I think anyone who’s ridden up very steep mountain ranges—you know, the ones you can see right over the edge of—has had the same thought: Don’t go off.
For some, it makes them stiffen up and ride like they’re on ice, while others can simply block it out and ride like they normally would. I would describe myself as the latter, or at least I would’ve until a guardrail stopped me from sliding off the side of a mountain. Now, I don’t know what I am.
While riding a mountain road in Mexico that I’d ridden about 100 times before, some loose gravel caused me to lowside, and before I could think, I was sliding on my ass toward a guardrail. It grazed my shins as they slid under, and soon I had to decide if I wanted to stop myself with my head or chest—I opted for my head because I had a helmet, but that was the end of my Alpinestars Supertech R10.
The moral of my story is that one minute you can be enjoying your favorite mountain pass, and within seconds, you’ll need to decide whether you want your chest or head to stop you from going over the edge, either from making the simplest of mistakes or having the briefest lapse of concentration.
Unfortunately, the rider in the video below didn’t have a guardrail to stop him from going over the edge.
The video in question gives us no understanding of just how steep this mountain is, because everything is hidden by the overgrowth of vegetation. The rider did what so many of us have done and took a quick look over his shoulder. But by the time he looked forward again, it was too late.
Considering how his BMW R 1250 GS Adventure looked at the end of its trip down the mountain, this rider is so lucky to be alive. But damn, that’s a tough pill to swallow. It seems that he bought the bike just a couple of months beforehand for $20,000 and was completing a trip around South America.
Hopefully this will serve as a reminder of just how quickly things can go wrong when you take your mind off the road for just a second.
