I wonder sometimes why we still ride, whats the reason? So our families can mourn our loss when that time comes? Everyone is leaving lately.. a lot that are close to me. Two in the same week of Gleno's 1 year. This is getting tougher and tougher to get through.

I know some of you heard about an accident on the 215 @ Pecos Weds night while we were in BC @ Tony's. Well I just found out tonight, I knew that rider as well. Sigh. Why? Can someone answer that. Fucking a Memorial Ride, A Funderal, A rider pulled off Life support all in a week. Fuck.

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Member of the Vegas Knights MC

Riding motorycles is dangerous. I've luckily escaped being killed twice in the past 5 years. I dont mean "damn that was close" but incidents that at least involved an ambulance ride or two...

I once slipped in the shower. I fell down the stairs when I was kid. Fell off a bridge, almost drowned. Had countless close calls in the Army. Now I'm scuba diving. Plan on flying again very soon.

You only live once... want to live forever? I dont. I'd hate to be 80yrs old, sitting in the retirement home and thinking how I wished I had done more when I was younger but was afraid of what could have happened.

Just try to be safe and sensible, you can at least put the odds more in your favor that way.

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Very well put. I know sometimes it seems all messed up for bikes John, but I just went to a funeral yesterday for a very close friend of mine that was killed in a car accident last monday on his way to California so it's not just bikes. Sorry that things so bad for you right now but all you can do is love the ones you have left and move on.

I ride for many many reasons. I agree with Pheer, We can die of almost anything, at any time.

I ride because it gives me pleasure, not the sexual kind either. But it provides me alot of enjoyment. I know the risks involved, and I think my family understands them too. So if I die then I will have enjoyed my life, and that is all I can ask, well a few other things too.

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06 Honda 1000 RR
SCS past prez
SCS Treasurer 05 and 07

I have told a few peeps that after Gleno was killed I swore I wouldn't let it affect me. That I was in control of my destiny. But I have been having this nagging voice in my head that keeps telling me that I have too much to risk and there will be a time that some idiot in a cage will take me out. I am not saying that I would give up riding, but here in Vegas I see dumbass idiots in cages do stupid shit every day (that could/will take out a bike some day), and the chances of an accident are 10-fold as a non-metropolitan area. On a bike the chances of that accident causing moderate to severe injuries are at least 100 times more likely.

So in a nutshell, for the last few months I have been having a hard time dealing with the pro's/con's of riding here in Vegas.

The way I put it to Nick is, I scratched my itch. I have gone an indicated 176mph heading to Searchlight. I have done 6 trackdays and drug my knee at over 100mph on the track. I have seen things on my bike that I never would have in a cage (like the time I saw two pigeons fucking on a highwire, never forget that).

But right now, I just don't know what my future holds for riding here in Vegas.

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SCS Founding Member

Now as a question of etiquette, as I pass do I give you the ass or the crotch? - Tyler Durden

It is better to be defeated on principle than to win on lies. - Arthur Calwell

Common Sense Isn't Common


http://www.gleno.net

After Gleno's crash I too thought about giving it up. But then I thought about if I was really going to stay away from everything dangerous I'd have to lock myself in a bomb shelter and never leave and what fun would that be. Living in general is dangerous. You can give up riding and still be hit by a bus crossing the street or give up all non healthy foods and drinks and still come down with cancer. When it's your time, it's your time. Yes I'll do what I can to minimize the risk with always wearing all the gear all the time, always riding like I'm invisible and every car is out to get me, not riding at the 100% I would on a track on the street, etc.

I came away from Gleno's crash with a slightly different view. That can be any one of us any day whether it's on the bike or off. I told myself I can't control what happens in the future. Yea you plan for the worst and hope for the best, but really you can't control it. However, you can control what you do here and now. There's always things you want to do that you put off till later but there may not be a later. Do I want to live in fear and hide from the things that may be dangerous or do I live life to the fullest and cram in as many of the things that I love and want to do in the time I'm here. When it's my time I don't want to regret having things I wanted to do but didn't. I want to go out knowing I did it all and enjoyed it all and can look back say that was a good run. No I'm not throwing caution to the wind and I have dialed back my speeds a bit but as long as I'm physically able to, I'm going to ride. Everyone is different and I'm not saying I'm right or anyone is wrong, just that this is what works for me and it may or may not be what's right for you.

I looked at Glen's death as a green light instead of a red light. Time to hit the gas and ride even more roads in case my time is cut short like his, instead of hit the brakes turn off the key and end the ride.

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07 BMW K1200GT

Missing Gleno since 2/6/07 - "See you on the other side."

Life is a series of calculated risks. Riding is just one pursuit of mine where the rewards outweigh the risks in my eyes. As corny as it sounds, I always tell my loved ones that if I meet an untimely demise on my bike, take some comfort in the fact that I was doing something that I loved.

