I wish more people would share their fall stories and lessons learned, so I'll share mine

Each year, the very last ride has this feeling of "don't screw up a good season" and I had it that night (Nov. 19th) when I was taking the long way round to top off my gas tank before winter.  I was taking it super-easy just enjoying being out on the next-to-last warm night (40+ degrees).  I had been cruising at or below the speed limit and not pushing it at all throughout the ride.   About 5 miles from home, accelerating out of a slow corner, I hit dark grey sand in a nearly-done construction zone (no street lights in the area), along with some gritty stuff from when they painted the lines I think.  It wasn't quite a standard right turn, slow since it was more then 90deg and recently reconfigured during construction, from southbound CR-19 / Keats Ave onto westbound Military Rd, both 55mph roads.
 
As I was speeding up after the turn, going maybe 20 or 30mph, I got into the sand and the back spun out to the left (the outside of the turn of course).  I distinctly recall starting to fall down to the right with my right foot dragging out behind me, but then the bike hooked up and flipped over onto its left side... I think I pretty much slid off the back.  I didn't have time to react in any particular way, and as I lost my balance early in the slide I unintentionally pinned the throttle so I have that zinging up to WOT sound etched into my brain.  I don't remember flying at all, which is great luck.  I had enough time to realize I was sliding down the road in my lane, mostly upright, probably 30 feet or more -- almost as far as the bike slid.  There weren't any cars around right when it happened but some passed by shortly afterwards, one slowed down but none stopped.

My Joe Rocket Ballistic pants took the brunt of it, my main coat has a little hole in it.  That coat also rode up and my windbreaker got melted.  Additionally, my backpack was torn open.  My boots and gloves didn't incur any damage, which surprises me a little, and my head never hit the ground.

I did call the cops to file a report, filed the longer form for a > $1,000 accident with the state, and I attempted to work with County about the construction debris which I spun out on but haven't made much progress.  Basically I plan to file a claim on my insurance.  I did end up riding it home in first gear, wow that was loud and slow...

My hip was sore after a few minutes, a few hours later I started feeling it more generally.  My left-hand pinky had a little burning/tingling, I think from the bars getting ripped out of my hands.  ZERO road-rash, a tiny bruise on the hip/cheek I landed on...
 
The Lesson Learned part is pretty simple -- wear your gear!  There is always the chance that something you can't even see could bring you down.
 
http://aschendel.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/2013-11-19-My-Wipeout/2013-11-19-Crash-Aftermath

Should be basically cosmetic, decent luck for a highside

Andy

I know we've had our share of discussions, concerns, and near misses (or worse) due to following distances being too short.  I did a search just now to see if I should revive one of the many threads that included this topic and decided to start my own here in the safety forum to discuss a little data I happened to collect.

Last Saturday night I went riding, leaving my house about 9pm and heading down into the good roads (for a photo tag game on the other forum).  I didn't ride too many of the really good roads as I was short on time and didn't want to be way out in the boonies if something happened so late at night.    The whole night was slower than average, as I had assured my wife that hitting a deer or drunk was unlikely, and a deer probably wouldn't kill me... plus I didn't want to talk to the police.

As I was cruising along on 25 in Wisconsin north of Nelson I had a truck (F350?) pull out in front of me at a T and while I "saw" it happening ahead of time, more-so than say, a deer jumping out of the woods or a person in front of me having a mechanical failure, I still feel that the information recorded by my GPS might be enlightening (attached below).  The truck was clearly visible to me well in advance, I didn't know he wasn't waiting for me at first but then I noticed a car was also coming the other direction, hidden from view by the rise / bend in the road.  The car passed the truck and then the truck pulled out in front of me.

Keep in mind that I was riding by myself, no music, I wasn't fiddling with the GPS or the bike or anything, I was hyper-alert, going slower than normal and was watching the truck; on the other hand, I was cold, it was pretty late, I had been riding for a few hours already, and I was mentally getting close to the home stretch.  Notice I was already slowing and then braked pretty hard from 57mph to 17mph, taking about 124 feet.

I know the GPS data presented here isn't perfect / science, especially during acceleration (positive or negative) (so let's not argue about that too much) but I still feel that this shows how long it might take an average person to comprehend an emergency and attempt to stop.  At 17mph or less, broadsiding a truck probably wouldn't have been that bad, but hitting a kid in the road or a friend that had successfully stopped would have been awful.

