Flash Moto Mob on 880

Two weeks ago I was invited to talk to a group of sixth grade boys who were in a robotics competion. Their overall task was to build a robot that took into account consumption of resources. They had wanted to build a motorcycle but figured out fast that they needed something with built-in balance, so they built a trike instead. One of the sub-tasks was to talk to an "expert" related to their design. I had been instructed to talk about safety, both rider safety and bike safety. I was warned ahead of time that the kids had a short attention span so I was surprised that they still had questions after twenty minutes.

I passed around my gear and told them where to poke and prod so they could feel how much armor and padding I'm wearing. We talked about balance, momentum, traction, weight shifting, tires, and, of course, wheelies and stoppies, and falling down. My friend Valarie, their organizer, was happy that they stayed focused for twenty minutes. I was happy to have given my first ever motorcycle safety talk. Valarie told me later that this team of kids, who were not only entering the competition for the first time but also the youngest team, had made it to the finals and finished in third place.

* * *

Fast forward to this afternoon. I was on Highway 880, just north of Whipple, where 880 becomes straight as a pelican dive. About twenty squids merged onto the highway and closed ranks in the lanes to the right of the fast lane.

I was in the fast lane with one car in front of me. A single rider slipped in front of the car. The rider pulled a wheelie, and brought the bike down under control. The car in front me got the hell outa there - shifted lanes and disappeared to the other side of the motorcycle wall that had formed to the right of the guy in the fast lane.

There was a gap between me and the rider now that the car was gone, and I started to accelerate to close the gap. A rider from the posse riding just ahead of me in the lane to my right gave me the "stay back" hand motion. "What the hell is going on?" I wondered.

There was moment of quiet, then the rider pulled the bike into a high wheelie and rode in a standing position at around 75 mph for what felt like about 30 seconds, maybe it was between 10 and 30 seconds. The stunt rider dropped down to two wheels under control, blended into the moto mob and smoothy exited the highway at the intersection with Highway 92.

The whole thing seems to have been planned. The section of highway was straight, with no surface variations in the left lane. By doing the stunt in the left lane, the risk exposure was minimized (assuming the best outcome) to the right side of the lane. They arrived in a flash. The posse quicky and efficiently formed a protective wall around the stunt rider. The rider did a test, then a full-out sustained stunt, then the whole mob executed a clean exit. Well done. Dangerous. Illegal. And well done.

Was it "safe"? No! And, still I think this group thought about safety. The rider posse appeared to be grouped behind the stunt rider, they occupied all the lanes to the right of the stunt rider. Had the rider gone down, the bike would have spun out and hit the moto wall before it hit any cars. Yes, the rider would would have been run over by the posse. Yes there would have been mayhem and collateral damage to the cars and to the people in those cars. Fortunately nothing bad did happen. No horns blared, no car tires screeched as the moto formation whooshed off the exit ramp. Maybe we were all too stunned to react.

There is no question that the stunt was irresponsible and dangerous to everyone on the highway for those few seconds. I don't condone it, and, I understand completely.