Well, I pulled a seriously bone-headed move yesterday and thought I would share as I nearly got to test the effectiveness of my safety gear. Let us count the ways I tried to kill myself:
I was about four miles from home on a 250+ mile ride, weather was great (sunny and 80 degrees), bike was riding great, I was feeling good, and just happy as a clam with my new Neotec helmet. I was on a familiar road that has an S-curve with elevation change (rare around here) and was looking forward to flicking through there before I got to the house.
Leaning into the second bend I ran up on a black Chevy Silverado I'd seen well ahead of time. As I approached, my view out of the second curve to pass him was good so I rolled into the throttle leaned to move into the other lane and pass as the road straightened - putting me dangerously close to him (leaned over and rolling onto the throttle). As I did this, suddenly there were brake lights filling my field of view - he had nearly missed his turn-off and was going to try and make the turn (no signal). So what was my reflex? STOMP THE REAR FRIGGIN' BRAKE!?!? The bike fish-tailed as the ABS saved my stupid ass from just low-siding under the truck. The bike remained under control (by the grace of *choose your detity(s)*) and modern technology, and I passed by way too close for comfort and got things sorted back out. If he had been making a left turn instead of a right - I would have been toast.
Reflecting on this afterward with a strong libation to reset my nerves - I realized I'd put myself in a precarious situation though simple foolishness and poor roadcraft (running up on a car, not leaving myself any options if things went wrong, initiating a pass in a horrible position), those things I can control by not riding like a moron. What bothered me most though was my reaction to the situation, I was on the rear brake before I'd even thought about what I was doing! ::010:: It was the worst possible reaction I could have had to the situation and though it worked out, it really shouldn't have. I'll be heading to a parking lot today to practice emergency moves (something I obviously should do more often) with a re-found respect for the unpredictability of other drivers, and committed to not putting myself into situations such as this that I can control.
Feel free to flame away on my idiocy - you can't beat me up any worse than I've already done to myself - but take something away from my foolish act and realize how vulnerable we are out there, and don't put yourself into needlessly dangerous situations!
I was about four miles from home on a 250+ mile ride, weather was great (sunny and 80 degrees), bike was riding great, I was feeling good, and just happy as a clam with my new Neotec helmet. I was on a familiar road that has an S-curve with elevation change (rare around here) and was looking forward to flicking through there before I got to the house.
Leaning into the second bend I ran up on a black Chevy Silverado I'd seen well ahead of time. As I approached, my view out of the second curve to pass him was good so I rolled into the throttle leaned to move into the other lane and pass as the road straightened - putting me dangerously close to him (leaned over and rolling onto the throttle). As I did this, suddenly there were brake lights filling my field of view - he had nearly missed his turn-off and was going to try and make the turn (no signal). So what was my reflex? STOMP THE REAR FRIGGIN' BRAKE!?!? The bike fish-tailed as the ABS saved my stupid ass from just low-siding under the truck. The bike remained under control (by the grace of *choose your detity(s)*) and modern technology, and I passed by way too close for comfort and got things sorted back out. If he had been making a left turn instead of a right - I would have been toast.
Reflecting on this afterward with a strong libation to reset my nerves - I realized I'd put myself in a precarious situation though simple foolishness and poor roadcraft (running up on a car, not leaving myself any options if things went wrong, initiating a pass in a horrible position), those things I can control by not riding like a moron. What bothered me most though was my reaction to the situation, I was on the rear brake before I'd even thought about what I was doing! ::010:: It was the worst possible reaction I could have had to the situation and though it worked out, it really shouldn't have. I'll be heading to a parking lot today to practice emergency moves (something I obviously should do more often) with a re-found respect for the unpredictability of other drivers, and committed to not putting myself into situations such as this that I can control.
Feel free to flame away on my idiocy - you can't beat me up any worse than I've already done to myself - but take something away from my foolish act and realize how vulnerable we are out there, and don't put yourself into needlessly dangerous situations!
take two more wheels and a couple of thousand more pounds to start hitting the visible spectrum of light reflecting objects ??? ???