Biker down after hitting a truck head-on in front of 129 Grocery on US Highway 129.
He lived, but lost a leg in the accident. The truck turned left into the bikers lane. The biker passed me about two minutes before the accident running fast and smooth. He was on the way to get help for his girl friend who had wrecked her bike up on the Dragon.
We have some good rescue people that work the accidents on 129, but they have to travel over forty miles to get to the dragon. This means that you will be waiting for a long time to get trained help if you go down. Wreckers charge $300.00 to $400.00 to haul your bike, and ambulance and hospital helicopters can run as much as $15,000.00 to pick you up. (about $1500.00 for a ambulance.)
Lots of bikers go down, but most get their bikes out of the ditch and go on. (Some do die every year.)
Crossing the center line, loose gravel, speed, large trucks, and other bikers crossing the center line cause a lot of the problems, but I think that looking off to one side for a moment causes most of the accidents.
I prefer riding about two feet from the right side white line. In years of riding the mountain I have only had to leave the road one time when a van pulling a trailor crossed over into my lane.
