Our Mortality (part two)

[Ixion]

I've had far more near misses where I should of been killed or horribly injured.For me what impresses is how much we pull out of nowhere to survive....until you have been to the point where you know you surely are going to die in a bad way,you don't know what you are really capable of,kind of a battlefield thing....the closest us civilians can get.It comes out of thin air,you don't have those skills...but it's the only option and you pull it off like you know what you are doing.Thing is...now you do know what you are doing,because you've done it.

I recomend strongly that you don't learn this way....

Ah, well, if we're talking near misses ----. At the end of the day an awful lot of it is just luck, or fate or karma, or whatever you want to call it. I've had far more than my share of "by rights should have crashed horribly, but somehow scraped through" experiences. Without a scratch. And seen others, far far better riders than I, crash, often at low speeds when riding quite sensibly, and be badly injured or killed. There's no rhyme or reason in it.

The odd thing is, that when I've gotten into real trouble on the road, I've always found as you say, that somehow I manage to pull off stuff that I would have thought I could never do, and escape.

But when I used to ride off road, it didn't work. I'd crash. On road, in a crisis, everything slows down, the brain switches into a sort of non verbal overdrive , and everything gets very calm and quiet and focused. Never happened off road.

Only reason I could ascribe to it is that on road, I have never expected to crash. I don't mean being complacent , "can't happen to me" - more that on road I REFUSE to crash . I *WILL NOT* allow myself to crash on the road.

Off road, I , not exactly expected to crash , didn't happen everytime by any means, and I didn't want it to, but when things went jelly shaped it was a sort of "oh shit oh shit here we go again", it was a part and parcel of rough riding. On road when the same sort of thing happened it was different, sort of " NO. NOT ACCEPTABLE. Engage emergency systems"

I do think that mental attitude is extraordinarily important in these things.

[Edbear]

I know exactly what you are on about ... I worry about the impact they might have ...

-Digital camera
-$20 tucked away (fer emergencies!)
-Multi-tool
-LED blinking gadget
-LED handsfree light
-Digital airpressure gauge
-Swiss army knife
-Ipod
-Spray n'wipe bottle for visor
-Notebook
-Pen
-Sunglasses
-Housekeys
-One hand opening lockblade
-Balaclava
-Kiwibiker patches (which still haven't been sewn on yet!)
-Cellphone
-Disc lock and pouch
-Reminder cable for disc lock

Sheesh, now that I've listed my contents ... I've still got room for others! Whee! Sorry for the threadjack, but it's an important point that was brought up...having sharp, puncturing type items is a no-no I would hate to be explaining myself in a line somewhere ..

"So, I bought it when my microlights wings folded on me..."
"Er, um, yes...I got it 'cause my Visor spray n'clean bottle got rammed up my nose in a minor bin..."

Just when you thought you couldn't outdo a woman's handbag...!

Excellent write-ups, Beyond! Good lessons for all. I'm much more circumspect about my riding now, too. Notice my sig?

[Motu]

But when I used to ride off road, it didn't work. I'd crash. On road, in a crisis, everything slows down, the brain switches into a sort of non verbal overdrive , and everything gets very calm and quiet and focused. Never happened off road.

I do think that mental attitude is extraordinarily important in these things.

I've only had it happen when going at a fast pace off road...like road speeds.Once on a wide fire break honking along in 5th,so maybe about 70kph or so,maybe more....I got my front wheel caught in a hidden cow trail rut.The front wheel wouldn't climb out,I was flapping the wheel side to side but it was washout out city.I was standing on the pegs,as you have to at that speed,and knew I was in serious trouble...the bike was taking me where I didn't want to go,my choices were a high speed tangle with the trees,a nasty slingshot highside into said trees,or an even worse front wheel dump involving handlebars and the ground.

I wanted out of there,and figured the best thing would be to bail now,just step off the bike.The act of shifting all my weight to the inside peg must of been enough to sort out the rut and the bike was under control again.I inadvertently pulled something unknown out of my bag of tricks,kind of a lucky dip,but it did what was needed.I think we need the time to think,even if the thinking is at light speed it's not fast enough for low speed off road.

Kenny Roberts talks about bags on a wall - in each bag is what you need to do in that particular situation.What he does is look on his wall an choose the appropriate bag.Visualisation - the most important tool to survival on a motorcycle....or in life itself.Visualise your goal,live your goal....as you see in your mind so will appear in your life.

[Clivoris]

Nice, thought provoking writing mate. Put me right there.
Sometimes we're lucky and sometimes we aren't. The ones that meet their maker aren't going to be able to post their stories here without the help of Shirley Maclean. None of us get on our bikes seriously thinking that we might not make it home. A bit of thought can improve our chances. I'm glad it gets easier as I get older.

[BarBender]

Another good read Beyond.
Thanks for putting out the stuff that matters.
Would love to have a ride and a beer with you one day.

You've officially been blinged!

[sugilite:Me]

Only reason I could ascribe to it is that on road, I have never expected to crash. I don't mean being complacent , "can't happen to me" - more that on road I REFUSE to crash . I *WILL NOT* allow myself to crash on the road.

I do think that mental attitude is extraordinarily important in these things.

Well written Ixion, I could not agree more. Though our experiences are vastly different, our attitudes to crashing are somewhat similar. I too have a crashing is not an option, not part of my reality mindset. I believe many riders talk them selves into crashing with out really needing too. It goes along the lines of "ARGGGG I'm going to crash", then they proceed to do just that! Life has a habit of meeting ones expectations. I never give up hope until I'm lying on the ground and the wheels have stopped turning, witness my avatar!

When I was learning on dirt bikes I crashed nearly every day, and indeed would tell myself off for being soft if I did not. When I migrated to road bikes, some bikes I crashed, others not, I sure did notice the harsher penalties crashing road bikes, both for the body and long suffering wallet!
Then it was off to the track and my crashing career was reignited somewhat
As a racer who wanted to succeed, limits had to be found and importantly lessons retained for future reference. Later in my race career I raced a ZX9R superbike for 4 years and crashed it only once, and that was on a track that resembled a river and I went down on mud that had been ground into the track by those bloody fu&$#^g drifters doing donuts to clean their tyres after off track excursions. I've crashed the ZX10R once and luckily with minimal damage, to me it has been a good thing, she was just to damn perfect, now I've popped her cherry. I feel I can ride the bitch hard and fast now

Thanks for the very cool thread Beyond, I've thoroughly enjoyed reading it and your impressive bling stats are well earned! RESPECT!

[hitch]

What a brilliant read. Always good to here others stories.

[SpinFx]

Interesting reading both from your story and others replies, reminds me of the night I drunk and rode ( the one and only - never ever again ) when I was drunk and was takin out by another drunk driver ( how ironic ). Lost my first real bike ( the 84 shovel in my profile ) cost me a gammy wrist and 8000 bucks. Learnt real fast. Thanks for reminding me how vulnerable we all are.

[beyond]

Cheers mate.

There's another two parts and two finals to that story