| Author | Message | ||
     Bbstacker |
Well I suppose I better get this over with. I went down for the first time on the street this past Sunday. We (the Uly Boys)(see Ferris Bueller Rides Again Tour in tale sections) were about five miles outside of Julian on Sunday morning when it happened. Coming into 25 mph right hander at about 35 mph I set up for the corner just fine. As i reached the apex I rolled on the throttle accelerating to about 40 mph. Thats where the turn seemed to get tighter. I felt like I had too much throttle to keep it together. I looked at the double yellow line to check my position. This was my first mistake. The brain has this weird target fixation feature built in. For some reason you tend to gravitate to the point you are looking at. Looking at the line I naturally drifted toward it. This induced a panic response on my part...my second mistake. I got off the throttle. Those of you who have the XB bikes probably know of their tendency to quickly stand up in a corner if you get off the gas or get on the brakes. Odd thing about motorcycles...they don't turn well when standing up straight. So anyway I'm upright and so no longer turning. The road was still turning, however. I found myself in the opposite lane and quickly running out of real estate. I got on the binders hard and managed to scrub about half my speed away before the front end hit gravel on the opposite shoulder. The bike at that point squirted out from under me throwing me to the ground. From there we both slid into the ditch at the edge of the road. Damage report: To me...Knock on the inside of my right knee where the bike landed on it. Minor sprain to my right ankle. About three square inches of road rash on my right forearm. To the bike...Broken right front turn signal. Front fairing bracket broken at the turn signal mounting point. Moderate road rash on the right side of the fairing. Torn Right hand grip. Small chip out of the throttle sleeve. Torn up rubber mirror boot. Forks slightly out of allignment.(this I fixed by loosening triple-tree hardware and letting it unload) Lessons learned: 1. Don't look at it if you don't want to hit it. 2. Don't panic. It almost always leads to the wrong decision. 3. Trust the bike. It will always out perform you. I know if I had kept the throttle where it was and leaned it over a tad more I would have been fine. 4. Always wear proper gear. Looking at my body armor I know I would be in a world of hurt if I hadn't been wearing it judging by how much material was removed from the shoulder and elbow plates. | ||
| Jlnance |
Glad you didn't get hurt too badly. Chalk it up as being part of an epic adventure.  | ||
| Charlieboy6649 |
Hey J, I don't think that was the epicness he wanted LOL! I'm glad you're OK bro... I called Wycked and he does have the part you need off of his parts bike. He said to PM him so he could get back to you. That's Wyckedflesh on this board. Again, I was relieved to see you pass me the other way when I was headed back down the mountain. You'll get your bike healed, and so with you... | ||
| Captainkirk |
Glad you're OK. It's hard to overcome natural reactions, but usually it'll get you out of a jam. I had the same experience several years ago; no harm to the bike but I did end up on the opposite shoulder in the grass. A sobering experience. Had a car been in the opposite lane I might've ended up as a hood ornament. Sounds silly, but these are some of the basic skills taught in the MSF course...and for an experienced rider, EXTREMELY hard to overcome. My advise to you is to go back to that exact curve when there's little or no traffic and do it over and over until you know it inside out and are taking it faster than you thought you could. It'll do wonders for your confidence and riding ability. Good luck! | ||
| Al_lighton |
Mark, Glad you're OK and that the injuries didn't turn more serious from when we last saw you, as they sometimes can. When we stopped at the top of the hill and you and Tom didn't show up, I started to get that sinking feeling that something bad had happened. Then a car stopped and told us that someone had gone down. That is a REAL sinking feeling. I'm glad that it wasn't any more serious. Great that you had the body armor on. Al | ||
| Reepicheep |
Good lessons BB, thanks for posting. | ||
| Henrik |
Glad you're ok. Target fixation sucks - don't ask. Henrik | ||
| Boltster |
