Nearing the end of a fantastic 300 mile jaunt through upstate NY and all the fantastic leaves and colors, we had one of our group take a nasty crash. Rounding an entrance ramp on to a 4 lane highway, we were just about to the end of the clover leaf round part, when the bike ahead of me suddenly stood up straight from its right hand lean and proceeded across the last bit of grass where roads meet and across the two lanes. Luckily no cars were coming but they did shoot across to the fast lane and Mike seemed to almost pull it out. But alas, when the tires hit the grass between the left lane and guard rails, it was a sideway slide from that point. They hit the guard rail at bout 30-35 MPH and the bike stopped cold. They were both thrown a good 25 feet through the air like rag dolls. I about lost it as I watched this all unfold 15 feet ahead of me. No one is sure yet why he came up out of the RH lean. Maybe hit a big stone or something? Mike is in hospital after some surgery to his left leg and his wife Tina was later airlifted to Syracuse University Hospital. She is not in good shape at all. Please say a word for them to whoever you pray to. One good thing was the super fast response of the EMT squad as we were not far from the city of Utica. I was awake half the night as I could not stop replaying the scene in my mind.
_________________ Bad decisions make the best stories.
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