Hardrider from the BMW Sporttouring site is gone!

[waldmana]

Here are some of the accounts of what has happened in Arizona to a member of the BMW Sporttouring website, Hardrider - Victor Beard. Very sad and my condolences to his family and friends and Cord Jemison's family and friends as well. God speed guys......

Victor Beard, known here on the board as Hardrider was killed in an accident on Yarnell Hill in Arizona on Sunday November 27.

Victor rode with us at Torrey in September on his Yellow K1200S.

I don't have all the details, but it sounds like he and another rider got together and crashed hard into the guardrail at a pretty good speed. Both died at the scene.

--------------------

ArizonaAl

This one hits very close to home. Victor was riding with a young man named Cord Jemison, and they were both killed. here is an account form an eyewitness who posted on the FasTours board:

Quote:

" ...Victor and Cord were traveling very, very fast up the hill.

Victor was riding lead, with Cord close behind him. Both riders had their

knees on or near the ground. Vic's rear wheel slid a bit, and he gathered it

back up but over-corrected and ran into Cord; their new trajectory took them

into a tremendously hard impact with the guardrail.

Cord died instantly, and Victor a few minutes later."

I did not know Victor but I knew Cord and his youg wife Stephanie very well. Stephanie is the apparel consultant at Victory BMW in Chandler, AZ, and is just a wonderful person with whom I developed a nice friendship over the past year. She married Cord in Sedona this past Summer.

Saturday morning I was at the dealership with a friend of mine who is a reentry rider, looking at bikes. Cord rode in on his tomato-red R1100RS and we spent a little time together. He showed me the route of what was to be his last ride, and he invited me, and I declined, only because I had done that route solo on my RT the day before, which was the day after Thanksgiving.

Cord had just purchased a new Honda literbike and I was always after him to come to track day with me and learn a little more about the awesome power of these bikes in a controlled setting (I ride a Yamaha R1 on the track). Cord told me he wanted to come to the track with me some day, but I could not get him to commit to next Sunday's track day at Firebird West. I then bought a pair of Gore-Tex riding boots from Cord that he bought but didn't fit him right. He died about 24 hours later.

This is just terribly sad. As I have more details, I will post in the "Ride Well" section. Cord rode fast and hard. He nearly totalled a Triumph Daytona a few months ago while attempting to do a burnout. He got a ticket from the same Sherriff's deputy on the road to Tortilla Flat who had pulled me over, but let me go with a warning, just the week before.

Terrible news. Life is precious. Ride with that in mind.

--------------------

BobFV1

 

[radman]

Knees on the ground, eh? Can't blame this one on cagers, or cell phones, or Boosh.

 

[Warchild]

Very sad indeed.

Here are the salient comments:

Victor was riding lead, with Cord close behind him. Both riders had their knees on or near the ground.

It doesn't do these two gentlemen any good now to mention how fraught with risk it is to ride the street as if you're on the racetrack. If you are dragging your knees, you're generally riding over the limits of the corners, pavement and conditions of street riding. Riding "close behind him" with enough corner speed to have a knee down is common on the racetrack... potentially deadly on the street, as these gentlemen learned.

Heartfelt condolences to the family and freinds. These two guys should still be alive.

 

[Bounce]

Always sad to hear of the loss of a rider. Doubly so when it could have been avoided. Someone told me the cliche' years ago, but as time passes, I find that the truth at its core says a lot.

There are old riders and bold riders but few old bold riders.

 

[nusman68]

What a waste...very sad story. If it is accurate, makes you wonder if they would both still be alive if the rider-to-rider contact had not occurred; (or as others have said, if they weren't pushing the envelope) a brutal lesson indeed; it's all academic now. Condolences to you and their families.

 

[MCRIDER007]

If you are dragging your knees, you're generally riding over the limits of the corners, pavement and conditions of street riding.

Absolutely true! I shake my head everytime someone brags about not having any "chicken strips" on their tires. That is fine for track days, otherwise, chicken strips are a sign of good judgement and maintaining adequate safety margins. Likewise for dragging your pegs on the street. If you like to push it to the limit then it is just a matter of time before you exceed the limit.

