This reminds me of the incident that made me think twice about ever riding around with my girlfriend on the back of my bike. I was out for a ride on some random Wednesday night and happened to ride down Anderson over by the movie theater. There was a group of four bikes that pulled out in front of me, all with passengers. I fell in line with them as I really didn't have anywhere in particular I was going. It took about two stop lights to realize two of the four couldn't ride worth a damn. Not like couldn't drag knee or float a wheelie, like couldn't figure out they needed to pull the clutch in when they stopped to keep the engine from stalling. I was thinking, these girls must not know these guys or they don't realize they cannot ride or something, because I wouldn't get on the back of one of these bikes for even a block if you paid me.

So after a few more minutes of riding a safe distance from these two that couldn't ride, we all stopped at a gas station to fill up. I started talking to the two guys that could ride and asked what was up with their friends. They said they had both just bought there bikes that morning and had never ridden before in their lives until that afternoon. The girls were from out of town and they had just met them at the movie theater and offered to take them for a ride.

I started talking to the girls they were with and all but one seemed completely oblivious to the danger. The one that did seem to care asked her friend if they could switch bikes as her friend was on the back of one of the guys that could ride. Her friend didn't want to switch so I offered to ride her back as they were supposed to go back to the theater to drop them off at their cars. She agreed and off we went but instead of heading back toward the theater the lead bikes headed off toward the Interstate.

So to make a long story at least a little bit shorter, the guys that "could ride" decided they were going to start showing off by slowing down then cracking it open, popping the clutch to pull the front wheel up a little bit, etc. All this with these girls, who are now terrified, on the back. When they finally take the exit ramp, the lead bikes take it fast and of course the idiots that never rode before try to keep up. Finally the inevitable happens and the guy that no longer has a girl on his bike losses it and goes flying off the side of the ramp, down the embankment, through some bushes, and into a tree. The guy behind him sees this and panicks, low siding his bike with the girl on the back.

Just out of pure luck everyone walked away with minor bumps, bruises, scrapes, etc. I ended up riding the girl on the back of my bike back to her car and then followed her back to the scene of the accident to pick up her friends. Needless to say, I doubt that group of girls ever got back on bikes. The whole incident made me really look at how willing people are to just hop on the back of a bike without any consideration to the risks involved. None of these people, guys or girls, had any gear, not even helmets. It would have been so easy for things to have ended up really bad for them.

In fact, it made me decide I wasn't going to ride with my girl on the back anymore except for slow rides around side streets in the neighborhood. I consider myself a safe rider and all, but it is just too easy for something to happen. I am glad I made that decision so long ago too as I have been down twice since then, once my fault once not my fault, and I couldn't even imagine how bad I would have felt if I had taken my girl down with me. It is one thing to fuck up and break my bones. I have nobody to blame but myself, but I'm not sure I could live with myself if I broke her bones or worse.

I guess the moral of the story is since the passengers don't seem to understand what they are getting into when they hop on the back of your bike, it is your responsibility to keep them safe. Either don't let them ride, or make damn sure they understand what they are getting themselves into before you take off down the Interstate like you are a super hero.