Today a woman motorcycle rider ended up over the edge and down a bluff of several hundred feet between mile marker 10 and mile marker 9. This is just before the first saddle past the "new section of road" that has metal grid bumpers to keep folks on the road. Same spot as a car that went over the edge late December 2007 or early January 2008. The USDA officer reported she was conscious and breathing. I watched as the Sheriff's helicopter air lifted her out. She was lucky to be riding with her husband who called for help. The officer mused that there was someone out there right now over the edge needing help that they did not know about.
The helicopter swept around the hill top and then lowered a cable.
You can see the dark of the people hanging from the cable just above the added in blue squiggle line.
It had been an excellent day for a ride. Nice temperature. Bright sun dancing between dwindling clouds. For someone it was a very expensive ride.
I wish that every single motorcycle rider on the mountain would get off their CO2 generating motors and pedal a bicycle over the same course. It only takes one bad rider slaloming through the turns that put others at risk. Of course I do like having the gate closed and no motor traffic at all. But that is pure selfishness.
Quite an eventful ride.