Man, you know, I can soarly relate to that entire tale on one level or another!! There I was 5 miles east of Julian on 78 heading downhill into the desert(I've heard other people mention downhill tight turns will fool you, I am a believer) making an S turn doing about 25-30 mph and on the outside of the first turn (I took it too wide in retrospect, should have trusted the bike more as you mentioned) I come upon a "little gravel" (should have been looking a little farther forward in the turn and the gravel was along the outside of the lane as per the MSF test question haha another insult to my injury). The rear slides a bit, off the throttle, bike straightens up, brakes on, bike slows, but not in enough time to stop her from hitting the gravel and we both slide into the ditch. sigh..  Wearing full gear so only had a slight abrasion on my left knee as I laid her down on her left side. Got up and took off my gloves (mistake as you will see) and took a breath, then walked up to stand up my bike and burnt my fingers on the exhaust piping hahaha, yes, I am moron...  Well, left side scraped up a bit, turn signal and mount front left gone, gear shift toe peg sheered (I had to shift with my boot lip the whole way home haha, once again, gald I had my boots on) and worse, some scratches on the frame, grrr just before I was about to slap some pucks on her, go figure. Well, a fellow sportsbiker pulled over and helped me stand the bike up and gave me some ointment for the burn haha, he happened to be a trained EMT and a carpenter who road Ducatis???  what better luck then to have that guy show up in the middle of nowhere.. haha well, read your story and saw myself in many ways... gotta love experience, she is a hard teacher, she gives the test first and the lessons afterward  Thank god the bike still ran fine and got me home and her to the shop. I second all you mentioned. | ||
| Henrik |
Nate; tough story. Glad you're ok. You did good wearing your gear. I'm gonna quote you: gotta love experience, she is a hard teacher, she gives the test first and the lessons afterward. One of the best quotes I've heard in a long time. Henrik | ||
| Boltster |
Henrick, Thanks... and about the qoute, I paraphrased it, something that stuck with me for a long time now.. the saying goes "Experience is a hard teacher, she gives the test first, the lessons afterwards" as Vernon Sanders Law would say.. Hey, not only did old baseball players not use steroids, they were smart too  Wanted to give that old pitcher the credit he deserves, I heard it a while back and I am reminded of it all to often haha  | ||
| Dropped |
Well, it started out a normal day. Go to work, close, leave bout 12 a.m. I worked the late shift. Go home, change and get to friends house for party. Or so I thought. I live in San Antonio, so driving here really sucks. Anyhow, Im bout to merge from the access road onto highway 281 when some wannabe gang-bangers pull up next to me in their ricer and decide to pull out a sawed off shotgun. I decided not to kick their asses seeing how Im not bulletproof and moved over to the left and gave my lightning some gas. Problem. I didnt see the chainlink fence post laying in the street. Yes my friends, some jackass construction crew left their trash in the street. I ran it over and then suddenly my handlebars couldnt decide wether to go left or right. And they couldnt decide really quickly. So I go flying off, the bike just lands softly in the grass, and im rolling, sliding, and then rolling and eventually I stopped. Get up, dust myself off, and checked out the damage. Only cosmetics. Thank you Lord Jesus. Anyhow, some passerby saw the accident but couldnt stop. They did call the police and say that some biker was showing off and wrecked. OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH crap. Cops show up, laugh at my story, and then gave me a ticket for no license. Yeah, I know i need to give the state money(that is all its for and dont argue, my mom worked for the state and that stupid endorsment doesnt suddenly give you better riding skills). So, Ive now dropped the bike, got some great road rash, and got a ticket on top of that for no license. But, I did have insurance. Yes, I bought the bike from a harley dealership w/out a license and somehow got insured. Anyhow, Im not mad at the cop. But they did find those kids. Turns out, it was a soft-air gun that they pointed at me. Looked real enough to me and to two officers who had fun with their stun guns. I hope i didnt put too much info here. I know that this is supposed to be about crashes but I felt compelled to tell the whole story. By the way, perkeset is some really good stuff when your taking chunks of cement and glass out of your hands and butt. I wore my helmet, but only had on a jean jacket, jeans, and some dress boots. Hands got it the worst though. But im all healed up now, except for the huge scar on my left butt cheek. Those tiny street reflectors arent meant to be slid over at 40 mph. |
