how I will think of Davo's last ride.

RIP Davo.

Allan
Until proven otherwise, that seems a likely scenario. I didn't know Davo (but wish I had done) but have read a lot about him in the last few days. For many reasons, it would be illogical for him to ride without a helmet. As for being able to control the basic of the bike, after an accident, betcha the man could do that on auto-pilot. His hands and feet have been trained over thousands of miles, to do what they do, to ride a motorcycle. It wouldn't take a high level of thought, for him to get the bike rolling, even in a highly impaired state. The effects of the initial deer strike could have caused him to behave in a totally irrational manner.

And while his death is a terrible loss, the option of existing with a traumatic brain injury could possibly be worse. Like our dear departed friend TWN, Davo died in the saddle, holding the reins. Never for a moment did he drool into the pillow of a nursing home recliner. He has not had to have caregivers change his diaper and feed him strained carrots. I've taken care of many non-helmeted bicyclists and skateboarders, with not good outcomes.

Again, my deepest condolences to Davo's family.

I'd just like to end some of the speculation here. There is no doubt, none whatsoever that Davo was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. No one believed it at first, but when the facts all became known, that the first people on the scene were other riders who all saw the helmet on the bike. The police at the scene all said he had not been wearing it. The personal at the trauma center all said his injuries were the result of not wearing a helmet. You can put the idea that he was wearing a helmet at the time to bed. He was not wearing it.

Now the question as to WHY he wasn't wearing it is another thing altogether. That is a mystery that will likely never be solved.