I had a very stupid off today.

[mattian]

I had a major lapse in concentration today, resulting in a totally preventable crash. I feel SO stupid for allowing this to happen, and the fault is all my own. Approaching a round-about, I'm heading right, slow down as I approach because there is a car approaching on my right, stradling both lanes and no indication so, I dont know which way he's going. He's going slowly enough so, I gun it, come around to the right and as I exit the round about I look right to see him exiting left. Eyes front, and suddenly I'm heading towards the gutter...... SHIT, this is a major fuck up. Instead of swerving out of trouble, I fixate on the hazard instead of looking away from it. Crunch, front tyre hits curb, bike bounces me off, thankfully, I land on the grass as I watch my baby, skate down the middle of the road on her side.
Result. Bent handle bars, left fork. Major grazing on the gas tank, brake disc, bent gear lever. All will have to be replaced. Will have a chat with insurance tomorrow.
It was such a stupid accident. Lots of lessons learned. All of which I already knew! but just failed at it..... big time.

[YellowDog]

Sorry to hear of this bad news. So frustrating when it happens and you know it is avoidable.

Hope the repair bill is reasonable

[mattian]

Thanks mate. Very frustrating indeed. I have full cover so, just hoping my excess isnt too..... umm.. excessive.

[gatch]

Thanks mate. Very frustrating indeed. I have full cover so, just hoping my excess isnt too..... umm.. excessive.

You mug.

Good to see you are still alive though, also that noone else was involved.

Shit could have been much worse hey.

[mattian]

too right.

[Mom]

Dork! Happens fast eh?

Glad to hear you are not hurt and you are at least insured to cover the damage. Bit of advice for next time. If there is a car infront of you that you are not sure what it is doing, slow right down and let it decide. Dont gun it to get around it.

The target fixation thing is training. Look where you want to go at all times. Always look for an escape route and never assume anything. It is up to you to keep yourself safe on two wheels.

Hopefully by sharing your story others will get an idea of just how quickly it happens.

[hellokitty]

Thanks mate. Very frustrating indeed. I have full cover so, just hoping my excess isnt too..... umm.. excessive.

don't you hate it when you could have avoided it? I think we have all done that! I know I have...

[bsasuper]

Dont feel bad, a lot of "stupid off's" happen this way.I came "off" with the bike at stand still once, when I left the (manual) choke on, it stalled and I just fell over, only about 100 people saw it

[mattian]

Thanks folks. You know, people can teach you about target fixation until they're blue in the face. I experienced it the hard way and its certainly a lesson learnt. Look at where you want to go!!! and always have an escape route out of trouble!!!! this is something I will focus on alot more in future. I was being a very lazy rider.... I was being complacent. You really can NEVER let your guard down.

[Mom]

Thanks folks. You know, people can teach you about target fixation until they're blue in the face. I experienced it the hard way and its certainly a lesson learnt. Look at where you want to go!!! and always have an escape route out of trouble!!!! this is something I will focus on alot more in future. I was being a very lazy rider.... I was being complacent. You really can NEVER let your guard down.

To give this a bit of perspective, I made contact with the road last year for the first time in 35 years. And it was all about target fixation, but in this case I was fixated on where I wanted to go

Weird I agree, but I was about to get on the Rawene Ferry, and was looking at the open gate on the boat, for that is where I was heading. As I leaned to veer right, on an off camber, down hill bit of road the gates were closed! I braked, using the front brake (as you do) and it washed in some fine pea metal. I went down so fast it took me a moment to realise I was actually on the road. Scared the shit out of the camper van I went down in front of too

[Milts]

Did something similarly stupid recently on my (near new) street triple. Don't think I'll ever forgive myself, even though I came away with nothing but scuffed leathers. Bike damage could have been worse but I was still unhappy about hurting it.

Rushing to get to work (on a weekend), too fast over a speed bump on cold tyres - been faster over it before but this time I just recall braking for it and next thing I knew I was on my arse. Will never forgive myself for that, even stupid than my first off (for which I wrote a huge post about how dumb I was to let it happen, target fixation played a large part in that crash).

The big killer seems to be letting your stupidity creep on on you and hit you over the head when you least expect it and are focused on something else. Good to hear you walked away from it though.

[trailblazer]

glad to hear you are ok and not hurt. Its a bit of a pity about the bike but bikes can be replaced people can't.

[Toaster]

You mug.

Dork!

I see your mug and dork and raise you a twat.

To the OP..... BUGGER! Good to see you humble enough to take a self serving of humility pie with a bit of sour grape sauce. The great thing is you are unharmed and live to ride another day, hopefully the wiser. It is a great reminder to the rest of us that we are but human and the ramifications of mistakes we all make sooner or later cost us big time on motorcycles.

I hope you get back on your bike soon.

[Daffyd]

Funny - Where's Katman?

[Smifffy]

Funny - Where's Katman?

In this instance the OP is not saying "There was nothing I could do". The OP is telling us all what went wrong, and how he might do things differently next time.

Really I think Katman's message is as simple as that.

Glad to hear the OP is ok. Hope all goes smoothly with the insurance, and you are back on the road, and less complacent in next to no time.