Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > Belated, RIP Phil ?

[Carbon749]

Not sure if this is the right place, or time to do this, but feels right to me.

Fatal bike accidents are never a good topic and are difficult to discuss at home .... feels easier on line.

I live near Matlock Bath in Derbyshire and it's the type of place that on Sunday can see 300 to 500 bikes visit. It's also the type of place that if you visit on a regular basis you start to recognise a few of the same bikes and riders and you inevitably strike up the odd conversation and "friendship".

This summer I ended up making friends with a group which mostly rode R1's. They took the P*** out of my Ducati, and I gave it back about their Japanese plastic fantastics. But, they welcomed me in to their crowd and we had a very enjoyable summer.

I've just found out that "Phil" who was 50 odd and rode a new R1 as quick as anyone .... and qhicker than some .... died about 10 weeks ago in an accident on the A6 near Matlock

No one is quite sure what happened, but, coming out of a corner he lost the bike. He parted company with the bike and he hit an on coming car. Died at the scene.

Educated guess is that his tyres were cold, wound it up out of the corner and lost the back end .... but, no one knows for sure. One thing that is definite is that he knew the road like the back of his hand and he would not have been going slow.

Lot's of strange thoughts and feelings going through my mind at the moment

We all say we know the risks of riding a bike on the road and we accept those risks .... do we, or do we just lock our concerns and thoughts in a box in the back of our minds, stick our heads in the sand and think it will never happen to us