When I read this story about a woman apparently killed on her motorcycle up in Sonoma County on the coast highway, I wondered how it happened, and if she might be alive today had she known about this.

Of course, she may also have been a good rider, and just encountered oncoming traffic in her lane, or a slick spot in the road. We may never know.

Sadly, this woman was by all accounts an excellent rider. As it turns out, she removed her helmet and gloves and left them on a rock near her launch point, and evidently rode off the cliff intentionally. We may never know why.

This is the link to the local rag

http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050929/NEWS/509290320/1033/NEWS01

THIS is the link (stupid computers...)

It's sad to lose a rider, especially one as apparently skilled and cheerful as the one in the article.

As to the second link, the link within that post, referring to counter-steering, contains the most telling part of the whole "experienced rider" story:

Most new riders who have not taken a Motorcycle Safety Foundation course are under the impression that in order to arc through a corner on a motorcycle, the rider must lean and turn the front wheel in the direction of the corner.

While I don't think that just taking a class will guarantee that you won't ever get in an accident, the MSF safety course is a valuable tool to use to learn to ride a motorcycle properly. The lessons learned in that course have kept me out of some pretty hairy situations, personally, and also helped my friend avoid an near-accident on an interstate.

This is a sad tale, indeed.

Suicides are one of those rarely commented causes for automotive "accidents." The doctor my family used when I was a teenager died in a single car accident. The death of his wife and his beautiful daughter (from cancer) in the same year obviously had nothing to do with that accident. :-(