Very close call - almost crashed

[OmegaSix]

You have a bit of rust growing under your sidestand, there Ken...    

[Formerly Known as Bigfoot]

Wow.  That would have sucked big time telling everyone I met you a day or two before you killed yourself.  So I'm glad you didn't.  Good job on staying alive.  

[kendenton]

Wow.  That would have sucked big time telling everyone I met you a day or two before you killed yourself.  So I'm glad you didn't.  Good job on staying alive.  

"and I was the last one to see him alive".  Not exactly a great dinner story, you're right.

[Formerly Known as Bigfoot]

"and I was the last one to see him alive".  Not exactly a great dinner story, you're right.

I had such a great time in the area where we met that my plan was to take off early yesterday AM for a two day trip.  Woke up and found something happened to my clutch in the day it was parked.  I couldn't fix it so no trip for me.  

[chornbe]

I keep going back and forth on trying a track day.  I would really like to expand my confidence with lean angles, but I honestly have no desire to go really fast on a track.  Working on 20-50mph corners sounds terrific, but at 80-100mph -  

Do the Parks class, then ride the twisties with guys you trust, but whom you need to chase.

Worked for me.

It's a good intermediate between ERC and Track Days.

[bogfro]

I had a similar experience a while back, with a piece of PIPE about the same diameter as that stick, just a little longer.  But I SAW the pipe before I ran over it, so I just ran wide (over the yellow) and swerved around it.  If there would have been a car, I might have been able to dodge the pipe on the inside side, but I can't say for sure.  In any case, whenever I've got the bike leaned over, not only do I try and look through the turn, but I also consciously scan the ground IN the turn for gravel and obstacles.  So I guess what I'm saying SHOULD have happened is that you saw the stick, and then swerved around it to one side or the other.  But since you didn't see it.....you're pretty much screwed.  Good save!!  

[Formerly Known as Bigfoot]

Do the Parks class, then ride the twisties with guys you trust, but whom you need to chase.

Worked for me.

It's a good intermediate between ERC and Track Days.

Got a web address for them?

Edit:  Is this them?  http://www.totalcontroltraining.net/index.html

[chornbe]

Yessir.

[trflyboy]

Were you wearing a helmet?

Not only a helmet, but a high vis jacket that can be seen from space!
Seriously, glad you're OK! Continuing to lean the bike over when things get squirrely is hard to do. But probably the best course of action. I remember my WV moment last year on the way to Indy. Remember the uphill right hander, when I was over so far and I hit the frame on the Road King? The backwheel kicked out to the left. I don't know how I didn't go wide on that one.
I think Chris's idea about the Lee Park is a great one. I know I would benefit from it.

[3banger]

It's easy to be a Monday morning quarterback, but as Keith Code writes, your natural instinct in those situations is usually wrong. Keep your eyes where you want to go, relax and stay on the gas. Easier said than done for sure...

I agree, however one way to correct your natural instinct to “Keep your eyes where you want to go, relax and stay on the gas.” is to make the situation common place and trail riding on a dirt bike will do just this.  Having obstacles bounce you around mid corner, pre corner, post corner is pretty common in the dirt and you will tune you natural instincts to accommodate.

That being said hitting that mid corner on the street bike might have me doing exactly you did.  Glad you and your bike came out unscathed.

[tjhess74]

ken, smoker, myself and his cousin were riding in west virginia saturday too.  the wet roads and patches of leaves in the middle of the decreasing radius turns were interesting.  

i feel your pain about the loss of control...on a right hander, my wet front tire lost traction and i had a fast tank slap to the right.  the front plowed just left of the DY and it started sticking again.  two miracles on this one:  i didnt go down (VERY close) and there wasnt oncoming traffic. there was alot of tree debris on the roads that day, presumably from the weather.

glad you kept it up and lived to tell the story!

[scottzilla]

Geez Ken, can't you even crash right?

