I was going to post this in the daiily Journal site for everyone to read but they only accept 1000 character chunks, so I figured I would post it here and put a link there.
Here is what I wanted to say:
Jen70,
You are ignorant. thanks for the labeling of the sports bike community.
I am a sports bike rider and I have been riding sports bikes for over 20 years, started with a Suzuki 750-ES and I currently own a Hayabusa
Statistically speaking, most statistics are made up off the top of someone's head in relation to their own personal experience. Please do not state in a public forum that 99% of sports riders want to show off and ride out of control a lot.
Yes, there are some squids out there but the ones that are stupid and act like a squid are usually removed from the gene pool pretty quick. The rest of us are left to deal with the stigma that a small few have created.
In my 25+ years of riding sports bikes I have seen a large amount of people on cruisers who are weekend warriors. They purchase big expensive cruisers so they can ride to the local bar on Friday, slam a few beers then ride home, and that is the extent of their riding. Seen quit a few of these weekend warriors try to go on a real ride and try to out ride their bike and slam it into a mountain or off a cliff because they are not familiar with the machine.
I myself prefer to go on long rides, either by myself or with a small select group of trusted riders with no one else around so I can enjoy the roads and the ride. I don't stunt my bike, I don't hang out with other "bikers" so I can look cool. I ride for the ride. I have put up to 900 miles in two days before on a bike
Would it be fair for me to say that 99% of people who ride cruisers are weekend warriors? No it wouldn't.
So how about instead of us expressing a "us vs. them" mentality we just agree that we share a common love of riding and drop the inner squabbling between cruisers and sportbike riders. It is stupid
Yes there are lot of tools on "crotchrockets" giving the rest of us a bad name, but lets remember it is not the bike, it is the rider, it is the individual. Lets not place a blanket label on all of us, because the people I do associate with are pretty respectful and courteous towards others and if any of us have a need for speed we either take it to the track or take it out in the middle of nowhere where we wont hurt anyone else.
As far as Nick and Candice goes. All I can say is dayum. Sad, my heart goes out to all the friends and families, I have said a few prayers for Nick and Candice and have been trying to follow up on updates for the two. It is sad.
But friends and family, make no mistake about it, Nick fugged up. Don't make excuses for him, don't keep saying how nice of guy he is and how nice of a girl Candice is. Heck I don't doubt any of that for a minute. But honestly, even in my younger and foolish days I never would have had someone on the back of my motorcycle and jeopardized their lives as he did. What is sad is if he makes it through (Last I heard Nick was still in critical condition and not fully lucid and Candice had been downgraded to stable (I hope this is accurate)) He probably wont remember what happened.
We as humans are going to make mistakes, sometimes they are simple mistakes, sometimes severe mistakes but we make mistakes. What is important is what we do when we make a mistake. We need to learn from our mistakes so we don't repeat them. He needs to know what he did, how he screwed up so he doesn't make the same mistake, and maybe people close to the situation wont make the same mistake
To the friends and families, I have no idea whatsoever what the general mind set is. I am guessing the elders (parents, aunts uncles etc) deep down inside know Nick screwed up, but it doesn't matter because that isn't what is important, what is important is helping them (Nick and Candice) get through this.
I am guessing however some of the younger friends "might" be trying to put the blame on everyone else BUT Nick
"the bar shouldn't have served them"
"the police shouldn't have lit up their lights"
"it was the vans fault they squeezed Nick into the cruiser" (never heard that, it was a totally fabricated scenario but I have seen it happen)
This current generation between the ages of early teens to late 20's have somehow or another adopted a philosophy of non acceptance of personal responsibility, it is "everyone else fault, not mine"
Wake up and smell the coffee folks. Start taking personal responsibility for your actions, and hold those accountable that you care about for their actions. Don't make excuses for them so hopefully they will learn from their mistakes
As I said, we all make mistakes, doesn't mean we are bad people. I have made some real bad mistakes in my life, just got lucky to not have to pay the price that Nick and Candice are paying at the moment. But I acknowledge that and have always accepted personal responsibility for my actions.
My advice to the families and friends of Nick and Candice, support them, help them. But when they fully recover, and when the time is right, don't feed them bull crap about how it was someone elses fault, don't try and say police were chasing them and they were justified. Let em know they screwed up.
And the rest of you riders out there who don't wear helmets or other kinds of gear, damnit what are you all thinking!! Holy crap. Please!! Wear your gear. I am 46 and have worn gear all my life. I have gone down with out hardly any personal damage. If Nick was wearing a helmet and other gear, I bet there would be a high probability he would be out of the hospital now.
A helmet would not have saved Candice's leg, but she would probably be more coherent and ready to deal with what she needs to deal with. And who knows, "MAYBE" just maybe a good set of thick leathers could have saved her leg (pure speculation)
If you are not used to wearing helmets they will probably suck at first, but trust me, if you get a good quality light weight helmet you will get used to it. Don't take chances with your life.
I have not seen many fatalities of riders who were wearing full gear, most of the motorcycle fatalities I have seen or heard of were a result of no gear primarily no helmet. You people are not invincible, anything can happen at anytime. Don't dress for the ride, dress for the crash.
In closing, again to the family and friends of Candice, my father in-law lost his leg in a motorcycle accident just last year, a cement truck hit him. Similar to Candice, leg was severed below the knee but it was so shattered they had to amputate above the knee. We have learned a lot from helping him physically and emotionally over the last year, while I am sure you all are probably getting all the support you need, if you need or want any insight as to what to possibly expect, what you can do to help leave me a message here on how to contact you and I will try to offer what experience I have. You can PM me or post your email address or whatever.
