Video: Had a close call this morning

[Shifty]

I decided to go for an early morning ride today and I had a close call. The video tells most of the story, but to eliminate the analyzing which will surely take place, I will give my own account. Basically I saw wet gravel in the road on the second curve and panicked a bit. I started to tense up and when I hit the gravel the front slipped a bit. I stood the bike up, covered the brake and clutch but didn't pull, and fixated on the ditch in front of me. Then I really panicked and put my right foot down for a second or two. Luckily I was going slow enough I was able to snap out of it, get my foot back on the peg and pull the bike back around the bend.

This was honestly one of the scarier incidents I've had, despite being at such a low speed. I think a lot of that had to do with me being paranoid about laying down my 'new' bike. Anyway, just goes to show you can never let your guard down, even when you're just tooling along on a Sunday morning.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2d5VPOlOlA&feature=player_embedded"]Near Crash on Ducati - YouTube[/ame]

[zuma]

Hey...good seeing you back, man! Glad you made it and you pulled that one off well. Friday night I was coming back from my gig and still in Midland when some jerk pulled out of a parking lot and in front of me. I had to hit the back brake, and I felt my ZZR1200 going sideways and I threw down my right foot and luckily corrected it and was able to stay up.

Good hearing from you again and I enjoyed seeing you pull through the situation. Uh, it's a red duc in the av and a black one in the vid...what's up?

[Shifty]

Good hearing from you again and I enjoyed seeing you pull through the situation. Uh, it's a red duc in the av and a black one in the vid...what's up?

LOL Thanks Zuma I have been trolling around a lot lately and started posting here again. Good group, good forum. I missed it!

The red Duc was my old 620, the blue one is my new S4R. Below is a pic I snapped of her during my morning ride today!

[zuma]

My gosh...you ride groovy bikes indeed!

[Slofuze]

Glad it wasn't me........ glad it wasn't you!

[GodJockey]

Ya low laying things on the road like that really can be dangerous.

A few months ago my brother and I went on a ride to go hiking and took some roads I was never on, in the middle of the my lane was a huge ditch and gravel surrounding it right when I entered a right turn. It came out of no where and I hit it hard and my bike just rolled ontop of the gravel when I applied brakes. I went into the other lane, thank god no car was coming. Learned to really be more aware of turns like that.

[mammut89]

That did not look fun.

It seems like you are locking your elbows straight. Maybe a little forward position is needed. Not that it has anything to do with this incident.

[ba109296]

Wow nice save!

[Shifty]

My gosh...you ride groovy bikes indeed!

HA, thanks man.

That did not look fun.

It seems like you are locking your elbows straight. Maybe a little forward position is needed. Not that it has anything to do with this incident.

It certainly was not fun. Put a damper on the rest of my ride for sure.

You're right, my elbows were pretty locked up now that you mention it! I'm usually leaning over trying to kiss my rearview mirrors on turns, even gradual bends, but when I saw these rough corners I locked myself upright. My body position had a lot to do with me pushing all the way into the other lane. It's almost like I subconciously made the decision to run off rather than lay it down. I didn't even try to ride through the gravel in a proper position.

[Spyderturbo007]

Great save Shifty. Being so inexperienced, I don't think things would have worked out as well if I ran into that situation. I almost plowed a bank (the dirt kind, not the ones you rob) on Sunday because I became fixated on it for some reason. It was two really tight 90 degree turns and I was going pretty slow. Almost as if you were turning out of a parking lot and quickly into another. Nailed the first one, got to the left turn and for some stupid reason I just couldn't take my eyes off the bank.

My body just refused to lean and I had no head turn. Thank goodness I made it some how. It's amazing how you can get fixated on something so easily and how your brain refuses to cooperate.

[KAT TOY]

whoa nelly! that's why you don't race on the street. stuff happens. glad you made it.