On Motorbikes...
01 June 2008 - 18:11 .
My grandfather today asked if I'd heard about Luc Bourdon, the Canucks defenceman who got killed riding his motorbike. Yeah, I'd heard.And I'm not surprised he's dead.
Don't get me wrong, I feel bad for his girlfriend, his team mates, and most especially for his family. But the boy himself was stupid. A young, testosterone filled, stupid boy, who paid the ultimate price for his stupidity.
Let's try to put some of this in perspective, shall we?
The bike Bourdon was riding is reported to have been a 2008 Suzuki GSX-R 1000. So a quick trip to the Suzuki Canada website shows us that this bike has a dry weight of 379 lbs. Reviews of the bike also tell us that this same machine boasts some 165 horse power. By comparison, the 2008 Nissan Sentra 2.5 LE is an identical 165 HP, and the 2008 Subaru Impreza 2.5i runs 170 horses. Neither of them weighs under 500 lbs.
Next, let's look at the fact that Bourdon had received his license a few weeks prior. And that he'd owned the bike for a whopping 3 days before he became a statistic. He was on a curve, on a windy day, trying to pass another truck (see story from Canadian Press here). The last time I looked around, I didn't see many roads where it's legal to pass on a curve.
So what do we have here? We have peer pressure (it's been reported that his friends all ride bikes), we have testosterone (he was 21), we have inexperience, and we have a motorbike designed for one thing: stupid amounts of speed.
Now don't get me wrong... I'm not trying to be holier than thou from the saddle of my little 600cc bike. But anyone who didn't see this coming, who didn't see the potential for disaster, might have been only fooling themselves. Motorbikes are dangerous. Period. End of discussion.
Will this stop me from riding? Hell no. Do I think I'm immune because I've been riding for 19 years? Fuck no. But that's not what this post is about. This is about feeling bad for some, and shaking my head in amazement at others.
Posted by donna on 01 June 2008 - 19:48
hear hear!There are good riders who have excellent records and have terrible accidents that simply shouldn't have happened -- Julia from the Flying Swan was one. Her partner who died a year prior was another.
And then there are people who are just begging to be statistics. They're all tragedies, but some... well, they don't really surprise me much.
(And yeah, I'm a little holier than thou.) :)
Posted by Andrew on 01 June 2008 - 20:31
Hocky player or no, he made a bad choice - just like so many other 21 year-old kids. Nobody weeps for the sons of plumbers who make these same mistakes. Not that I hold the boy's wealth against him - it's just that I don't shed any more tears over this wasted life than I do any other.This kid isn't any different than those lost souls who huff gas out of plastic bags a thousand miles north of the nearest detox. They made a poor choice, and paid for it with their lives. I just hope other young people can learn from it.