 

[twowheelnut]

That's why I always think of my family before I act on becoming squiddy. Shuts the urge down every time...

Condolences to the families.

 

[NoCage]

So sorry to hear about your friends Waldama... will say a prayer for them. Reality check.

 

[FastJoyRide]

A wonderful piece of lightly enforced highway which does encourage spirited riding, but what a tragedy this is... :angry02:

 

[Randy]

Not gonna pass any judgement. My condolences to family and friends.

 

[Toecutter]

A wonderful piece of lightly enforced highway...

It might start seeing heavier patrols now, at least for a while.

Oh, the irony of it all. Hardrider - reminds me of the old cliche, "Ride hard, die free".

Rest in peace gentlemen, condolences to those left behind. And let's let this be a sad reinforcement to an old lesson for the rest of us.

 

[kaitsdad]

My condolences. :rip:

 

[teerex51]

Sorry to hear about your friends, Waldmana

While I agree with what has been said earlier, the circumstances of their death do not make the loss of two brother riders less tragic.

I know it will be a sad Christmas for their families and friends.

Stef

 

[Reg# 43897]

Mixed emotions and neither of them any good - likely feel like the rest of us... Warchild you nailed it when you comment that the two of them should still be with us. They damn well should be. And one was just recently married. Boy oh boy. TWN, you are so right. I think about these guys' families right now.

John.

 

[FatNakedGuy]

(taken from another site)

I did not know Hardrider, Victor Beard, but I wish I had. I’m sure I would have liked him. He posted only 30 times on this board in his short time and I was fascinated to read those posts. He was full of life and motorcycles were one way he expressed himself. I feel privileged to have had the chance to read his words. From his posts I can tell he was full of passion. I admire the vitality he had. What happened to him could, in some fashion or another, happen to me for sure, and I think, really, it could happen to any one of us.

For no particular reason, the following quotes from Hardrider’s posts made me stop and think of what kind of guy he was. In my mind, he was willing to take risks on public roads. Who of us can say differently? Maybe he was taking huge risks when he passed away, maybe he wasn’t, I wasn’t there. I imagine it was probably a small miscalculation that led to this horrible tragedy. It might not have even been his mistake. It doesn’t matter though. Two riders are gone and I’ll bet they were both loved by many.

I read of the same love of riding in Hardrider’s words that so many of us feel. This is so terrible, but for me, reading his words puts life into this sad incident. I hate to read plain words about a tragedy. There’s always a life there.

RIP Victor. RIP Cord Jemison.

https://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthreads/sh...true#Post532767

For those Arizona riders, I run the high speed corners on the B-line (two up) at 115-120; I have ran Salt River from Globe to Showlow (87 miles) in 55 minutes; and I typically run the Prescott and Jerome corners (posted 15 to 30) at 45 to 70 (except for the one hairpin (posted 10) which makes me drop to about 38). When I ride flat roads, I usually run 100+.

https://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthreads/sh...true#Post556595

I was always told that you should never ride faster than you are willing to hard brake from, but frankly I do not have the guts to hard brake at some of the speeds I ride. However, I do routinely practice hard braking up to 100 mph and let me say I am held onto the bike more by the "pucker factor" than anything else.

https://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthreads/sh...true#Post557666

Have been riding some form of two wheeler for 40+ years and have several scars to prove my level of abilities :>} I have taken many rider education courses, including two of Code's Superbike School.

However, I have only been seriously injuried once, in 2001, when two cars, one behind the other, turned left across my path. I was less than 40 feet from them on a, believe it, seven (7) lane wide road in broad daylight at 3 PM on a sunny day with nearly no traffic on the road at all.

I was riding a 2000 Harley Springer Softtail, which has a non-abs brake system and did not have a chance to stop. The accident investigation showedd my skid marks to prove I was going about 35 mph in a 40 mph zone.

I will never again buy a non-ABS motorcycle as I absolutely know if I had been on an ABS machine, I would have been able to either stop or only lost a little skin.

The non-ABS left me with an 8" steel plate and 11 screws to hold my foot onto my leg and a left elbow that has more wire holding it together than bone.

