I don't know if he's active duty or not, but I don't believe so. He's about 50 years old which would make him older than most active duty. My guess is he's retired military. I'll try to find out for sure.

John

On 3/28/2015 8:44 AM, Robyn Mathes wrote:

Thanks for the update. Is he active duty?  

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 28, 2015, at 7:58 AM, John Palermo <[address removed]> wrote:

As many of you may already know, we had a rider go down on the ride to the Lone Star M/C Museum. Fortunately, he is doing OK though he did more damage to himself than was evident at the time. He is not a member and was trying out our group for the first time. His name is Mark Shaffer. Currently, he is hospitalized at SAMMC. His spirits are very high and I have been in contact with him via email. He was even joking about it while waiting for the first responders.

The incident involved him misjudging a tight decreasing radius turn on route 39 out of Kerrville, apparently resulting in him locking up this rear brake and having the bike slide out from under him. My best guess is he was probably going about 25mph at the time. Both the bike and he slid about 30 feet off the asphalt and onto the rocky shoulder.

In a large group such as the one we had, it is impossible for the ride captain (in this case, me) to see how the group is doing behind him/her, particularly on a curvy road like 39 is. I was only able to see 3-4 bikes behind me due to the curves and none of us in the lead knew a wreck took place until we were run down by a member about 1-1/2 miles further down the road. I would like to remind everyone that you should NEVER out-ride your capabilities, particularly on challenging roads like route 39. Some of our members believed this was the case here. The ride captains will ALWAYS pull over in a safe area and wait once we realize the group is lagging. Sometimes it's better to even opt-out of a ride if it becomes too challenging!

I would also like to THANK our members and guests for their performance during this crisis. EVERY member had a role to play and performed admirably! From Stan and Sue who caught up the lead bikes to tell me of the wreck, the members that blocked and slowed traffic while waiting for the first responders, the members that had to travel to try and find a place to get cell phone service, the members that tended to Mark, and especially to Denise (forgive me if I got her name wrong - you know how I am with names!). She is Rob Cagle's girlfriend who just happened to be a NICU nurse and tended to Mark immediately and without hesitation! She's my new hero (by the way, my daughter's a NICU nurse, so I have special feelings towards them).I will keep the group posted on Mark's progress.

Riding season is upon us. Please ride safely!!!!

John

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