Maureen has enjoyed years of incident-free riding. Is she a better rider than you?

[haydes55]

Maureen hasn't crashed in 19 years of riding 10,000km/year on her bike.

Clancy has crashed 3 times in the last 8 years of riding only 5000km/year.

According to ACC Maureen is a better rider.

Maureen and Clancy are riding together through a country road. Just cruising around some corners when they both hit a patch of gravel. Maureen immediately drops the bike and slides under a truck. Clancy holds the throttle on and brings the sliding bike back in line and accelerates to the next corner.

Someone mightn't crash for a long period of time for the simple reason of they haven't encountered a high risk situation before.

I would judge who is a better rider based on if the exact same scenario happened to each rider, who would or wouldn't make it through the scenario.

Both riders riding at the pace they would usually ride. So Maureen might have encountered the gravel around the corner going 75km/h while Clancy was going 120km/h.

[Berries]

According to ACC Maureen is a better rider.

Yeah, according to me she is as well. You can come up with all kinds of hypothetical what ifs but the facts are she rides twice as many K's as Clancy in a year and has been riding for twice as long and so far hasn't tempted fate by fucking up and falling off on the road. Three times.

Surely there must come a time when you think yeah, this rider is competent. I am not saying Clancy isn't. Actually, Clancy isn't. Falling off on the track is one thing, falling off on the road is just stupid, kerb here, strainer post there. Once you are sliding down the road the outcome is a lottery.

I am sure Maureen is extremely happy subsidising Clancy's repair costs through the ACC levy. Ha, he has probably got it on hold anyway. Win win.


Burn him.

[Drew]

Yeah, according to me she is as well. You can come up with all kinds of hypothetical what ifs but the facts are she rides twice as many K's as Clancy in a year and has been riding for twice as long and so far hasn't tempted fate by fucking up and falling off on the road. Three times.

Surely there must come a time when you think yeah, this rider is competent. I am not saying Clancy isn't. Actually, Clancy isn't. Falling off on the track is one thing, falling off on the road is just stupid, kerb here, strainer post there. Once you are sliding down the road the outcome is a lottery.

I am sure Maureen is extremely happy subsidising Clancy's repair costs through the ACC levy. Ha, he has probably got it on hold anyway. Win win.


Burn him.

Your definition of a better rider then, is solely based on how many times they have crashed per kilometer?

Ignore statistics for a minute, and the statement is flawed anyway. Different people measure skill differently. I measure mine on race results, how well I can 'stunt' a bike, and other things that come with physical control. I consider my skill level to be higher than most, even though I've crashed more than a lot of those same bikers.

Once you're sliding down the road, there is quite a lot you can do to protect yourself by the way. The 'lottery' odds are not as bad as you might think, if one has their wits about them.

[Kickaha]

if one has their wits about them.

You're well fucked then

[Paul in NZ]

Shes a better rider than me for a given value of 'better' and 'rider'....

[Drew]

You're well fucked then

Experience takes place of wits in my case.

[swbarnett]

Yeah, according to me she is as well.

By your reasoning pure dumb luck makes one a better rider.

[Big Dave]

Does she root?

[cheshirecat]

Does she root?

Have you seen her?

[Big Dave]

Have you seen her?

I wasn't thinking for me.

[Smifffy]

Does she root?

She was well rooted after Haydes took her in the gravel patch...

[Smifffy]

One could also argue that betterment comes from making mistakes and learning from them.

[Berries]

Your definition of a better rider then, is solely based on how many times they have crashed per kilometer?

Not at all, that would be too simplistic. I don't know how you can class someone as a good rider if they regularly crash on the road though.

By your reasoning pure dumb luck makes one a better rider.

Erm, no.

The question was hypothetical. Maureen has managed a certain number of years and a certain number of km's without falling off. Clancy has fallen off a few times in a few years over less distance. I don't see how this prepares him for doing 120km/h around a gravel strewn corner yet Maureen gets launched under a truck when doing 75? Perhaps Maureen is the one who has experience riding on many different corners with gravel on them while Clancy has encountered three curves like that in eight years and has fallen off every time?

On the limited information presented I am just saying that yes, Maureen is less likely to make an ACC claim therefore they would consider her the 'better' rider. It is somewhat redundant anyway with levies based on engine size alone. It's a shame that they don't take past experience and previous claims in to account when setting individual levies, but that's another thread.

[Smifffy]

Clearly Maureen is a goer.

[koba]

I think Marc Marquez crashed 12 times this season? We're all better riders than him then

That's the point I was thinking of on reading the title.
This is one area I could beat Marquez on, my best is 8 in one day.

But then he probably has me beat there too, who knows, who cares.