I think you should never cross the dbl yellow.  That's a recipe for disaster.  A good rule to follow is: If the object is below your axle line, you will be ok (Probably).  OK, maybe not a rule but it's the first thing that pops in my mind when i'm about to run something over.
In this case, yer brain should have yelled "Big stick below axle line" and simply run it over.  

[CBRXXBLACKBIRD]

kendenton, I have done that similar thing but with a small rock kicking my tires out, no crashing yet other then a butt pucker from having the bike swing out from it.

[Justin]

You'd be amazed, but even with that "tree" you ran over your bike would have probably recovered traction. Of course, if you hit it with your front tire, it most likely created a small "tank-slapper" in the process and tried to stand the bike up. Scary stuff, but you need to fight that instinct to stand the bike up in these cases. You were lucky this time.

[chornbe]

This is where a good foundation of dirt riding comes in. I've actually found myself *NOT* going back to what I'd learned decades ago riding in the dirt and it bothers me... It's why I'd love to get another dirt bike and keep at it. Once I started riding street in the early 80s, I've pretty much turned my back on riding dirt. Now I just do it only occasionally or when I have to (like when we're touring Lake Placid and the pavement runs out or riding around lost in NorCal and neither I or my buddy Wayne want to be the pussy who says "we should turn back!" )

[steve.m]

sorry to derail, but i just thought of how hillarious it would be if those old subaru outback commercials with crocodile dundee chatting about the "off road" abilities of the car all ended with a few street motorcycles rolling by in the final shot  

oh and ken, glad you're ok and didn't take the truck head on.  

[2RR2NV]

I keep going back and forth on trying a track day.  I would really like to expand my confidence with lean angles, but I honestly have no desire to go really fast on a track.  Working on 20-50mph corners sounds terrific, but at 80-100mph -  

DO IT!!  worth it's weight in gold!!!  i have way more faith in what my tires can do since doing a few track days. and learned what NOT to do. i still don't haul butt on the streets, but it is nice to know i have plenty of room to lean and not have to worry.

[Justin]

oh and ken, glad you're ok and didn't take the truck head on.  

+1 .. that's what really matters, glad he'll have the chance to learn from this mistake.

[blackbeltrider]

Glad you came through OK.

Track days are worth it to find out how far your ride will lean. On dry, warm pavement, with appropriate tires (not talking race tires either, just good tread and not 4 or 5 years old), you should be able to lean until hard parts start dragging, without risk of overcoming your bike's capabilities. It is nice to know where these limitations are.

I will be waiting for the updated, after a few beers story version at a future STN gathering where you encountered a two foot diameter 30 ft long log in mid corner at 87 mph where you calmly wheelied the front wheel up and over and did a trials bike maneouvre with the belly pan and rear wheel to get the rest of the bike over it, set it back down and weaved masterfully in and around the oncoming army M1 tank brigade, before stopping to remove all the bark that built up in your chain to make bark soup cooked over an open fire on top of the double yellow in the middle of the road, while attractive, nubile young women fawned over your manliness.

Let me know when and where - I'll try to be there to here the tale. You might even get some money for the movie rights.  

[ajf]

I don't know how I didn't see the stick, but I didn't . . . One moment I'm nicely leaned over (for me) at maybe 40mph, the next moment the bike is moving around all over the place underneath me. My automatic instinct was to get the bike back under control, so I stood it up somewhat.  This of course made me go wide and head over the double yellow.  There was a clear shoulder on the other side so I picked a spot (by choice or by target fixation I really don't know) and headed for it.  

Second - I should not have crossed the DY.  Whether I intentionally did this because I saw the road was clear I really don't know.  If there was traffic there would I have just kept the lean or, depending on how much I got moved over, increased my lean, I don't know.

Unlike everyone else who's posted, I'm not so sure this was all that incorrect.  He didn't know what he hit, the bike was weaving all over the road, and the oncoming lane was clear enough to use to stabilize the bike.  What if it a tire had been cut?  Then his only chance of avoiding a crash was exactly what he did.  I think I would have used as much of the available road as I needed to get the bike under control, just as he did.  In an emergency, any rule can be broken.