My saving grace: I had a superb surgeon that met my request: "Doc, just make my left arm reach the clutch lever and my left foot be able to shift the gears and I will be a happy camper."

Now, I ride a 2003 K1200RS with the wife and a K1200S for me. God love a GOOD surgeon and ABS and I will never ride another bike without it!

https://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthreads/sh...true#Post563474

Like most, I had a few years here and there when my attention was focused on other matters (skydiving, whitewatering, splumking, scuba diving, women, artificial stimulants, etc. But 36 years ago I was riding the CB105 and in Indiana they did not require any license then either.

However, and despite owning Norton's, BSA's, Triumps, Honda's and a few Harleys, I never knew the relationship to "sport riding" until my third childhood (at 55 the clock turns fast).

I will be at Torrey on the K1200S and have to say from my limited sport bike experience, it is the most satisfying ride I have ever know…

https://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthreads/sh...true#Post592448

Depending on how long you plan to stay in the Phoenix area, there are at least three really nice day rides on some sporting roads that the weather should allow around Thanksgiving time: One is the Wickenburg, Yarnell, Prescott, Jerome, Cottonwood, Strawberry, Pine, Payson route (about 300 mile with many sweepers and many twistie sections). Another would be the Superior, Kearney, Winkleman, Globe, Roosevelt, 87 South to Fountain Hills route (about 250 miles of sweepers and easy twisties). Another, nice high speed sweeper route, is SR87 from Fountain Hills to Payson and back (about 150 miles). And just possibly, depending more on weather, you could ride US 60 East from Phoneix thru Globe and across the Salt River Canyon to Show Low, but dress for cool temps on all rides.

https://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthreads/sh...true#Post600499

A "good rider" should always choose a bike to provide maximum preformance for the style of riding they intend to do and stay within their choice's range. If I was going on a several thousand mile trip which included a lot of highway, I would absolutely choose the Wing (rode one for 10 years). But to push any bike close to the machine's maximum ability, it should (for both safety of oneself and others around) be a bike manufactured for that purpose.

When I was riding Wings, I reached the point where I was leaning the bike over to the point of side-slipping on the metal cross frame under the belly. Clearly, I was riding the wrong bike for the style of riding I wanted to do. That is why I now ride BMW.

Last, I have to admit, I have never heard of anyone "steering with the rear wheel" (although I very often put the K1200S into an intentional rear wheel slide to straighten out a corner), but that trick is not intended to steer as much as to quicken my exit by following it up with the "pick up" move for maximum traction at speed.

https://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthreads/sh...true#Post602774

(This quote is especially sad to read. Hardrider was planning on attending the Death Valley Gathering comining up in January. Here's his quote

Although I attended the Sept Torrey Gathering (with considerable pleasure from meeting several members, experiencing some awesome roads and NOT killing Fernando), I still consider myself a newbie with this group.

So in all fairness to all: be warned, I am coming!

 

[sparky3008]

We all often on this and any forum for that matter like to fight and fuss. When something like this happens it makes everything else seem small.

Words can never convey the sadness one feels at the loss of a loved one.

My best wishes go out for the family.

I know they were doing what they obviously loved to do.

 

[JREW]

I love to ride, but this kind of news always makes you think for a moment. I accept the risk. Very hard on the ones left behind.

 

[FJRMGM]

Riding on the street is enough risk without adding to it by dragging knees in corners and stuff like that.

This just makes me mad thiniking about those two guys families and friends who are now suffering because "I like to go fast".

We are not alone and should not ride like we are.

My condolences to their family and friends.

 

[Bikewhore]

Take it from someone who was very close to having a thread just like this started for him. I had a doozy back in Oct of 2000 where I was touch and go for a little while. Obviously, I pulled through and have learned a HUGE lesson about riding as these two late gentlemen had.

Riding fast is short term fun. Motorcycling should be long term fun. Ride to ride tomorrow. Your actions impact those who love you 10 times more. Nothing beats having your wife and mother bawling their eyes out wondering if you are going to be here tomorrow, when it was something 100% preventable. Riding like an ******* is selfish.

RIP to the fallen riders. I hope their families heal with time-