RIP Rider

[n10sive]

Reminder to take it easy on out there....

A Carson City man missing since Monday was found dead in Alpine County off Highway 89 west of Monitor Pass on Wednesday afternoon.

Kurt Ernest Muench, 41, was reported missing to the Carson City Sheriff's Department on June 27.

According to the Alpine County Sheriff's Office, family members said Muench may have come to Alpine County to ride his motorcycle.

On Wednesday, Alpine County authorities were also contacted by the family.

California Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Dan Lopez said a CHP helicopter was in the area on another mission and conducted an aerial search.

Muench was located on a steep embankment about 130 feet down from the highway near his 2002 Suzuki motorcycle.

Lopez said it appeared he was eastbound on Highway 89 failed to negotiate a curve west of Heenan Lake and suffered fatal injuries.

The Alpine County Coroner will conduct an investigation into the cause of death. Lopez said the California Highway Patrol will conduct the accident investigation.

SOURCE

[GreenMachine]

Tahoebrian and I just did Monitor two weeks ago.  I think I remember that road fairly well.  In the section as they are describing it going eastbound West of Heenan Lake, that's all uphill sweepers.  Puzzling and very sad to hear of another rider fatality this season.  It's hard to conclude what happened without witnesses, but my assumption was he must have really been hauling to go off in any of those gentle uphill turns.  The article didn't mention CHP saying anything about massive skidding.  Either that or he just spaced and rode off the road.  I know I'm guilty of gazing at the scenery on many of our routes, not in that section though, but the east side slopes and mountain vistas are very captivating.

Again very sad.  Thanks for sharing n10sive.

[Tahoebrian5]

Damn! Ride safe everybody!!

[GreenMachine]

I guess my assumption is too that his Suzuki motorcycle was a sport bike, but it could just as easily have been a Marauder cruizer or something.   

[n10sive]

if it is the turn I am thinking of, you can get going pretty fast on the semi-straight after the left corner coming out of the canyon turns, then a fast gentle sweeping uphill to the right almost 180, followed by a sharp left with a turn out on the top. IF you slow down enough to make that, you can make the next sharp right pretty easy (into a hill not cliff) and the rest no problem. I suspect that first sharp left got him. *dunno*

either way, yeah, be careful, especially on unfamiliar mountain roads.

[GreenMachine]

I searched his name and the same article is referenced repeatedly, then some links to a Kurt Muench from Austria who has been riding 19 years, owns three bikes, one being a Honda Hawk.  If that was him, it would explain perhaps an unfamiliarity with the road.

[GreenMachine]

if it is the turn I am thinking of, you can get going pretty fast on the semi-straight after the left corner coming out of the canyon turns, then a fast gentle sweeping uphill to the right almost 180, followed by a sharp left with a turn out on the top. IF you slow down enough to make that, you can make the next sharp right pretty easy (into a hill not cliff) and the rest no problem. I suspect that first sharp left got him. *dunno*

either way, yeah, be careful, especially on unfamiliar mountain roads.

I think I know which turn he went off at, <here>.  That corner gets me too sometimes.  Go in too slow and you find out that you're bogging.  Go in too fast and you feel like you're going over the side unless you're fully committed with a descent lean and a knee down.  The left hand uphill corner feels like it needs to be taken slow, but the previous dog-leg right below gives the sensation that you might be able to carry all your speed to the top.   Been there many times.

[n10sive]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC8qfl-6XuU

Heenan starts at 3:30. The corner I am talking about is at 4:45 (where the truck is LOL) which is just east of the lake.