Your next crash will be caused by...

[kendenton]

So, what worries you the most?

[dm_gsxr]

Considering how much I pay attention to my surroundings and how I manage when riding in unfamiliar areas, pretty much it'll be my own dumbassness that will be the problem. Not slowing down in the forest and tagging a deer (or moose!), not paying attention and having the butthead who's texting merge into me, or just taking a mountain corner a little too quickly and hitting a bicyclist who's half way in the street.

Carl

[Guy]

I voted road hazard, but it will probably be my own dumbass riding to fast for conditions. Come around a corner, and whooosh! Sand/gravel, and away we go, riding the asphalt to freedom.

[garry]

I voted dumbass.  It will most likely be a brain fart at the end of a long day when I'm mentally beat and still have 100 miles to go to get home. That's why I try to carry a 5 Hour energy drink in my tankbag at all times. It lifts the mental fog enough to be back on my game again and get home safely.

[jstark47]

A cager.  Unfortunately most of my riding is commuting.  Close calls are constant; someday the percentages won't swing my way and I'll get nicked.  

[dm_gsxr]

Even worse, I ride a bicycle to work (about 4.7 miles one way) and have had way too many close calls just this year. Friday some idiot woman looking down and to her right damn near ran into me.

Carl

[R Doug]

"my own dumbass"

I'll either miss something on the road (haven't yet, but...) or I'll be my own victim of a selfish aggressive move.  

[evilted]

Yeah, probably self-inflicted.

But then I like to think that when I'm "on" I'm hyper alert and very much in control of the bike -- if some cage blindsides me outta' nowhere such that I start doubting my ability to scan for, recognize, and avoid hazards, then I'd probably start rethinking riding.  I mean, assuming I am lucky enough to have that luxury after such an event.

[Windblown]

Living in a rural area I have more close encounters with wildlife and unexpected road hazards than cagers. If a road hazard or deer takes me out chances are pretty good it will be because I was being a dumbass.

[Mr.Black]

So, what worries you the most?

My need to be in front.

Even worse, I ride a bicycle to work (about 4.7 miles one way) and have had way too many close calls just this year. Friday some idiot woman looking down and to her right damn near ran into me.

Carl

This as well. I swear they think "meh, its only a bicycle."

[falconati]

Probably a cage.  A year ago I would have said 'my own dumb ass;' however I've really slowed down when I'm coming around an unfamiliar corner (I've seen a lot of gravel pop up at inopportune times).

[MK96xj]

I will forego answering for karma reasons

[UFO]

Invisible crap on the road can't be avoided.   Many of the other things listed can be avoided or minimized.

[kevin_stevens]

Five years ago I'd have said self-inflicted.

Since then, "distracted" driver has shot through the roof as my number one risk, not just for motorcycling in particular, but for life in general.  I consider the *most likely* proximate cause of my death to be struck by a distracted driver.  Five years ago it wasn't even on the radar behind the usual medical suspects.

KeS

[squeezer]

I will forego answering for karma reasons

Damn skippy. I will not put that out there for the cosmos to respond to.  

[Castaway]

It could be a deer out in the country, when I get out there. Till then it's gonna be the roads around here - the surface quality is unpredictable, from heavily rippled asphalt to knee deep potholes  

[Wanderer]

A cager. Probably a left turner.

I don't ride fast enough to be self inflicted, for some reason I rarely see roadside fauna in CO, and the roads are so perpetually dirty here that I assume EVERY corner has sand and dirt in the middle.  

[bubba zanetti]

Around here it is deer, elk or mountain sheep. There are just too many of them. Or a rockfall/avalanche. Lots of that too. I simply refuse to outride my lines of sight/braking threshold. I got away with that for years and much of that was pure luck.

[Phodius]

"So, what worries you the most?"

"What?  Me worry?"    
(Alfred E. Newman)

[Dan K]

Invisible oil or antifreeze on the road is my biggest scare.

- Dan

[chornbe]

So, what worries you the most?

Deer, far and away the scariest to me.

I seem to be really good at reading traffic and seeing it all coming from miles away, but man oh man... deer come out of the cracks in the pavement when I'm riding, it seems.  

[Zerosum]

I most worry about rear-ending someone while checking my blind spot when changing lanes.  

I was on I-95 this morning, doing about 50mph, went to change lanes, looked behind me, and looked forward again to see that every cars ahead of me was hitting their brakes.    I had to really swerve to avoid eating some bumper for breakfast.  I need to get fish-eye mirrors or something similar.

[Fourstring]

Picking my nose.

[AutoXer]

Critter.  Its a constant thing, leaving in the morning darkness, going around the curve up the hill and the deer are standing there or crossing.  Or the rabbits are running around at the top of the hill.  Or coming home and the squirrels are running up and down the hill or the groundhog is making his semi-regular crossing or the red fox runs just in front of me like yesterday ...

