It was a perfect day for a ride in the Ozarks of Arkansas. My significant other and I were returning from a family outing, choosing to ride my V-Strom instead of cramming into a car with her kids. After all, just because you have non-motorcycle commitments doesn’t mean you can’t work the motorcycle into them anyway. As we cruised along and came around a curve, I noticed a fellow rider parked at the end of a driveway. He was off the bike, on his phone, and his helmet was on the ground next to his bike. Did he need help?
Is It a Sign?
There is some debate as to whether a helmet on the ground is a universal sign of a rider needing help or not. According to an old forum post, “Many MSF course instructors teach riders to not set helmets on the seat, tank, or hang off the mirror. It is explained that a fall/drop may render the helmet no longer safe for its intended purpose. They instruct the rider to place the helmet on the ground.” I recall hearing this myself at some point early in my own riding career, perhaps during my own MSF course. Conversely, Ontario’s Official Ministry of Transportation Motorcycle Handbook explicitly states, “If you need help, place your helmet on the ground near the road. This is a signal among motorcycle drivers that a motorcyclist needs help.”
In this case, the combination of the helmet on the ground, the unusual parking spot at the end of a driveway, and the rider being on his phone all indicated to me that we should go back and check on him. I hadn’t been able to stop in time due to my speed and poor visibility around the curve, so I looked ahead for a safe place to turn around. I indicated my intentions to my significant other so she wouldn’t be surprised at the sudden stop and U-turn I was about to make. Though not a rider herself yet, she later told me that she’d also recognized the signs, including the helmet on the ground, and pretty much expected this.
No Good Deed Goes Unrewarded
Upon our arrival, the rider told me a rather sad story. He had stopped to help another rider who was having some kind of bike trouble. He didn’t elaborate on the nature of the trouble, but he said he got them going on their way again. When he tried to start his bike afterward, it wouldn’t crank. This poor guy had done the right thing, succeeded in helping a rider in distress get back on the road, and then found himself in need of assistance himself. Life just isn’t fair sometimes.
Or maybe it is. After suffering the same fate myself in the past, I now carry a small jump pack in my saddlebags. I told him this, and that I would be happy to give his bike a boost. He already had the seat off of his Husky, so he removed another cover to provide access to the battery while I got the jump pack out. A quick jump start had it running again in no time. He thanked me for my help and gave extra thanks on behalf of his wife, who no longer had to drive out to rescue him. I was perfectly fine with being the instrument of good karma for this guy who stopped to help another rider in need. It cost just five minutes out of my life and 2% of my jump pack’s charge.
Roadside (or Trailside) Assistance
I share this story not to brag about my part in it, but to show how a small act of kindness on your part can make a huge difference to a rider in distress. I originally picked up my jump pack after learning the hard way that leaving my Apple CarPlay interface plugged in while the bike isn’t in use will slowly drain my battery. Now, I can self-rescue if I forget to unplug it when putting the bike in the trailer for an extended drive across the country (yes, this has happened). Having this tool available has also let me help other people. Last year at the Rocky Mountain Roll, I first jump-started, then diagnosed a failed alternator on another attendee’s Subaru, which I replaced before her drive from Montana home to Washington at the end of the event.
One of YouTuber Tavarish‘s catchphrases is, “I am the warranty.” In this case, I would say that “we are the roadside assistance” when we’re out riding in remote places, whether trails deep in the backcountry or highways in the Ozarks with terrible cell service. We already wave to other riders on the road. When we see a rider stopped on the side of the road, we should make sure they’re okay or if they need help of some kind. Sometimes, they’re just checking their navigation or simply enjoying the beautiful scenery. Other times, they might have been broken down but were already fixing the problem on their own and didn’t need help, or already had the help they needed on the way. Regardless, every rider I have ever stopped for who didn’t need it always appreciated that I checked on them.
You don’t even need to be a master mechanic or carry a jump pack to be helpful. You can help even if you have zero mechanical skill whatsoever. If you have tools available, the stricken rider might know how to use them to fix the problem, even if you don’t. The rider I helped had a satellite communicator, so even though we had no cell service, he had no trouble contacting his wife. If he didn’t, and if I didn’t have a jump pack, I could still have taken his information, continued to ride, and called his wife for help when I found cell service again.
Most importantly, though, what goes around comes around. I’ve had plenty of riders check up on me when I’m pulled over somewhere, even when I’m not in trouble. It didn’t matter to the helmetless Harley dude that I was geared up like a Power Ranger on my Japanese adventure bike. We keep an eye on each other out there. Doing this for others means that others will do it for you when you’re the one in need. In most cases, karma doesn’t come back as quickly as it did for this particular guy, but I’m glad it did. I’ll keep my eyes open for you on the side of the road, and I hope you will for me, too.
