Scared sh**tless

[Rajol]

Hi

I've driven 7000km on my bike from the day I bought it,

I don't know how or why the hell I'm alive today, (especially after driving over NZ in the bloody rain from Auckland to welly and Picton to Dunedin in 1 day trips ALSO IN THE FREEZING RAIN, WITHOUT COMING OFF, GOING AT 100+km/hr)

But I came off my bike for the first time in Dunedin a couple weeks ago, I was at the top of a place called Pine hill at a mates for dinner, and it was raining, ~ 10pm at night

On the way back home, i was going about 40 right, and was going around a 20 degree curve in the road.

I remember braking A LITTLE

and JESUS christ

I remember it swiveling around the back and stuff, I must've reacted wrong or something but hell
came off it, grinded along the right side of the ground, snapped the right foot pedal which took most the impact thank god.

bike is still in the shop, was oil in the air filter or something and got the headlight / foot pedal fixed.


PROBLEM IS IM SCARED SH*TLESS to ever ride that thing in the rain again...

EVEN IN my GOD DAMN CAR
I'm pulling up to an intersection with a little voice in my head going, OH HELL YOU'RE GONNA FALL THE FU&K OFF
in a bloody car, going downhill in the rain.

Anyway lost all confidence in the rain for some reason

during dry conditions I'm fine/lunatic
but in rain i'm super cautious.

don't know if it's a good thing or not.

Seriously don't know how I survived riding from Christchurch to Dunedin, leaving at 9pm in the pouring rain without any weather protecting gear on, not the least dying from the crazy wind, rain and possible hypothermia going at 100km/hr+ trying to get back to Dunedin.
especially when I came off at ~ 40km/hr going around a small bloody curve in Dunedin.

gives me shivers thinking about it.

[Spazman727]

Just ride. Get back on the horse that threw you off type thing. It's probably good to be reasonably cautious in the wet, but don't go too far. Obviously you're experienced riding in the rain, so just remember how you used to handle it.

[Rajol]

Just ride. Get back on the horse that threw you off type thing. It's probably good to be reasonably cautious in the wet, but don't go too far. Obviously you're experienced riding in the rain, so just remember how you used to handle it.

I think it was because I was riding straight from picton to dunedin, without having to stop.

braking/accelerating is what causes you to wobble and tip,

come to think of it, I've ridden in the rain A LOT around town.


Will think of getting insurance and will get back on once it's fixed

[Gremlin]

Go for some rider training with a good provider and while I thought it was obvious... wear good gear that protects you, ie, waterproof and armoured.

It will keep your body in better condition, making you much safer, better concentration etc.

[quallman1234]

Still on the standard tyres? Thats probabaly half your problem. Esp being not so common brand they probabaly have pieces of shit standard.
I've ridden tyres which just don't work in the wet and a semi mild speed.

Investigate.

[YellowDog]

Before you can get your confidence back, you first need to get your head around what actually happened to you, so that you can look out for the same and reduce the chance of the same happening to you again.

In my case, my inexplicable fall was down to my tyres being cold due to the heavy traffic on the 400 metre steatch of road that usually warms my tyres.

Was it a patch of diesel, a stupidly placed metal services hole cover, road surface damage masked by the rain, loose stones etc. etc.....

Or maybe it was just pilot error ?

If you can get your head around what happened to you, then you will start to feel a lot safer and eventually your confidence will return

Good luck.

[SMOKEU]

The key to riding safely is to try and make all your movements as smooth as possible. See if you can get some decent tyres like Sport Demons for your bike.

[oneofsix]

do some rider training and apart from anything else it is likely to clue you into what went wrong. At a guess I would say when you braked at low speed, on a corner, in the wet you used the front brake, possibly front only, this caused your front wheel to slide out from under you. The rear brake is there for a reason and one of the ACC type training courses, as opposed to a track day which I haven't done, will show you why. Also track riders don't seem to have much use for a back brake .

[Headbanger]

Can I add my uninformed opinion?

Chill the fuck out, Get back on the bike when (if) you feel like it and consider yourself ready to do so.

If thats never, then so be it, In some cases not doing shit is the better option.



Not that I know shit, I'm that dumb I tend to ride away from any crash no matter how bad it was or what medical treatment I should be seeking.

[MD]

Forget about the falling off. BUY WET WEATHER GEAR!
Why would you even contemplate such trips without any rain protective clothing? Once you get wet, you get cold and then it is a miserable downward spiral.

[unstuck]

Sounds like you need a whole lot more common sense to me, attempting these long trips, unprepared for the weather and all that stuff. Stay away from the bike until you get a few clues.

[rossirep]

less bitching more riding.. and wear the right gear for fuck sake.. oh yeah and less bitching..!!!

[iYRe]

To be honest.. there is nothing wrong with a bit of wet weather paranoia..

I've been really cautious lately.., and STILL had the back slide out and stuff.. (and when I say cautious, I mean holding up the traffic kinda cautious).

At this time of year the roads seem to get particularly slippery, I think its something to do with a particular combination of heating, cooling, humidity and rain.

But what most of these other guys say is true too.. get wet weather gear.. or at least proper riding gear that's waterproof (www.1tonne.co.nz or CNELL on trademe will get you some cheap, reliable, warm and waterproof gear - less than 300 for a pair of pants and a jacket).

I find, in my old age, that if something happens I do lose a bit of confidence, and I just have to concentrate a bit more, suss out what happened, and remember to ride within your ability to deal with crap that happens. I mean, you can get undone by fairly random stuff.. I was riding with a mate and he was in front, I saw his bike twitch a bit on a corner, and I thought, hell I didnt think his bike was that grunty.. so I angled my line through the corner so I was able to remain a bit more "upright", and I got a bit of a tank slapper going.. but it was controllable. If I hadnt changed my line, I would have been off in the ditch. There was a patch of oil on the road that we couldnt see because of the (pissing down) rain at the time. Another time I was going through a roundabout, accelerated a little bit too hard in a low gear, when the car in front of me jammed on the brakes. Now.. in the dry I would have been ok, but I made the mistake of jamming the throttle off, and the engine braking just locked up the back wheel - it was freshly raining for the first time in ages. Fortunately I was still going slow, and straightish and had room to manoever..

Each time I was a bit paranoid for awhile, but I reflected on it (and in the case of the tank slapper my mate and I went back and had a look). But once I figured out my errors, or that it wasnt my fault and I had done a reasonable job of anticipating and mitigating, confidence came back and I ride better for it.

[oldrider]

Empty all that negative shit out of your head and make wet roads your friend ffs you were beaten before you got onto the bike!

[sinfull]

Welcome to the real world !

Where diesel/oil exists on roads and highsides/lowsides happen !

Some ppl revel in going sideways at 40 kph, but they usually have MX experience lol

The comment you made about being up on pine hill, sort of hints to the fact it could be steep and trucks might use the road to..... mabey truck pine out ?

Most trucks (the older they are the more they do) throw a little oil out with every downshift, some even splash diesel out the tank cap going around corners, or they leak fuel etc etc !

Someone mentioned your tyres may still be standard ? Not sure what they run, but investigate the compound your tyres are made of, they may be a perfectly good summer tyre but shit in winter and never really warm up, though it sounds like you were only a short way from yr mates anyway !

Shit happens Dude, give yaself time, if ya get back on ya horse all good, if ya dont c'est la vie !

Call it a learning experience, awwww and yeah ya car can slide on spills too if they were to cover the road ! Learn to spot them in ya headlights and know you could be in the shit !