Binning sucks! Leaves suck!

[Tigadee]

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*

[White trash]

Leaves are actually really awesome. Without them, trees couldn't use chlorophyll to convert sunlight into carbs for the tree to survive.

[SMOKEU]

That really sucks. At least you're OK and you were able to ride home. Lesson learnt I hope, be very careful of debris on the roads!

[Headbanger]

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.

[Tigadee]

Learn to respect mother nature is the lesson, that and don't be a dork and take for granted that the same surface you've travelled or used so often is always the same!

WT - Kumbaya, m'lord, kumbaya... I love you, leaves... I love you, tree...

[Tigadee]

...and when you do crash, face full of dirt and if your really unlucky some bruising.

Yeah, and the only cost is just bruised pride and needing to brush your teeth more often...

[Headbanger]

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....

[White trash]

WT - Kumbaya, m'lord, kumbaya... I love you, leaves... I love you, tree...

WTF you on about? I was talking science, pure and simple.

[Tigadee]

HB - And you want us new riders to spend a year in that? Cow dung and rotten leaves?!

I'd rather enrol in a stunt class and learn how to drift and recover from a skid that way - more fun too, I'd wager!

WT - Uh yeah, thanks for the science lesson, sir.... Can you explain to me why the sky is blue, which is what I saw once I stopped skidding...

I agree leaves are great, so they should stay on the branches where they belong and make their best contribution instead of loafing about the road tripping up innocent riders like me... [But actually I'm just mad at myself... ]

[Sable]

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*

Cool story bro.

[Headbanger]

HB - And you want us new riders to spend a year in that? Cow dung and rotten leaves?!

!

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.

[Tigadee]

Sable - Thanks, I'm even thinking of taking my writing skills to the next level and starting a series of best-selling novels about a young boy who goes to a sorcery school...

HB - I would agree with that logic. Once you've been through a meat grinder, what's the big deal if you're tapped with a tenderiser? That about right? Heh! Heh!

[Headbanger]

WTF you on about? I was talking science, pure and simple.

I've said it before, I'll say it again, any fucker wants to know science?

Then lets see what White Trash has posted on KB'er.

[haydes55]

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.

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

[Spearfish]

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.

Your not wrong, (or interested in my life story...)
But here goes
I was getting the shyts up way to easy this year at the beginning of the wet winter so I decided riding around on road tyres on a wet 5 acre paddock and a couple of weekends on a beach would get me used to the bike moving around. It worked and helped a lot, I'm still flinching but not over reacting.

some other things I learned
Steaming wet cow shit on the cylinder head smells kinda nice.
Sand roots a chain and the front sprocket really fast.
If I could find a folding fishing rod the top end of murawai beach would be a good destination for a ride.