Motorcyclist hit by lightening. . .

[debron]

A motorcyclist riding up I-5 in Washington state was struck by lightening yesterday. Slightly dazed and singed, he appears to be OK. Here's a link to a short news article and below is a photo of the inside of his helmet.

[Gator Mike]

Holy Cow, that sure puts a crimp in the rubber isolating you from the road idea. Guess there was enough water on him and the bike to create a ground. Sure is a heck of a way to get ground effect lighting. ..................Gator Mike

[gearheadfla]

I saw a parked Jeep get hit by lighting once, it blew the tires off it and it burned to the ground, ain't so sure about the being grounded in a car thing.

[Okie34]

Living in Oklahoma, we are very aware of lightning. Being a County Storm Spotter, I am doubly aware. I've had several close call while spotting. I've had one close strike riding in a thunderstorm. It was enough to convince me to find shelter & really pay attention to the weather.

-- JD

[biggersm]

Truely a shock story (sorry couldn't resist). Just goes to show you that us touring motorcycle types can take a licking and keep on ticking.

[chevyman1]

Holy Cow, that sure puts a crimp in the rubber isolating you from the road idea. Guess there was enough water on him and the bike to create a ground. Sure is a heck of a way to get ground effect lighting. ..................Gator Mike

FYI, Lighting travels threw miles of air, a couple of inches of rubber not going to stop it.
The safety in a car comes form that the lighting travels around you because of the steel shell you are in.
I think they call it a Faraday cage or affect.
So on a bike in a lighting storm unless your wearing some kind of metal cage suit around you, Your doomed

[David (N. Alabama)]

Holy Cow, that sure puts a crimp in the rubber isolating you from the road idea. Guess there was enough water on him and the bike to create a ground. Sure is a heck of a way to get ground effect lighting. ..................Gator Mike

FYI, Lighting travels threw miles of air, a couple of inches of rubber not going to stop it.
The safety in a car comes form that the lighting travels around you because of the steel shell you are in.
I think they call it a Faraday cage or affect.
So on a bike in a lighting storm unless your wearing some kind of metal cage suit around you, Your doomed

Asolutely true. That is why I don't ride in a lightning storm.

[Bruce in OK]

I had the experience of running my scraper while trying to get my job smoothed up before a rain storm got there. The hair on my arms stood up and lightning hit a tree a few hundred yards away. It didn't take me long to get parked and into the pickup.

[biggersm]

I found this on a different forum. This guy has more than one interesting story about him. It really hits home when you open the links.


"Well here's an interesting twist to the story. A IBA friend of mine sent this out after seeing the story. Looks like GOD may be exacting some retribution.

"Hi all,

you've probably heard about this....


What you may not know is who Michael LaDue is. In IBA circles he's better known (or hated) as Michael Gasper.

Sex Offender Archive Record: Michael C LaDue
http://news.sky.com/story/1138331/light ... list-in-us

It's interesting that the media has used his mug shot many times without mentioning the sex offender bit.

If you see chatter about this "lucky guy" on other forums and lists, just make sure they know who the sociopath is.
http://www.sorarchives.com/offender/view/1330232

I thought this guy went to jail for the sex crime shortly after riding 2,000 miles in 24 hours. I guess he's been out for some time. Apparently he made a royal ass of himself in 2003 at the beginning of the IBR.

You can check out Higdon's description on the 2003 IBR Day O report…



"Just before the banquet began last evening, the Typhoid Mary of motorcycling, Michael Charles Gasper, rode into the Holiday Inn parking lot. You may know him by one of his aliases: Speedracer, Gary Gonefar, Biff, Bob Ransbottom (an identity theft of a 1995 IBR finisher), The 2K Kid, Psycho Mikey, Brad Beckley, Ray Poisson (a combination of "Rey" [Spanish for "king"] and "Poisson" [French for "fish"], hence "Kingfish"), Chuck LaDeux, and most recently Charles Ladue. No matter what name he's using, this is one dude you don't want to meet. Gasper's history of lies and sociopathic behavior is so well known in the long-distance motorcycling community that it would actually be comical were it not for the occasional felony conviction. In recent years, however, because of his multiple threats against other riders he has been turned away from every endurance rally of any consequence in North America and permanently banned from participation on the Long Distance Riders e-mail list. Unhappily, and ironically, for Psycho Mikey, riding a bike for endless miles under difficult conditions is one thing that he can actually do with some skill. Now the boys and girls won't play with him anymore. The drums had banged out the news of Gasper's arrival before he was even off his bike. The police were called because at least three riders at the dinner have keep-away orders against him. He muttered a few epithets and rode off but, like the Energizer Bunny, he'll keep coming back. If he shows up at any of the rally's checkpoints, however, he'll find the state police waiting for him. It took Mike Kneebone a few minutes to arrange for security guards to patrol the parking lot last night, an unexpected expense that the riders Gasper so desperately wants to associate with will ultimately bear through their entry fees. But soon the drama subsided, rallymaster Lisa Landry strode into the banquet room wearing the executioner's robe that Mike Kneebone had first used in 2001, and the riders quickly resumed their positions of whipped-dog submissiveness." "

[glich54]

Holy Cow, that sure puts a crimp in the rubber isolating you from the road idea. Guess there was enough water on him and the bike to create a ground. Sure is a heck of a way to get ground effect lighting. ..................Gator Mike

FYI, Lighting travels threw miles of air, a couple of inches of rubber not going to stop it.
The safety in a car comes form that the lighting travels around you because of the steel shell you are in.
I think they call it a Faraday cage or affect.
So on a bike in a lighting storm unless your wearing some kind of metal cage suit around you, Your doomed

Asolutely true. That is why I don't ride in a lightning storm.

We rarely get thunderstoms/lightening on the west side of the Cascades in WA, but I saw 10X more lightening strikes the day the cyclist was stuck than I have seen living here for 15 years...