Weekly Update - August 12, 2009

Hey folks, hope you had a good week! As always, photos from the last six years are available in Our Store here. These are highlights from last week.

*UPDATE* Adding links to high res versions of the videos below here (this week's) and here (last week's).

Weekly Highlights Vid:



We've also got a video montage of last week's highlights here:



I'll have a link to a higher resolution downloadable version shortly, and we'll probably start doing these every week, although it may take a day or two after the normal update to get the video version online. There will also be an iPhone app coming soon so you can play/save them on there!

Kinda slow one last week, which made it really nice for those who were here enjoying the ride/drive. Lots of folks smiling and having fun, and we've got a great collection of highlights below as a result, but as is often the case, tragedy can quickly overshadow all the sunshine in the world. Last Saturday night was one of those unfortunate moments. A member from the Sky/Solstice group was giving another member a ride, and lost control on Hwy 28 about 1/8th of a mile from the turn off from 129. The car side-swiped a tree and the passenger was killed instantly. Driver was, and still is in critical but stable condition. He was flown out and friends on the scene said the Graham County EMS team did an amazing job, working very fast to stabilize the injured and get a helicopter on route immediately.

The left turn they wrecked in is a fairly tricky one, in that there is always gravel around the outside of it because there are dumpsters there and people going in and out all the time. Most traffic doesn't stay wide through the turn, so the gravel accumulates. If a person is driving nice line, staying well away from the yellow, they are punished with a loss of traction. We will try to take a broom out there as often as possible and work on keeping it cleaner. (along with the rest of the Gap as always) The dumpsters there were also very prone to attracting wildlife, mostly bears, but I think they have made upgrades to keep the bears out, so I'm not sure if there was an animal involved in the crash or not.

It shouldn't need to be repeated, but let's all please be careful when we have precious lives in our cars or on our bikes. Imagine the sorrow this poor driver is going to face if he survives. Our thoughts are with the families of the Nellie Tubbs and Keith Wolven.

This weekend shows no groups on the calendar. Get your group listed if you're planning to visit!

A couple of items to mention if you've got a moment. First up is an instructional book we worked on with writer Pat Hahn. We shot all of the photography, and they even used one of our Dragon photos for the cover!



The book will be published later this year, and you can pre-order it on Amazon here.

And finally, there is a new local source for motorcycle race gear at MJmotogear.com based out of Knoxville. He's a rider and of course, Gap regular, so check him out.

Ok, on to the highlights!