It was a "close call", and would have been much worse if he would have panicked and stopped covering my lane or had been pulling a trailer, I honestly don't know if I braked hard enough to fully stop.  I do know I did *not* execute a full-on panic stop; I didn't skid, probably only used my front brake and at the time (too much thinking about deer?) didn't consider it a major situation, I remember talking to myself about him once I realized he may have been waiting on only the car.

a.s.

p.s. I should point out that had I just laid 'r down @ 57 I would have had a better story, and new bike and a honor among pirates.

My riders briefing and ride postings go something like this (shorter and more implied is probably accurate):

*** PAY ATTENTION ***  THIS STUFF IS ALL IMPORTANT ***

Group tactics
* I will try to keep the group together.
* I will try not to do anything surprising, do us all a favor and try not to surprise those around you.
* Leave enough space and pay attention, nobody wants to hit someone else in the group and nobody wants to be hit.  Crash on your own before you hit me, seriously - I don't want to be hit from behind.
* I will try to avoid running yellow lights.
* I'll use some really basic signals for stuff you probably need to know (debris in the lane, cop), pass them back if you see them.
* Don't be a jerk, respect the farmers, sight-seers, kids and city folk we're riding by, and respect the rest of our group.  Let me know if you're unhappy with something and we'll see if there's something we can do about that.


Passing
* I will pass cars or whatever whenever I think it's appropriate enough, that includes double-yellows sometimes, which is of course "very dangerous".  If there's not enough room or you don't want to, just wait until it's right for you.  Once in awhile I won't pass something, I probably have a reason for not doing so, so I think you should be as patient as I am and just wait it out.
* Don't pass in "our" lane if you can help it.
* If you want to pass me that's great, please do but do it safely.  My routes are pretty stock, my route sheets are pretty good, we wait frequently at pre-determined points, and I'd love to have you lead a section.


Speed
* We will cruise at 8-10 over.  This means that on straights, major boring highways, and anywhere not covered below I'm going to speed, but not much.
* Into, out of, and in towns / cities I will not speed.
* Out in the boonies on roads I like I'm going to ride "my pace", you ride "your pace", I'll make sure you know when we're waiting next so don't ride over your head.  Some of the roads are really tricky and even scary, relax and keep your speed down and eyes up, you'll be fine.  A few sweepers will probably be 80+ but mostly I'll be running 10 or 15 over.  I might give my bike the old Italian tune-up once or twice if the visibility is great, feel free to leave plenty of room and clean yours out too.
* If you get a ticket don't blame me, if I get a ticket I won't blame you.  If anyone gets pulled over I'll stop, if anyone wants to bolt or not stop for others that's your deal and I'm completely fine with that I'll try to cover for you but make no promises, meet us later or not, no big deal.  I'm not going to go looking for you though, I plan to stick to the route sheet unless something crazy happens.

** BOTTOM LINE: I don't want to crash or go to jail and I do want to have a lot of fun; anyone who disagrees with that short list of priorities should probably bail now.

*** PAY ATTENTION ***  THIS STUFF IS ALL IMPORTANT ***

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44499884

crazy cool.

a.s.

I've always wondered about not going into (not letting the clutch out) each gear as I move through the gearbox.  For example, I often do 1, 2, 4, 6 as I accelerate to highway speeds, sometimes even 1, 2, 6 if I hammer on 2nd.  Do you guys do this too?  Has anyone had or heard of any indication of gearbox trouble from this practice?  I also do it on the way back down, but possibly not as routine, which ones I skip depends on the area under the curve.

Andy

Anyone else going?  This'll be my first real track (i've been to DCTC twice), can't wait.

a.s.

Hi guys,

Anyone have a favorite brake pad for all-around riding?  I've heard awesome things about Vesrah RJL's, but they don't seem to make them for my bike.  Low dust, low noise, good bite and good feel of course, and decent longevity would be nice.  I doubt I'll spend much time braking from track speed, although one or two rounds @ DCTC / year is likely.  I've got 50K miles on the OEMs and I'd buy them again if there's nothing better.

Thanks!

Andy