It was 2:30 am on March 6th, when someone saw a motorcycle crashed on the side of the road. When they examined the scene, they found a wreck, blood, but no motorcyclist. The person immediately called the authorities, and A search party was formed, but things looked bleak. The temperature had dropped to 17 degrees overnight with wind gusts of up to 40 mph. This led rescuers to wonder if the missing rider would still be alive when he or she was found…
The Motorcyclist Mountain Side Rescue
Hours passed with little success on the part of rescuers. They had searched the wilderness near this little section of Highway 141 near Egnar, but the group was having little success. Snow, ice and high winds were also hampering the effort until around 6:45 am. A lone man was standing along the side of the road, bloodied and injured. Authorities immediately transported the man to Monticello for treatment, and they soon learned exactly what happened.
A man from Florida was enjoying the sites of Colorado on his motorcycle. He was riding over the top of Slick Rock Canyon when he encountered a sharp corner. He struggled to handle the curve, but was going too fast. Only a few yards earlier, a sign warned that the speed limit had dropped from 65 mph to 35 mph, but the rider had missed seeing it. This caused his bike to wipe out and slam into a guardrail.
The rider was injured and bleeding, so he decided that his best strategy was to wait for a passerby. Then he could hopefully get a ride off the mountain and into a town for medical treatment, but there was a problem. It was 9:00 on a Sunday night, and nobody was driving up to or down from Slick Rock Canyon. The man waited, hoping someone would find him, but then the temperature dropped, winds started to howl and snow began to fall. The man realized that if he stayed where he was, he was going to freeze.
Despite his injuries, the man got up and walked 4.5 miles until he found a shed on the Dolores River. In that shed, he weathered the night—sleeping on sacks of dog and horse food. When he woke up, the man made his way back to the road, where he was later found and rescued.
Sheriff Bill Masters later thanked the efforts of the rescuers and volunteers involved, and he praised the self-rescue capabilities of this tough motorcyclist.
What would you do in a desperate situation like this? Do you have a plan in case of an emergency while you are out riding? Log on to Facebook and Twitter to tell the attorneys who ride what you would do in a motorcycle emergency.