Binning sucks! Leaves suck!

[The Baron]

Sorry to hear about your off and I hope you feel better and not worse today.

Well now you had got the drop the bike thing mastered you can now practice on the keeping it upright thing.

It's a good chance to practice the fixing the bike thing too.

[Tigadee]

Sorry to hear about your off and I hope you feel better and not worse today.

Thanks. I called MAF to arrest the guilty trees for shedding their leaves and negligently causing my fall, but then a change of heart and I decided to let bygones be bygones... That and the laughter at the other end of the phone.

Well now you had got the drop the bike thing mastered you can now practice on the keeping it upright thing.

Yes, you're right. But one always needs to practice to ensure one is in top binning form...

It's a good chance to practice the fixing the bike thing too.

Will give that a go... While I highly recommend George from MC Docs and can say he's always worth every cent for his service, I don't want to bother him for such a trivial small job - unless I screw it up!

[jellywrestler]

seriously, wait until you hit a hard corner on a rural road, munted surface, crap camber, uneven radius, traveling way to fast (cause thats generally how we travel), you suck your arse up into your stomach as you hit the apex thinking fuck, here we go, at that point you notice the cocky has had 400 cows walk across it so its covered in shit, and an inch of rotten leaves, and its in shadow so the entire area is fuckin wet....

at night time

[george formby]

Nope, That was just an example of what can be found on the road, and it was posted simply to illustrate how the stakes can be raised. A car park is all nice and well but the real world is a wholee lot harsher.

I can only speak from experience and I was on dirt bikes since I was a kid, and on the road time and time again things have happened faster then I can think and the skills that kept me upright in the dirt have kept me upright on the road.

Sure do as many courses as you like (I fully agree with them, I should do some, Training is a massive positive) but you can also consider that real world riding in extreme circumstances is invaluable.

As an example, get on a nasty dirty bike, find a gravel road that winds up and down a hill, ride that fucker as hard as you can for a couple of hours, then gauge what happens when you are on a 1000cc road bike, come hard into a corner and hit some gravel.

experience will save your life.

Oh the joys of rear wheel steering. Bit harder w clip ons though.

The op is the 3rd person I know who has succumbed to treacherous pine needles lately. Pine trees at side of road = potential slippiness.

[Usarka]

I've spent 8 years on the dirt. I must be super unlucky, broken 3 bones =(

Did you get run over?

[p.dath]

I thought I'd go today to the nearby car park where I practised so often right after I got my Learners to do some basic refreshers. I arrive and start my manouveres of a figure 8 and successfully completed half when my front wheel skidded out from under me and down I went.

Pain is a great instructor! If your keen some time come along to NASS for some free lessons.
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/wiki/Nort..._Street_Skills

Im seriously thinking that new riders need to spend a year on the dirt.

You learn to avoid crashing constantly, and when you do crash, face full of dirt and if your really unlucky some bruising.

If the riders I know who have been hurt bad - it's usually the dirt riders. Usually it's rider meets tree. Then its rider going over a jump or over a bank and finding they have a lot more "air" than expected, and landing badly.

But having said that, I'd love to get some dirt experience to better fill out my skills.

[newhere]

I thought I'd go today to the nearby car park where I practised so often right after I got my Learners to do some basic refreshers. I arrive and start my manouveres of a figure 8 and successfully completed half when my front wheel skidded out from under me and down I went.

It's a weird thing but as I went down in slow motion (as most of you know that sequence well at some time or rather), my mind immediately went through "What's happening?" to "Oh, I'm skidding and falling..." to "Ah, there's the reason why, all those pine needle leaves blown down on to the road by the heavy winds recently."

When I got up, my left wrist hurt and the left knee area of my jeans were scraped but not torn (luckily I was wearing knee guards underneath, my cordura armoured jacket and mc boots). The bike had slid a little, but doesn't look too bad.

No scratches I could see... Whew! Try to take the bike to neutral and "Where's the gear lever?"

Fark! The foot peg bracket broke! Luckily the bike was still on 1st gear, so I limped back to base and put a pack of ice on my wrist. Dammit! Nature strikes back! I'm trying to blame the leaves but of course it's my own stupidity for not remembering about the potential danger of leaves or other such material dumped on the tarmac in the aftermath of nature... *sigh*

Opps, gutted for ya but good to hear you are all fine and the bike is fixable

[Tigadee]

Thanks. Bike got fixed today and I was on the road the next minute!

The shakes are gone and I got MY fix of the wind in my face, vibes between my legs and... bees on my visor?! Great, had to ride through a swarm of bees on the way home!

Splattered my visor good and most of my jacket too, but luckily no stings and no bee inside my helmet! Ugh!

Still, even that didn't wipe the grin off my face!

[allycatz]

Hey at least you were moving....I dropped my Scorpio a few weeks back just sitting there taking advice from the other half and bugger me next minute I'm on the ground. Other half picks up the bike, picking off bits of grass and dirt ( was a a big field) muttering things about the bloody resale value....never mind moi on the ground lol! Had to be the only time I din't have my boots on and ended up with very large lump on shin bone

[Tigadee]

...I dropped my Scorpio a few weeks back just sitting there taking advice from the other half and bugger me next minute I'm on the ground.

Ha! Ha! Hope the bike is OK...

Had to be the only time I din't have my boots on and ended up with very large lump on shin bone

Any time I start feeling lazy about putting my safety gear on, scenarios like that pop into my mind and I gain new enthusiasm...

[nzspokes]

So your coming to SASS this week then?

[Tigadee]

Yessir!

[nzspokes]

Sweet, check the thread for the new easier to find meet point.

[sgtp]

You all need to harden the feck up. I binned yesterday while crossing the roadworks at the top of the rimutaka hill. The wind gust swept me over while sliding sideways on the gravel section. I picked myself up, dusted myself off, bent the gear lever back into shape, had to bump-start the bike because the battery died from cranking it too long, then finished my 90km commute to welly, worked 8 hrs, then did the same ride home that night where I spent 3 hours persuading the center stand back to the correct shape using a hammer and floorjack........kids these days, sheesh.

[Tigadee]

Don't you know? Kids these days have marshmallow for muscles and shit for...