Motorcyclists in dice with death

[Big Dave]

And a catayst is something that causes a reaction to happen.

No - my chemistry says just faster. The reaction happens anyway.

Edit:
a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change.

[Katman]

just faster.

Yes, that's usually the case.

[swbarnett]

Short story is the guy got ambushed by roadworks - sued Daniverke council and won.

You reckon the courts judge agin the Govt instruments often?

No, and good on them.

I agree that sign posting around road works is sometimes just asking for an accident. I've had it myself where I came around a tight blind corner onto unexpected road works gravel. I managed to stay upright with the rear nearly overtaking the front. Had I come off I would've taken the roading contractor to court for the placement of signs because I believe that they would've been legally culpable. However, that incident taught me to slow my entry into blind corners.

[Big Dave]

Yes, that's usually the case.

But not the necessarily cause.

Biaggi crashed on a warm up lap.

[Ixion]

No - my chemistry says just faster. The reaction happens anyway.

Edit:
a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change.

So, like, a match maker? One of those chicks who introduces dude A to chick B, whereupon A and B spend the next week shagging their eyeballs out, but the matchmaker chick never actually gets laid (ever) .

Known a few of those.

[swbarnett]

No - my chemistry says just faster. The reaction happens anyway.

Edit:
a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change.

Yes, but the rate without the catalyst can also be zero.

[Big Dave]

All good - I've had enough - be careful out there.

[swbarnett]

- be careful out there.

Nice summation, I think we can all agree on that one.

[jrandom]

Good points made by all in this thread.

My 'hypothetical' situation was, of course, not hypothetical; I binned in precisely that way last Friday night, heading toward Mangakino on Waipapa Road. (Poor Betty didn't come off too well; she's laid up at Chris Mitchell's awaiting the insurance assessor.)

I've been scratching my head ever since, feeling quite ill-at-ease, because at the time it very much felt like there wasn't anything I could have done. The diesel ambushed me and whisked the bike out from under my arse, et cetera.

I don't like feeling like that. Feeling like that means I'm not in control.

Upon reflection, the following points become clear:

- Every bin can and should be a learning experience. I'm not a particularly experienced rider, so learning experiences are to be expected.

- Last year, I highsided in the wet and broke my thumb. Easy lesson to learn - stay on the gas. I made a basic error and chopped the throttle. I spent my recovery time reiterating throttle control mantras to myself, and I've successfully ridden out a number of rear slides since then without any issues.

- When I binned on Friday night, I was riding with care in the wet; I know the limits of my bike's traction on wet roads. I was not expecting a sudden transition on the road to zero traction, though. It took me by surprise, and I simply didn't respond. I just spent the crucial few hundred milliseconds after the bike started to misbehave just continuing my course of braking. I didn't even work out what had happened until I stood up on the road and nearly slipped back onto my arse.

- New lesson: always bear in mind the possibility of zero-traction patches on the road. If you expect to ride over them, when you do, you'll probably handle it. If I'd been thinking 'there could be diesel on the road here', I strongly suspect that I would not have fallen off.

Eleven months since I got my full bike licence, and two important lessons learned (stay on the gas, and always expect sudden zero-traction conditions, particularly at intersections) at the cost of one broken thumb and a few hundred dollars of insurance excess.

Probably about par for the course...

[pritch]

But - not undetectable. You will , if riding with all senses alert , smell diesel long before you can see it.

On my daily commute there is one corner I assume there *will* be diesel. Other places if its dark I'm sniffing the air. In the example given though, open road speed and all, you'd need a nose like a blood hound to pick it up before you hit it.

[jrandom]

In the example given though, open road speed and all, you'd need a nose like a blood hound to pick it up before you hit it.

Actually, if I'd blown straight through the intersection at open road speed, I doubt I'd have fallen off; I'd have had a bit of a wiggle and a slap and been back on a clean surface before I knew it.

I binned because I'd slowed to about 40kph and was trying to turn a right-angle corner on top of the diesel.

It'd have to be a pretty big diesel spill to have the same effect on someone riding at 100kph.

[ManDownUnder]

Can't say it worked that way for me.

I think it should read "your first fatal accident is likely to be your last". ...bringing that journalistic standard back up to where it belongs...

[jrandom]

I think it should read "your first fatal accident is likely to be your last". ...bringing that journalistic standard back up to where it belongs...

Well, I guess that if the majority of motorcyclists who have crashed have only had one crash, that statement is, strictly speaking, correct.

Spin doctors, eh? They'll be first against the wall...

[ManDownUnder]

Well, I guess that if the majority of motorcyclists who have crashed have only had one crash, that statement is, strictly speaking, correct.

I always lived by the rule a motorcyclist will crash 3 times... and THEN be ok on the roads. It seems to hold true although women don't live up to those numbers - they're more like 1 or possibly two.

Mind you - I was 16 at the time...

Spin doctors, eh? They'll be first against the wall...

I thought that was the telephone sanitisers...

[nodrog:Me]

Name some.

earthquake