Complacency and riding

[best]

Seems being complacent in life towards remaining clean and sober isn’t the only place we need worry about.
Complacent when on two wheels on the highway… OUCH!

Warning warning warning (mostly to self) Stay OFF the front brake on wet roads.

Went down today on the way home from work.
Highway ride from work to home. Lots of traffic. Plenty of space between me and the cage ahead. Enough space between me and the cage behind me. Things is though…
When people feel they need to go from 50 to 10 for no reason at all… (police car in the rest area off the roadway) A turn in the road, down hill, with big left to right grade as well. Road was wet and because of the road grade… was even more wet on the down slope. Hit the brakes…front locks up and bike starts to slide sideways. Release the brakes and start seeing the rear of the cage ahead getting closer very fast.
Hit the brakes a second time… don’t feel myself slowing at all as I start to go sideways again. Release and once more, as I put my foot down to stop the falling as the front locks up again. GREAT traction with the foot as my foot pulls back as the bike comes down on its side. Foot behind me. Knee is next to catch the ground, then hip, then ribs, then shoulder, then head. Well the bike stopped Argghh! Guy jumps out of his truck to be sure I am ok. Helps lift the bike as I move to the side of the road. Two Plymouth caravans… a lady in each stop to offer assistance and be sure I am ok. The other 50 or so cars just speed on in their rush to work.
Both the bike and me are about the same… a scratch here a bump here but both seem to be working ok. Sore finger, sore rib cage, sore neck, and sore ankle… nothing seems to be broken. Helmet free riding? A choice for all but one I am glad that this day I had mine on.
With the way my body twisted as it hit the ground along with the bike… my ankle should be busted and my leg as well I would think. For sure my head if helmet free would be damaged *though who could tell *LOL*
Any crash we are able to walk away from I am told is good.
As the bike restarted my thought was… any crash I can get back on the horse and ride away from is great. Also doesn't require calling home to the ER nurse wife as I need ask for a ride home.

Notes to self...
stay off the front brake, repeat … stay off the front brake
if you must ride…don’t get complacent
Remember this day as one more time I have been protected by the Lord and
with each remembrance give Him thanks.

Wow best, close call!

Glad you made it thru ok. Live to ride another day.

[Gooch]

Read this with trepidation.... I'm relieved to hear it's just bumps and bruises..

That little discussion at the other place about front versus rear braking .. well I'm a firm believer in the physics of the front brake having the advantage in producing traction as the inertia rolls forward when the front's applied. I learned the hard way riding with rear drum brakes only, that locking the back up isn't any good either. Even rear wheel skidding in a straight line will tend to set a slideways skid up. Then it's off/on as steering recovery will allow increasing your stop distance by 10's of yards at speed.

Front brake for me coupled with slight rearbrake usage and rapid downshifting have always been the best solution for those panic stopping cages. Also I try to always consider another probability of escape. Learn to look for the bike sized hole that means you can extend your rapid shutdown distance.

At least you have a bunch of azzbag doorslammers to slightly justify your incident.

My sponsor says the complacency is what set him up for the fall as well. It's hard to remain vigilant doing the thing that brings so much serenity.

I'm guilty of letting my mind wander but I don't have a daily commute in the bumper to bumper traffic to get used to. When I go into the city I tend to ride like a paranoid/lunatic perhaps a little more aggressive ( but certain that everyone is out to get me) than necessary for 2 reasons. When I ride hard I pay attention and imagine that I am either intimidating the cager or pissing him off. either way they know I'm there. With the drag pipes on that Evo a throttle twitch sets off the car alarms, shuts down the streetlights and even punches through the bassheads bumpety bump enough to make me higher profile. In a way that may be a bad thing. Who knows some gang banger may bust a cap at me because i interrupted his urban ballad or I may be the camel that breaks the straw for some tight collared 9 to 5er that has had his fill of deadlines and bored of directors screaming do more with less.

More of the dilemmas of being a rider in recovery.. I have to compensate my survival instincts with the introspection of practicing spiritual principles.

Zen and the art of motorcycling just doesn't seem appropriate for rush hour.

I'm real glad to hear you got back on the horse.. after all you owe me a cup of coffee.

[BillJ]

Glad you came through relatively undamaged, Best. Close calls (in sobriety and while riding) are good reminders to get back to basics.

