I stuffed up today, nearly a head on...

[Nasty]

Hey I have gotten over it, but I did relive it in my minds several times last night.

I get that ... thing is to when on the road remember the lessons you learned ... glad you are ok

[jrandom]

My method is straight back upright, heavy on the brakes, and then straight back down again.

Mm. While that approach is instinctive for most folk, it's amazing how hard most motorcycles can turn under brakes (with a warm front tyre).

But it takes a bit of practice to learn how to do that. However, it'll save your arse much betterer than braking in a straight line when you should be turning.

Trackdays trackdays trackdays!

[rocketman1]

blahblahblahblahblahblahtalktalktalktalktalktalkta lktalktalktalk
talktalktalktalktalktalktalktalktalktalktalkblahbl ahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblah
blahblah..

Dood, PUSH ON THE FUCKING BARS. DO IT OR DIE.

Dont fiddle with the gears or complain that you are not "set up right" - Just steer with the bars please. Do it fast! The bike will corner a lot harder than you think.

doya think?

The real question is, What are you going to DO about it? You panicced and froze. You either have to train it out, or slow down. Either way, you need to decide quick, while the picture is clear in your mind. In a weeks' time you will have shrugged it off.


Steve

Steve, You sound like me telling someone else, I do know how to corner, I dont have much leather on the sides of my boots and skinny chicken strips.
I guess for a second I admit I did could only focus on the car, the fact remains when you think that you gonna impact, human nature tells you to lessen the impact with braking, and I dont think that will change.
Yes the countersteering is all good and that is the way I steer, but there is a point when countersteering / time / speed / impact all flash through your head , no time to countersteer, braking is about all you have, with an attempt at countersteering at the same time. hard to explain dude in words. I hope you never find yourself in that situation, But I agree with your comments.

Yes I got over it pretty quick, the rest of trip home was, nice, good lean angles and sweeping corners, just like a thousand before, except ONE.

[oldrider]

I bet you haven't done many trackdays (if any).

www.motott.co.nz

Get into it, rocketman1. When luck runs out, track time saves lives. And you just used up your luck.

Tracks and track days have their benefits, true but.........

Funny thing about track days, they don't restrict you to half the track and they don't provide traffic coming the other way out of blind corners!

Horses for courses, as they say!

[jrandom]

Funny thing about track days, they don't restrict you to half the track and they don't provide traffic coming the other way out of blind corners!

Funny how everyone who hasn't done trackdays says that.

Thing is, it's a non sequitur.

What trackdays teach you is the physics of controlling a motorcycle. Riding a bike is an acquired motor skill, like playing the piano.

Riding on the road is the equivalent of a concert-hall recital; if you fuck up, there are no second chances. Riding on the track is like practice time at home; you can take it slowly and repeat bits over and over until you can play them as quickly and as accurately as you need to.

F'rinstance, it's almost impossible to safely learn on the road how to turn and brake hard at the same time. On the track, you can do the same corner over and over again in a safe environment, pushing a little harder each time and feeling how the bike responds.

Then, in a one-off situation on the road like RM1 had here, you can pull out your acquired motor skills and what you've learned about your bike's handling, and get yourself out of danger without breaking a sweat.

[erik]

Well, I must admit I much prefer to read this sort of story than the "I binned it" type. You have learned a good lesson, and as a result you will almost certainly not make the same mistake again. Good riding in the future, you will be a survivor.

Same with me, I much prefer to read a post like this!

But I think even if you analyse the incident and learn from it, it is all too easy for the same thing to happen again. All it takes is, like the OP said, a momentary lapse in concentration at the wrong place.
I think trying to be aware of your mental state, alertness, concentration etc while riding, keeping your focus on the road and adjusting your speed to suit is about all you can do to avoid such lapses.

[scumdog]

Funny how everyone who hasn't done trackdays says that.

Thing is, it's a non sequitur.

What trackdays teach you is the physics of controlling a motorcycle. Riding a bike is an acquired motor skill, like playing the piano.

Riding on the road is the equivalent of a concert-hall recital; if you fuck up, there are no second chances. Riding on the track is like practice time at home; you can take it slowly and repeat bits over and over until you can play them as quickly and as accurately as you need to.

F'rinstance, it's almost impossible to safely learn on the road how to turn and brake hard at the same time. On the track, you can do the same corner over and over again in a safe environment, pushing a little harder each time and feeling how the bike responds.

Then, in a one-off situation on the road like RM1 had here, you can pull out your acquired motor skills and what you've learned about your bike's handling, and get yourself out of danger without breaking a sweat.

Hmm, I see your point but being one of those who've not done a track-day I'll say that it is one thing to learn skills on a track (going around a familiar lay-out and surface) and a different thing to run into an unexpected decreasing radius corner on an unfamiliar road with a vehicle approaching while you're trying to figure it all out....

Sorta why the AOS train under pressure using Simunition etc wearing/carrying the gear they will have with them on the day - and don't just stand at the range casually loading and taking repetitive aimed shots at a fixed target....

Not baggin' ya dude but putting in another perspective.

And yeah, I appreciate any practice has got to be good.

[p.dath]

Lets look at this experience in a different light.

