Road Kill Diaries

Swapped out my Rush slip-on mufflers for a set of Screaming Eagle black mufflers with heat shields and black shields for the headers.

The result: A nice set of pipes that have a muted roar to them, have the EPA stamping that more and more jurisdictions are looking for when they enforce noise ordinances and still enough free-flow to improve performance on my '09 Super Glide.

A nice compromise that keeps my neighbors happy, my bike legal and what's left of my hearing intact.

Should have done this long ago.

I've never bought into the fantasy that "loud pipes save lives." If that theory were true riders of Honda Goldwings would have the highest accident fatality rate among motorcyclists when -- in fact -- they have the lowest.

Those who ride Harleys with loud aftermarket pipes -- according to studies -- die more often on the highway than those with stock pipes.

On a motorcycle, I'm happiest when I set out early in the day with no particular destination in mind. Every intersection brings a series of decisions: right, left, or straight? Where does this road go? Should I explore it.

On a good riding day I can end up two counties or two states away from home. I can end up buried so deep in the bowels of a rural area that even my Garmin 550 has trouble finding a route back to my garage.

No particular place to go. That's the best way to ride. It's one of the reasons I seldom participate in group rides. They're too structured, too insulated from the whim of the road.

I've put 20,000 miles on my Super Glide in the past 13 months. Most of those miles came from rides that started out with no destination, no planned route and no goal other than to ride and explore.

I might go 100 miles or 500.

Depends.

Marvin Jarels, a 59-year-old postal clerk in Christiansburg, took an afternoon motorcycle ride with two friends Wednesday.

It would be his last.

The group rounded a curve on Virginia Rte. 8 in Riner and came up on a Ford pickup truck waiting to turn left off the hightway at Camp Carysbrook Road.  Two of the three riders reacted in time and avoided hitting the truck. Jarels couldn’t stop or maneuver his Harley-Davidson and slammed into the back of the pickup truck.  Rescue officials took him to a Montgomery Hospital but was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

Jarels’ death came on the day the University of Rochester Medical Center released a study showing older motorcycle riders die more often in motorcycle crashes.

Reports Reuters:

Researchers found that between 1996 and 2005 the average age of motorcyclists involved in crashes increased to about 39 from 34 and the proportion of injured riders aged 40-plus rose to about 50 percent from 28 percent.

The study found that of all injured riders in the study, those aged 50 to 59 represented the fastest growing group, while 20 to 29-year-olds were the most rapidly declining.

“We made the clinical observation that older patients – people in their 50s, 60s and even 70s – were being injured on motorcycles with increasing frequency,” Mark Gestring, director of the trauma program at the University of Rochester Medical Center, said in a statement.

“We wanted to see if this observation was true on a national level and we found that it was.”

Jarels’ crash was the second motorcycle-related death and third bike accident in the area in a week.  On Monday, Drew Thomson, 58, of Martinsville died when his Harley struck a car that pulled out in front on him on U.S. 220 business at the Big Lots parking lot. Police charged Lewis Clark, 85, of Ridgeway with reckless driving.

A rider on the Blue Ridge Parkway suffered a broken collarbone struck a deer near Rocky Knob last Friday.

As a rider, I’ve had my share of spills and close calls but, fortunately, walked away with only bruises and scrapes. When you ride a motorcycle, you do so with the knowledge that the risk of serious injury or death is intensified.

I ride Rte. 8 and the Parkway often and approach every curve with the belief that something could be lurking just out of sight. Rte. 8 is a mine field of turning or slow moving vehicles and the need to take evasive action presents itself on almost every ride.

Marvin Jarels was well-known and popular figure in the Christianburg post office and in the area motorcycle community. His death is a loss to the community and our condolences go out to his family and friends.

His death also reminds those of us who ride that we always need to be careful out there.

• Aging motorcyclists hit the road, but at greater risk of injury, death (scienceblog.com)
• Motorcycle Safety Trends (motorcycleinsurance.org)
• Motorcycle Training Does Not Reduce Crash Risk, Study Says (wheels.blogs.nytimes.com)

Reuters reports:

As the number of baby boomers  taking to the road on motorbikes has risen, so has the average age of motorcyclists involved in crashes with riders aged 40 plus more likely to be injured or killed, a U.S. study says.

A University of Rochester Medical Center study of 61,689 motorcyclists aged 17 to 89 found that aging road warriors were nearly twice as likely to die as a result of a motorcycle accident compared to younger riders.

Researchers found that between 1996 and 2005 the average age of motorcyclists involved in crashes increased to about 39 from 34 and the proportion of injured riders aged 40-plus rose to about 50 percent from 28 percent.

The study found that of all injured riders in the study, those aged 50 to 59 represented the fastest growing group, while 20 to 29-year-olds were the most rapidly declining.

"We made the clinical observation that older patients - people in their 50s, 60s and even 70s - were being injured on motorcycles with increasing frequency," Mark Gestring, director of the trauma program at the University of Rochester Medical Center, said in a statement.

"We wanted to see if this observation was true on a national level and we found that it was."

The study, published in the journal American Surgeon, found that for riders aged over 40, the severity of their injuries, length of stay in the hospital or intensive care unit, and mortality were higher than riders aged under 40.

Researchers also found that the risk of dying was one-and-a-half to two times more likely in riders over 40 based on the severity of the original injury.

Older riders were found to be more likely to die from less severe injuries than younger riders, to spend at least 24 hours in the intensive care unit, and to have more pre-existing health issues that led to longer hospital stays.

"Treating a 60-year-old who has been in a motorcycle accident is very different from treating a 21-year-old who has been in a similar accident -- 60-year-olds bring a lot more medical baggage with them, and this can adversely impact outcomes following injury," said Gestring.

"As people start to dust off their motorcycles this spring, older riders should take an extra measure of caution; if an accident happens they'll often pay a higher price than younger riders."

Give me a gorgeous Spring day, a full gas tank on my Harley Super-Glide and an open road and I just go where the whim takes me.

After breakfast with friends at the North Star restaurant south of Buchanan, I headed up U.S. 11 then up Virginia 43 to the Blue Ridge Parkway and looped back to U.S. 460.

But the day was young and the sun inviting, so I headed over to U.S. 220 at Troutville and pointed the bike towards Covington and Clifton Forge.

Stopped at Falling Springs Fall to take in the sight of the 100-foot drop before climbing back on and continuing on through the George Washington National Forest, Hot Springs, Warm Springs and then up 220 to Monterey, just short of where 220 heads into West Virginia.

Gassed up again and headed East on U.S. 250 towards Staunton.

The highway winds through the mountains with lots of twisties, switchbacks and hairpins -- loads of fun on a motorcycle. At Staunton, headed South on U.S. 11 towards Lexington for a late lunch at the Pink Cadillac Diner fives miles north of Natural Bridge.

With a bowl of chili under my belt headed back to Roanoke on 11 and then up U.S. 221 and home. Great day, great weather.

Ah, Spring.