Very close call - almost crashed

[kendenton]

I had a big "moment" this past weekend during an otherwise great trip in WV.

We were heading eastbound on 82 from near 19, dry roads with very light traffic.  I was in the lead, with 2 friends following.  Pace was relaxed but "groovy", I was having a great time in the endless twisties of WV.  We had spent most of the day dodging sticks and patches of wet leaves, and this was our last loop before heading to the hotel.

I don't know how I didn't see the stick, but I didn't.  It was in the middle of a right-hander just after a slight crest.  Maybe the crest made it harder to see, don't know.  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.  

Just got to the other side of the opposite fog line and was working on stopping the bike in the narrow strip between the road and the ditch when I first noticed the pickup truck coming at me with his brakes locked and tires smoking.  I could have ditched the bike to the left into the grass but it looked like we weren't going to hit so I stood my ground.

He ended up stopping maybe 10 feet in front of me, then he drove around me and left.  Traffic cleared, I pulled back to the "right" shoulder and parked up to calm down.

After a few minutes I circled back to see what happened, and found this guy in the center of my lane:



Time for the post-mortem - what did I do wrong and what should I do next time?

First - don't hit a f*cking branch in the middle of a turn

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.  If there was opposing traffic next to me would I have target-fixated on them?

Thoughts, questions, admonishments, send them my way.  Time for some tough love.

[R Doug]

   That's not a branch, it's a small tree.  I'm happy to see your Perilli tires held up better than mine when forced to roll over a significant sized branch.  

[garry]

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...

[Thundergod]

Ride it through...the branch should have caused a fairly large "jump" in your line. But keep at it, no change in the line, just as if you hit a pothole- ride through and maintain.

One time I hit a cattle-guard which some brainstorming engineer put in the MIDDLE of the apex of a turn. Roads were slick from a recent rain, 2up with full packs....we slid 3 feet to the right....then caught traction again...and continued on. Nerve racking- scary, but gone.

[Rincewind]

Glad you didn't crash Ken.  It's hard to think about maintaing your lean when going over obstacles like that, but it's what you have to do.  Standin it up or crossing the center line should always be avoided.  From reading your tire, you probably had plenty of lean left to use.  Take care.

[Bogie]

I'm happy to see your Perilli tires held up better than mine when forced to roll over a significant sized branch.  

I dunno,,,that tire looks flat!

[atadaskew]

None of this would have happened if you had a clean chain.

[kendenton]

Glad you didn't crash Ken.  It's hard to think about maintaing your lean when going over obstacles like that, but it's what you have to do.  Standin it up or crossing the center line should always be avoided.  From reading your tire, you probably had plenty of lean left to use.  Take care.

"Hello.  My name is Ken and I have chicken strips."

I'm sure I had plenty of lean left, but my brain ignored that in the heat of the moment.  I've had a couple times where a decreasing radius turn has gotten me by surprise and I had to lean more than I'm comfortable with, but I guess that's still a somewhat controlled situation.  With the bike (seemingly) bouncing around I think I just freaked.  Bad, bad, bad.

[JReazor]

Holy crap Ken. I'm glad you came out of it ok.

Easier said then done but yeah, keep it leaned over and ride it out. I don't know what kind of line you ride but it might be worth looking at. You might have been able to set up for a better sight line even if it wasn't the most efficient way through the corner.

[MK96xj]

Your still alive so: Ken 1 - branch 0

It is very hard to overcome your instincts to stand it up and it takes a lot of puckers to become comfortable staying the line which is an oxymoron.  

The alternative to this situation could have been:
A:  you held the line and rode it through
B: hitting the wood could have disrupted your path of travel and upset your bike causing you to hit the truck.

[Justin]

If you had a car tire none of this would have happened.

[rgbeard]

If you'd have been on a Harley, with 55 buddies doing 10-under it wouldn't have happened.

[kendenton]

If you had a car tire none of this would have happened.

 

[county]

Were you wearing a helmet?

[garry]

I've had a couple times where a decreasing radius turn has gotten me by surprise and I had to lean more than I'm comfortable with, but I guess that's still a somewhat controlled situation.

A couple or three instructional track days with Team ProMotion would help with that. ART Basic I and ART Basic II are good courses. Money well spent.

[kendenton]

Were you wearing a helmet?

Yes, but I was running full synthetic.

[atadaskew]

If you'd have been on a Harley, with 55 buddies doing 10-under it wouldn't have happened.

'tis true.  The tsunami like effect of the incoming vibrations would have cleared all debris from the road.

[JonS]

If you'd have been on a Harley, with 55 buddies doing 10-under it wouldn't have happened.

Yeah, one of the guys ahead of you would have hit the wood. End of that problem.

If you were on the MTS, which I assume you were, trusting the bike to recover it's composure would probably have worked. It doesn't sound like you were going excessively fast.

[M.Brane]

One time I hit a cattle-guard which some brainstorming engineer put in the MIDDLE of the apex of a turn. Roads were slick from a recent rain, 2up with full packs....we slid 3 feet to the right....then caught traction again...and continued on. Nerve racking- scary, but gone.

 Been there, done that only not 2-up, and it was a right-hander. Nearly had to stop to pull my shorts out of my ass after that one.

"Hello.  My name is Ken and I have chicken strips."

I'm sure I had plenty of lean left, but my brain ignored that in the heat of the moment.  I've had a couple times where a decreasing radius turn has gotten me by surprise and I had to lean more than I'm comfortable with, but I guess that's still a somewhat controlled situation.  With the bike (seemingly) bouncing around I think I just freaked.  Bad, bad, bad.

 One thing I've been working on lately is intentionally touching down pegs. It's much easier to do on the GTS than my old Ninja, and it's nice to know just how far you can go before you start hitting hard parts.

[kendenton]

A couple or three instructional track days with Team ProMotion would help with that. ART Basic I and ART Basic II are good courses. Money well spent.

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 -