I've just been reading a Keith Code book. In the begginning he says don't asses what you are doing wrong or beat yourself up because things didn't go how you thought they should have. Instead assess what you could have done better - so you do it better next time.

So well done on realising you could have completed this corner better, and taking the time to go over it in your head, and deciding on how you would handle it better next time.

ps. It's called a learning experience.

[Ixion]

First time it's happened ? Welcome to the club

It won't be the last , if you keep riding. No matter how expereinced everyone stuffs up sooner or later.

What counts is how you deal with it

Just a question though? If that car HADN'T been there, would you have been as alarmed? Or just carried on?

I see too many riders take a blase approach to crossing the centre line. Not saying you do, just pointing out that stuffing up a corner when there ISN'T oncoming is just as big a stuff up.

I have (many times) experienced that time dilation effect. It's an adrenaline survival thing. For me, anyway, accompanied by an icy calmness (which normally I am NOT).

(I'm not an advocate of trackdays BTW. Never heard of a track day where they had oncoming traffic).

[MSTRS:Me]

I have (many times) experienced that time dilation effect. It's an adrenaline survival thing. For me, anyway, accompanied by an icy calmness (which normally I am NOT).

Yep. Adrenalin floods the body, giving (superhuman) strength to muscles, and speeding-up your cognitive processing and reaction times. Also known as the fight or flight response. A side effect is that everything around you seems to happen more slowly, but you haven't changed.
Opposite of what happens when stoned on dak...apparently

[Motu]

Yeah,having a car right in your escape road really limits your options.Another option is the dirt bike method - push the bike down,the opposite of all the sportsbike theories.I did this a couple or more times today when I was running wide in a daydream.

[vtec]

Hmm, I see your point but being one of those who've not done a track-day I'll say that it is one thing to learn skills on a track (going around a familiar lay-out and surface) and a different thing to run into an unexpected decreasing radius corner on an unfamiliar road with a vehicle approaching while you're trying to figure it all out....

Sorta why the AOS train under pressure using Simunition etc wearing/carrying the gear they will have with them on the day - and don't just stand at the range casually loading and taking repetitive aimed shots at a fixed target....

Not baggin' ya dude but putting in another perspective.

And yeah, I appreciate any practice has got to be good.

You misunderstood JRandoms post. He was saying that track time gives you more confidence and knowledge of the limits of your bike so that the High Pressure situation that you refer to becomes only a medium to low pressure situation, if you learn how much braking you can apply in a corner, then you will find that on the road to get out of situations like this one you really only need a fraction of it. Too much braking stands the bike up(or lowsides it) and you go straight into the wrong side of the road, only practicing hard riding on a track can provide this kind of cohesion with ones motorcycle.

I often come into tightening corners that I don't always expect and my track experience has given me the ability to react really well to them, you can brush off speed amazingly quickly with the bike at full lean and applying suitable front braking, instantly changing your end trajectory as soon as you start applying the forces. To clarify, the instant you touch the brakes you change where you are going to end up, too much = bad, too little also = bad.

Further to this, I've changed my riding style significantly in the last year or two. If i'm going at a speed at all close to where I could get in trouble, I get my body over on the bike ready for the possibility of the corner tightening up, as i've found you can apply more brakes with the bike more upright and still be going round the corner well if you are using your body weight to move the COG over, further to this the more upright the tyre is in a corner the less skew effect the rubber has on the ground. If you are just cruising and getting this wrong, it's totally a failure in concentration.

[george formby]

I know exacary how you must feel. Now & again my attention wanders & I give myself a scare. Nowadays if I don't feel on the ball I don't ride. A lapse on a bike is always heart in mouth stuff, in a car it's more oh that was dum.
As long as I still have those inch perfect, swoop like a bird days I won't worry too much, just trust my instincts. Hope you have a good swoop next ride.

[george formby]

Further to this, I've changed my riding style significantly in the last year or two. If i'm going at a speed at all close to where I could get in trouble, I get my body over on the bike ready for the possibility of the corner tightening up, as i've found you can apply more brakes with the bike more upright and still be going round the corner well if you are using your body weight to move the COG over, further to this the more upright the tyre is in a corner the less skew effect the rubber has on the ground. If you are just cruising and getting this wrong, it's totally a failure in concentration.[/QUOTE

The bit above was posted by another rider, I made a balls of using the quote doo hickey....

Funny you should say that. I have started using my body weight more in recent years too, never been on a race track though & I don't ride a sports bike. A lot of roads round here have a lot of hazards on the surface & using them too, moving over on the seat & weighting the pegs properly gives me less lean for the same speed & a much more stable reaction from the bike when I have to touch the brakes or change my line mid corner. I ain't trying to emulate Rossi, just balance my bike. I only really move 1/2 a buttock width but it helps a lot.

[george formby]

I know exacary how you must feel. Now & again my attention wanders & I give myself a scare. Nowadays if I don't feel on the ball I don't ride. A lapse on a bike is always heart in mouth stuff, in a car it's more oh that was dum.
As long as I still have those inch perfect, swoop like a bird days I won't worry too much, just trust my instincts. Hope you have a good swoop next ride.