Did I mention this is MY DRIVEWAY???  

That's what happens when you live down in the woods.  But I'm betting that my wife takes out a deer first since she's almost hit one three times now ... something to do with already being in 3rd gear and accelerating, while not even a third of the way up the driveway ... I just can't wait to tell the insurance man that she hit a deer in the driveway.  In fact, I asked him if auto or homeowners covers that one since its in the driveway, and he thought a long time before he decided it was still auto.

jZ

[highside]

My next crash will almost certainly be a result of some poor choice or act of irresponsibility on my part.

I would have said "some idiot cager" back when i started riding, but strangely after 70 thousand miles I don't seem to have near as many close calls as I used too. I think skill and experience makes idiot cagers a lot less worrisome than they used to be. The idiotic things they do don't come as much of a suprise and they arent as scary as they were when I wasn't as good at avoiding them.

What hasn't changed much with experience is my own tendancy to want to ride way too fast, which is probably going to be the cause of my next crash.

[black hills]

My next crash will almost certainly be a result of some poor choice or act of irresponsibility on my part.

I would have said "some idiot cager" back when i started riding, but strangely after 70 thousand miles I don't seem to have near as many close calls as I used too. I think skill and experience makes idiot cagers a lot less worrisome than they used to be. The idiotic things they do don't come as much of a suprise and they arent as scary as they were when I wasn't as good at avoiding them.

What hasn't changed much with experience is my own tendancy to want to ride way too fast, which is probably going to be the cause of my next crash.

+1 once you realize it is all your own fault things get quite a bit safer

[nnjhawk02]

just happened

unknown roads / area, tired & looking for street sign.

bike ok - was going slow

no mas informacion to protect other parties

[Yankee Dog]

I voted road hazard, but it will probably be my own dumbass riding to fast for conditions. Come around a corner, and whooosh! Sand/gravel, and away we go, riding the asphalt to freedom.

BINGO

I tried to vote for both of them.  If you dont see a road hazard in time it is because you are outrunning your vision.  

Yankee Dog

[Orpheus]

I voted dumbass.  The rest you can only minimize and thus I don't worry about it.  I can't change it so why worry?  Just be prepared and deal with it when the time comes.  I worry about me, my riding and keeping myself safe.  Of course I worry that I won't be prepared so I practice as much as I can.

[MadOzodi]

So far, it has been my own dumbass that has caused my one lowslide and the idiotic clumsy non-moving drops.  I'm seriously considering flipping my eccentric chain adjuster and dropping my front forks accordingly.

[Mr.Black]

Shah looking at himself in the rear view mirror.

[Wanderer]

A cager. Probably a left turner.

I don't ride fast enough to be self inflicted, for some reason I rarely see roadside fauna in CO, and the roads are so perpetually dirty here that I assume EVERY corner has sand and dirt in the middle.  

Fuck.  I just realized I posted this almost exactly 24 hours before I crashed.  As sure as I was of the would-be cause, it turned out to be a combination of #'s 3 and 4.   dammit.  Did i jinx my self?

[spd2918]

A cunt on a cell phone.

[Kootenanny]

Deer.   Or other wildlife (lots of elk around here, too...and bears, moose, etc.  Lots of domestic dogs, too).

[Kootenanny]

I most worry about rear-ending someone while checking my blind spot when changing lanes.  

I was on I-95 this morning, doing about 50mph, went to change lanes, looked behind me, and looked forward again to see that every cars ahead of me was hitting their brakes.    I had to really swerve to avoid eating some bumper for breakfast. 

Been there, done that.  Only, I didn't swerve, and (with the brakes on the 1981 bike I was riding at the time--and it was current too!) I didn't stop in time, either.  Bumper for breakfast (or dinner, as it was early evening at the time).

I walked away, and, after some hasty roadside repairs (and some quick talking to convince the cop who showed up before I could get outta there that there was less than $200 damage and therefore he didn't need to write it up), was able to limp the bike home, too.

But my most vivid memory is of the asphalt coming straight at my face--WHAP!  It happens very fast!  The only damage was dead center on the chinbar of the FF helmet I was wearing...you ask why I won't ride without one?

[chosemerveilleux]

Deer.  They terrify me.  They're the one variable that you can't really account for.  You always expect the worst from cagers, so you ride defensively and give fools a wide berth.  I never ride 9/10's, so I typically have ample time to scan road surfaces and adjust.  I was just having this conversation with my buddy while out riding yesterday.  He said a cage, and I said deer.  He said cagers are stupid and I replied "yes, but they are predictably so.  you have to worry about them at intersections or left turns or drifting into your lane.  When's the last time you had a cager ride out of the woods and broadside you?"  Deer seem to pop out of the earth in front of me, or fall out of the sky.  Cagers (with perhaps the exception of being rear-ended) are like drunk assholes in a pub; How can you NOT be aware of them?  Deer are ninja that like to freeze in headlamps.