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2005 Suzuki Hayabusa Limited Edition - lots of mods
2007 Suzuki GSXR600 - wifebeater and flip-flops optional
2000 Honda CBR600F4 - outfitted with the NRC case cover of invincibility
http://www.gleno.net

Just the other day i was reading on cnn, about how a woman who just died, during her first dance with her husband at her wedding. She literally died in her husbands arms of there first dance together as man and wife. If that isnt the fucking saddest shit in the world i dont know what is. It goes to show, that anything, and everything is out there to kill us. Be it heart desease (like the lady above) or a reckless careless mother fucker in a car pulling out in front of us. The important thing is that you stick to doing what you love, and LIVE to do. IT could be the day you die, when you quit riding, go out and buy that brand new car, and then get slammed by a drunk driver and die on your way home. What happens if you were on your bike? would you have been long gone past that drunk driver? We cannot control our destiny, our fates call it whatever you want.. Enjoy life while you can..you may live to be 100, you may live to be 25, one thing we all need to remember is that any one of us can go at any time, it has nothing to do with us riding. none at all. It just appears to be more of a risk because we do...love as many people, things, places and as much as possible.

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7+ year member - and still going.

"Sin City Sportbikes was founded by Las Vegas sport bike enthusiasts in response to a desire to promote a positive and safe image of the sport. Riders and enthusiasts from all over the Las Vegas Valley have joined together in an effort to give back to a community that has helped and nurtured us. "

-Sin City Sportbikes

Exactly. I am just saying that this location has opened my eyes as to the increased risk.

I told Les that if/when we get orders I will have a bike, because almost any place has got to have better cage drivers than here.

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SCS Founding Member

Now as a question of etiquette, as I pass do I give you the ass or the crotch? - Tyler Durden

It is better to be defeated on principle than to win on lies. - Arthur Calwell

Common Sense Isn't Common


http://www.gleno.net

I've noticed since my End-Stage Renal failure diagnosis, I've been taking more risks. Guess I'm determined to not let the kidneys get me. If the Reaper's comin', he's gonna have to chase my ass.

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Aaron B.
'06 350Z - Daytona Blue
'87 Nissan Hardbody - The "Mud Mobile" (445,000 miles and still counting)

If you get orders to the Bay Area, just keep the bike in the garage. Thats the only place i've ever been to where it actually scared me to be on my bike in the streets with those idiots. Yes they drive worse than they do here.

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Good outlook. He'll have to do at least 179mph right?

Eh, I do what I do...If it makes me happy I seem to do it more... No point in giving a life learning lesson speech. The way I figure it, we're not doing anything to cause intentional harm to ourselves or others. Do what you want to do, live how you want to live.

Sorry you're gloomy JWD, hopefully life will turn around soon for you!

Wow, some really good posts here. All you can do is minimize the risks to the extent you want to be safe. What gave me give up street riding 10 years ago was my move to Miami. My FZR was parked on the patio until I sold it. I realized real quick that the streets of Miami were no place anyone who values life should be on a motorcycle.

If any of you know, what the hell was a 20 year old doing on an R1? I'm not saying a 600 can't kill anyone as easily, but it is a lot of power for an inexperienced rider (yeah, it's an assumption but 9 times out of 10, a 20 year old doesn't have the time on a bike to be called an experienced rider). I got my 1st street bike at 15 and rode a lot. At 37, I was still leary of getting a liter bike.

i dont know the person in question who passed, nor do i know any of you anymore on a personal level...

but i think your comment at the end may be a tad misinformed. granted, some of us, like myself, dont have the full story of what happened, but it clearly says she nailed the BACK of a TRACK on an onramp at 80mph. which to me sounds more like gross negligence than pure bad luck.

i only say this because a young kid may have a literbike, but they may have never truly cracked the throttle on it. a lot of inexperienced people start out on literbikes... and the majority make it just fine due to fear, and not necessarily due to experience. we just rarely hear about those because they didnt end up in an obit.

Well my thoughts have been the same I guess. First a close friend past away in WA State on 7/4/05 in a motorcycle accident. Then Gleno. I looked at Jose and wanted so badly to beg him not ever to ride again.

But things come up all the time like those people who were on vacation walking on the strip and that guy running over them or the guy who shot up the NYNY that one night. And now within 10 months, college students being massacared. You cant go on vacation or go to college anymore. Its all unsafe.

With that being said, I will never ask Jose to stop doing the one thing he loves to do most in this life. Its just not fair. All I can do, and have been doing is praying for him.

JWD, please tell the people who were close to that girl who passed that we are very sorry for their loss. Please let us know of any memorial ride of any sort.

D

Very touching stories here guy's. We have created a organization called MARS and with all these stories shame on you if you do not get involved. Las Vegas is going to be Vegas, so it's our responsiblity to change that. One for all and all for one.

RIP R1 girl.

well sorry to hear about the losses. I think we do what we do to show respect to those we lost. it is the way we are close to them once again, by doing what thay loved to do. also us loving to do with them,what we all love to do , ride! so stay safe and positive. remember someone is always watching over each of us. when its time to see them,and he calls for us we will see them all again. try to be happy for the life thay all lived, not for the life thay lost.

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VICE PREZ VEGAS KNIGHTS M/C Dont sweat the petty,
When you can pet the sweaty

in preparation for my socal trip, i get an invitation to a LA RR memorial for a rider that died on his bike ... =/
it never stops i guess.

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Member of the Vegas Knights MC

Uh, because I like to ride. I know a guy who hit a tree and died skiing. There is a risk to everything. Just going to class at school can get you killed now-a-days.

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2006 GSX-R1000, the fast color, blue
2006 FZ1, silver