How does one "Prepare for the unexpected"?

[Mongoose]

Wow... guess i did a good job of killing off that thread

Naa, the troops are just regathering, another attack will come

[vifferman]

I have been riding for 4 years or so, but after a few close calls, have become a lot like Motu and F5Dave, whenever I see a situation, I ask myself what would I do if x happened. I run through a series of possible solutions, and I know for a fact that this has helped me avoid more than a couple of accidents. A car pulled out on me, from a side road. Instinctive reaction is to brake immediately, but instead, I waited for a split second to see what he was doing and gassed it to swerve around in front of him. Missed him by inches, but I would have collected him severely if I had've braked.

From the sound of it, you were incredibly lucky, PT.
One of the things experience brings is the ability to very quickly analyse (if you're paying attention) what's likely to happen, based on observation of the details. However, sometimes the conclusion may be incorrect.
About a year ago, I was commuting to work, and encountered a car pulling out from the kerb, just after I rounded a corner. The car was covered in dew and the windows fogged up, so I assumed (correctly) the driver may not have seen me. So, I slowed down, and watched the car carefully to see what was going to happen next. The car slowed and pulled back into the kerb, so I assumed the driver had seen me, and pulled out to go past. He was actually pulling into the kerb to do a U-turn, as was his morning habit, and he hadn't rechecked his mirrors to see if the road was still clear (if indeed he'd checked them at all!) By this stage I was committed to going around him, and had no room to avoid his manouevre, as he was turning faster than I could swerve and/or brake.
In hindsight (a wonderful thing it is), I should've tootled him melodiously (if not vigorously) to ensure that he knew I was there, not assumed he could see me, and slowed right down until such time as I was sure I could pass safely.
Sometimes instincts and split-second decisions are right, and sometimes they're not. On a bike, you need to give yourself more time to make a safe decision, and the room to make the appropriate safe exit if necessary. I did neither, and paid for it.

Hell I can think of hundreds of everday riding situations where the brain detects a possible hazard, assess the hazzard, all your instincts and riding experiance tells you that your manouvre is safe, you commit, then the unexpected occurs. Being in the right place as Paul in NZ said is the best way to get out. But you can still be in the right place and still come to grief.

Bottom line you can do all the right things and some fuckwit does all the wrong things.

EXACTLY. This is just such an example of not one but two fuckwits doing the wrong thing.

[rodgerd]

When i ride i find i can only "prepare" for a limited number of things.

That's the value in track, parking lot, or other controlled environment sessions. You can set things up to practise emergency braking, swerving, and the like, without risk to yourself or ayone else. Do it enough and it becomes instinctive, and that can be the difference between a near miss and a hit...

I.e if im coming around a sweeper i prepare 1) for loose gravel by not riding at 100% of my ability, i also get ready to stand the bike up.

Always leaving a margin for error on the open road is kind of critical. You can control your own actions, but not those of others. Even if you never make a mistake, you need room to allow others to without collectivng you.

Now i have read keith codes "twist of the wrist 2". And there was something in there that he mentioned that leads me to believe you cant "prepare" for everything, let alone the unexpected - do you guys remember reading it?

You can't prepare for everything at road speeds, because you never know if (eg) someone is going to swerve onto the wrong side of the road with too little time for you to react to it.