The morning of the ride was chilly, 40 degrees outside, when I left my house. You can tell it's Autumn in Pennsylvania! I met up for breakfast with about four other riders. As we kept eating, they kept coming in. At the start of the ride, we had 20 riders. We had our riders meeting and a prayer for safety and off we went. Our 2nd turn brought us to our first twisty road and we occasionally hit some spots where water was crossing the road. The wierd thing was we did encounter some washout or gravel, but nowhere near what I expected. Two turns before our first stop sign on this road we went through a bit of water, then a right hander, up a rise, over the rise then a quick left hander. On this left hand turn, our first rider in question (about 15 riders back) had his front wheel come off the ground and his right wheel get light in the suspension. As his front wheel came down his bike started to shake, then as he got that under control his rear wheel started to oscillate. He attempted to stop and bring it under control, but he was thrown from the bike. He slid and impacted a dirt bank and his bike went up the bank into the woods. The next rider had similar effects on his bike and saw the rider slide in one direction and that bike slide in another direction. He said he really couldn't swerve in either direction, so he scrubbed off as much speed as he could. He then hit the dirt bank and was ejected off his bike onto the bank. Strangely enough, he was laying next to the first rider's bike and the first rider was lying next to the 2nd riders bike. One of the bikes is totaled the other is cosmetic damage. The 2nd rider was transported to the hospital with a smashed leg and the other leg broken. His name is Joe, please keep him in your prayers. Even more wierd was just as this crash was ending, an older man with an old Honda Magna (I think) skidded into a car behind our group and his front wheel was lodged between the car's back wheel and fender. He wasn't wearing gloves so his one hand looks really bad, he may of lost some fingers. The two riders in our group were both wearing full gear and helmets. I spoke with both riders at the hospital on Sunday and they both remarked that they were doing under 35 mph.

One of our riders left to go back home, get his truck and trailer and retrieve both bikes and the one rider without a bike. Two other riders decided they wanted to leave, so we were down to 15 bikes and a truck with two bikes and our instructors. We rode 8 more miles to a fuel/food stop then rode onward. We then arrived in the town we were going to have our suspension/riders clinic. I looked for a large parking lot, but we couldn't find one, so we stayed on a large street parking area. We unloaded the two bikes, putting down the chock for the one. Plasticweld and Cowboy 6 led the clinic, with Cowboy working on setting up the suspension for the rider and Plasticweld going over body positioning on your bike and air pressure in your tires. I was putting together a HD camera to film folk riding. Each rider had a turn with their bike in the chock getting instruction on how to position themselves best for turns. Around 2PM we had lunch, and switched groups. As we approached four o'clock we had two riders leave due to schedules. I needed to leave shortly as well, so we decided to get one ride in before others had to go also. The ride went well, although we had some mis-communication and a U-turn. As we rode, the instructor pointed to specific body parts we were to work on in our body position. The other group left 5 minutes after us and did the same. I had to leave around 4:45PM, but I heard that the remaining riders all took another ride for some more instruction. Barring the crash the rest of the clinic/ride went well. Everyone who attended said they learned something new. The only thing I would have done differently as a ride leader was to have the rider's/suspension clinic at the diner where we had breakfast. That way everyone starting the ride now has suspension set up for them, have the correct air pressure in their tires and has some instruction before they start the ride. A big thanks to Plasticweld and Cowboy 6 for coming down to lead this clinic. Thanks also to jlasure and Seven for helping with ride, plus many others who assisted. The next ride is November 6th, I hope to see you there.