I wish everyone the best, family, friends, Nick and Candice and yeah, right now isn't the time to be dogging on them, they need support.
Here is what I wanted to say:
Jen70,
You are ignorant. thanks for the labeling of the sports bike community.
I am a sports bike rider and I have been riding sports bikes for over 20 years, started with a Suzuki 750-ES and I currently own a Hayabusa
Statistically speaking, most statistics are made up off the top of someone's head in relation to their own personal experience. Please do not state in a public forum that 99% of sports riders want to show off and ride out of control a lot.
Yes, there are some squids out there but the ones that are stupid and act like a squid are usually removed from the gene pool pretty quick. The rest of us are left to deal with the stigma that a small few have created.
In my 25+ years of riding sports bikes I have seen a large amount of people on cruisers who are weekend warriors. They purchase big expensive cruisers so they can ride to the local bar on Friday, slam a few beers then ride home, and that is the extent of their riding. Seen quit a few of these weekend warriors try to go on a real ride and try to out ride their bike and slam it into a mountain or off a cliff because they are not familiar with the machine.
I myself prefer to go on long rides, either by myself or with a small select group of trusted riders with no one else around so I can enjoy the roads and the ride. I don't stunt my bike, I don't hang out with other "bikers" so I can look cool. I ride for the ride. I have put up to 900 miles in two days before on a bike
Would it be fair for me to say that 99% of people who ride cruisers are weekend warriors? No it wouldn't.
So how about instead of us expressing a "us vs. them" mentality we just agree that we share a common love of riding and drop the inner squabbling between cruisers and sportbike riders. It is stupid
Yes there are lot of tools on "crotchrockets" giving the rest of us a bad name, but lets remember it is not the bike, it is the rider, it is the individual. Lets not place a blanket label on all of us, because the people I do associate with are pretty respectful and courteous towards others and if any of us have a need for speed we either take it to the track or take it out in the middle of nowhere where we wont hurt anyone else.
As far as Nick and Candice goes. All I can say is dayum. Sad, my heart goes out to all the friends and families, I have said a few prayers for Nick and Candice and have been trying to follow up on updates for the two. It is sad.
But friends and family, make no mistake about it, Nick fugged up. Don't make excuses for him, don't keep saying how nice of guy he is and how nice of a girl Candice is. Heck I don't doubt any of that for a minute. But honestly, even in my younger and foolish days I never would have had someone on the back of my motorcycle and jeopardized their lives as he did. What is sad is if he makes it through (Last I heard Nick was still in critical condition and not fully lucid and Candice had been downgraded to stable (I hope this is accurate)) He probably wont remember what happened.
We as humans are going to make mistakes, sometimes they are simple mistakes, sometimes severe mistakes but we make mistakes. What is important is what we do when we make a mistake. We need to learn from our mistakes so we don't repeat them. He needs to know what he did, how he screwed up so he doesn't make the same mistake, and maybe people close to the situation wont make the same mistake
To the friends and families, I have no idea whatsoever what the general mind set is. I am guessing the elders (parents, aunts uncles etc) deep down inside know Nick screwed up, but it doesn't matter because that isn't what is important, what is important is helping them (Nick and Candice) get through this.
I am guessing however some of the younger friends "might" be trying to put the blame on everyone else BUT Nick
"the bar shouldn't have served them"
"the police shouldn't have lit up their lights"
"it was the vans fault they squeezed Nick into the cruiser" (never heard that, it was a totally fabricated scenario but I have seen it happen)
This current generation between the ages of early teens to late 20's have somehow or another adopted a philosophy of non acceptance of personal responsibility, it is "everyone else fault, not mine"
Wake up and smell the coffee folks. Start taking personal responsibility for your actions, and hold those accountable that you care about for their actions. Don't make excuses for them so hopefully they will learn from their mistakes
As I said, we all make mistakes, doesn't mean we are bad people. I have made some real bad mistakes in my life, just got lucky to not have to pay the price that Nick and Candice are paying at the moment. But I acknowledge that and have always accepted personal responsibility for my actions.
My advice to the families and friends of Nick and Candice, support them, help them. But when they fully recover, and when the time is right, don't feed them bull crap about how it was someone elses fault, don't try and say police were chasing them and they were justified. Let em know they screwed up.
And the rest of you riders out there who don't wear helmets or other kinds of gear, damnit what are you all thinking!! Holy crap. Please!! Wear your gear. I am 46 and have worn gear all my life. I have gone down with out hardly any personal damage. If Nick was wearing a helmet and other gear, I bet there would be a high probability he would be out of the hospital now.
A helmet would not have saved Candice's leg, but she would probably be more coherent and ready to deal with what she needs to deal with. And who knows, "MAYBE" just maybe a good set of thick leathers could have saved her leg (pure speculation)
If you are not used to wearing helmets they will probably suck at first, but trust me, if you get a good quality light weight helmet you will get used to it. Don't take chances with your life.
I have not seen many fatalities of riders who were wearing full gear, most of the motorcycle fatalities I have seen or heard of were a result of no gear primarily no helmet. You people are not invincible, anything can happen at anytime. Don't dress for the ride, dress for the crash.
In closing, again to the family and friends of Candice, my father in-law lost his leg in a motorcycle accident just last year, a cement truck hit him. Similar to Candice, leg was severed below the knee but it was so shattered they had to amputate above the knee. We have learned a lot from helping him physically and emotionally over the last year, while I am sure you all are probably getting all the support you need, if you need or want any insight as to what to possibly expect, what you can do to help leave me a message here on how to contact you and I will try to offer what experience I have. You can PM me or post your email address or whatever.
I wish everyone the best, family, friends, Nick and Candice and yeah, right now isn't the time to be dogging on them, they need support.