My shovelhead has mechanical brakes front and rear, so I've learned to leave beaucoup distance between me and the traffic in front of me. I know, from experience, it's easy to lock that rear brake and slide. No fun there!

My Beemer has non-ABS disc brakes, front and rear, with toss-you-over-the-handlebars stoppage. I can be a little more aggressive in traffic, but still have to be careful. Unless I apply the brakes very smoothly, it's like trying to stay on a bucking bronco! Yee-haw!

Y'all be careful out there!

[degadar]

Glad you're ok Best. I've been thinking about getting back on a bike for a while now... Im a bit partial to my 2 and a half tons of iron with a wheel at each corner though.

Deg.

[BillJ]

Originally Posted by degadar

Im a bit partial to my 2 and a half tons of iron with a wheel at each corner though.

Aw, where's the fun in that? As a friend of mine always says: "Four wheels move the body; two wheels move the soul!"

[tramp]

Glad you are OK Best. That wet asphalt can be tricky no matter what.
I hit the front binders too hard in the rain once back in the day, after way too many beers,all by my lonesome, not a car in sight. I went down at a RR crossing, slid across the tracks, down a slight grade for about 60 feet, into a chainlink fence. Ran home on 1 plug, VIA the liqour store for a fifth of schnapps to numb the gravel scrubbing ritual.

Bill, if you have juice drums front and rear you can run an early 70's proportioning valve off of a goose, they were adjustable, so you can fine tune the psi front and rear. i ran one on the rear MC.
I run a disc rear and mechanical drum front, works ok for me but my bike only weighs about 400lbs soakin wet.

[BillJ]

Tramp, these are genuine Harley mechanicals, front and rear. Been running 'em since 1980, and I love 'em! Adjust 'em once, check the linkage every now and then, and run 'em 'til the linings wear out. I actually prefer 'em to discs!


24 years ago...


...and today!

[degadar]

Originally Posted by BillJ

Aw, where's the fun in that? As a friend of mine always says: "Four wheels move the body; two wheels move the soul!"

Can I leave my soul somewhere safe and still use a bike to move the body around?

[Gooch]

Originally Posted by degadar

Can I leave my soul somewhere safe and still use a bike to move the body around?

:shrug:

They do have a box to leave your body in a safe place while your soul moves around freely.. they call them coffins...

[BillJ]

Originally Posted by degadar

Can I leave my soul somewhere safe and still use a bike to move the body around?

Why would you want to do that? Don't you think your soul would enjoy the ride?

And, BTW, there is no safety in this life. That's one of the reasons we ride!

[best]

I thank you all for the replies.

degadar

Driving through Boston I feel safer on 2 wheels then I do in the 4x4 *LOL*
As Gooch said... bike sized holes and letting them know I am there at times does wonders.

Bill
same bike and same size pants...24 years?
Ok what is the secret *LOL* (grumbles to self...no mcdonalds would do it for me)

Nice looking bikes

Gooch
Yes that coffee I owe still comes in my thoughts and reminds me...I owe it *LOL*
Rear break skid I can handle for the most part. That honda of 20 years ago didn't have a front brake. Well it did but it didn't have a cable or grip *LOL*
Disc front grabs fast and stops me fast but not on wet roads. When I play the rear and use the front as needed... yes things work as they should. weight forward and traction aplied thus giving 75% of stopping power. When I did it right, I was able to stop on a light coating of sanded highway.

seems I was complacent in my thoughts. Traffic moving along. Rain not so heavy. 3 miles to my exit. I reacted rather then acted to the situation I think. An after thought of this morning ( 4 days later) the little bike sized holes. Can't stop? squeeze between.
As Bill said... Close calls (in sobriety and while riding) are good reminders to get back to basics. I hope that the lessons I learn these days stick a little better then they did when I was..24 years ago *LOL*

[Dutch]

I commute in heavy traffic also. So I guess you're be back at it. LOL!

[BillJ]

Originally Posted by best

same bike and same size pants...24 years?
Ok what is the secret *LOL* (grumbles to self...no mcdonalds would do it for me)

Nice looking bikes

The secret is that I climb bilboards for a living, or did, anyway, before I took that tumble back in July. :doh: That physical activity, and substituting Subway sandwiches for fast-food burgers a couple times a week, work like a champ. I'm actually an inch smaller in the waist than I was when that first pic was taken!

And thanks. I like the bikes, too!