How to brace yourself in an event of a crash?
Yeah it was so surreal... I had time to think about the impending bumper, oncoming traffic, cars behind me, girlfriend just getting used to riding.... All in the time it took for the bike to go from upright to down. And I seemed to slide forever. It also got real quiet during this time, then the sound came back and I heard my girlfriend screaming and all that mattered was getting over to her. All is well though, no serious injuries.
In a World without Walls and Fences, who needs Windows and Gates?
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ceemes
- Legendary 2000
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- Location: Burnaby, BC, Canada, Sol 3, the Milky Way Galaxy, the Known Universe.
Think I've had more then my fair share of crashes and spill.
The first one was the most scariest. I had been riding for about six months and was on the way to my local shop to get a new front tyre mounted, the old one was getting pretty bald. Came up to stop sign, hit touched the front brakes and suddenly the front wheel starts dance around and the bars doing a tattoo on the tank, down she went and we slide right through the intersection, figured I was gonna die. But apart from some tears in my rain gear and a cracked signal light lens, no damage done. Picked up the bike and carried on, abet a wee bit slower.
My second crash taught me that a CB760 actually does have a lot more power then a CM400 and that thermo-plastic road line and rain is as good as ice. Came out of my driveway, applied power in my turn and the rear kicked out from under me and landed flat on my back, the bike slide across the road into the path of an on-coming bus. While I was lying here, I was more concerned about my bike getting squashed by the bus then I was worried about myself getting run over by on-coming traffic. Damage done, had to replace the rotor and alternator. Plus landing on my back hard left me pretty much immobile for two week.
Third crash, was a repeat of the first, came around a bend and as I straightened up to merge with the traffic, my front end danced around and down we went. Again no real damage except to my pride as a courier.
Fourth crash was funny. It was snowing and I had just made a drop at a medical centre, must of hit a good patch of ice and down we went for a nice long and slow slide. I had some pretty good sized crash bar on that CM400 courier bike and somehow my boot and foot got caught inside them. I had to kick the bike in the saddle with my free foot in order to get the free. The funny part was some little old lady around 70 came toddling over asking me if I was alright while trying to lift the bike off of me. Mean while two great big ugly young lads were pee'ing themselves with laughter at the sight of it all, and did bugger all to help. Told the old ducks I am fine, and with a heafty kick, got myself free. Radioed my dispatcher and told him I am done for the day.
Fifth crash again happened on snowy back streets, only this time some twit decided to blow through a stop sign and I slide into him. Luckily we both were going slow and apart from tipping over, no damage done, apart from the two dents in his car. One from my front wheel hitting his front fender and the second from where my steel toed boots vented their anger on his passenger door after he started cursing me out.
The sixth crash was a repeat of the first and third crash, only this time it was on the KZ550 on my way to night class. By this time I had decided that being a motorcycle courier was not a healthy way to make a living. Front end did that old dance again and down we went. Only this time I was in the inside lane and landed on the grass meridian and my left ankle got caught under the bike and the curb. Lots of pain but got the bike back up, went to class. On the ride home, shifting was very painful and I knew I had done myself a major mischief this time. Next morning I could barely stand and my ankle was black. Went to the clinic and a x-ray showed that I had a hair line fracture. Off work for three weeks this time.
My seventh and final crash brought my courier carrier to a shattering end and happen almost 12 weeks after my sixth crash. A moron ran a red as I was going through an intersection and t-boned me off my CB650 which I got a month prior to replace the KZ, shattering and crushing my lower right leg. Took three years to heal properly and almost 14 years to get back on a bike. Funny thing about that one, while it was the worst of the lot, I wasn't really all that scared. When I heard the scream of his brakes locking up and I saw he was going to hit me dead on, the only thing that went through my mind was "puck, I'm dead".
One other oddity about all my crashes, they all happened when I was wearing rain gear, even when it wasn't raining. And apart from the first two crashes, all the others happened while I was a courier. Guess I was tempting fate riding seven days a week for six years, up to 12 hours a day during work days.
The first one was the most scariest. I had been riding for about six months and was on the way to my local shop to get a new front tyre mounted, the old one was getting pretty bald. Came up to stop sign, hit touched the front brakes and suddenly the front wheel starts dance around and the bars doing a tattoo on the tank, down she went and we slide right through the intersection, figured I was gonna die. But apart from some tears in my rain gear and a cracked signal light lens, no damage done. Picked up the bike and carried on, abet a wee bit slower.
My second crash taught me that a CB760 actually does have a lot more power then a CM400 and that thermo-plastic road line and rain is as good as ice. Came out of my driveway, applied power in my turn and the rear kicked out from under me and landed flat on my back, the bike slide across the road into the path of an on-coming bus. While I was lying here, I was more concerned about my bike getting squashed by the bus then I was worried about myself getting run over by on-coming traffic. Damage done, had to replace the rotor and alternator. Plus landing on my back hard left me pretty much immobile for two week.
Third crash, was a repeat of the first, came around a bend and as I straightened up to merge with the traffic, my front end danced around and down we went. Again no real damage except to my pride as a courier.
Fourth crash was funny. It was snowing and I had just made a drop at a medical centre, must of hit a good patch of ice and down we went for a nice long and slow slide. I had some pretty good sized crash bar on that CM400 courier bike and somehow my boot and foot got caught inside them. I had to kick the bike in the saddle with my free foot in order to get the free. The funny part was some little old lady around 70 came toddling over asking me if I was alright while trying to lift the bike off of me. Mean while two great big ugly young lads were pee'ing themselves with laughter at the sight of it all, and did bugger all to help. Told the old ducks I am fine, and with a heafty kick, got myself free. Radioed my dispatcher and told him I am done for the day.
Fifth crash again happened on snowy back streets, only this time some twit decided to blow through a stop sign and I slide into him. Luckily we both were going slow and apart from tipping over, no damage done, apart from the two dents in his car. One from my front wheel hitting his front fender and the second from where my steel toed boots vented their anger on his passenger door after he started cursing me out.
The sixth crash was a repeat of the first and third crash, only this time it was on the KZ550 on my way to night class. By this time I had decided that being a motorcycle courier was not a healthy way to make a living. Front end did that old dance again and down we went. Only this time I was in the inside lane and landed on the grass meridian and my left ankle got caught under the bike and the curb. Lots of pain but got the bike back up, went to class. On the ride home, shifting was very painful and I knew I had done myself a major mischief this time. Next morning I could barely stand and my ankle was black. Went to the clinic and a x-ray showed that I had a hair line fracture. Off work for three weeks this time.
My seventh and final crash brought my courier carrier to a shattering end and happen almost 12 weeks after my sixth crash. A moron ran a red as I was going through an intersection and t-boned me off my CB650 which I got a month prior to replace the KZ, shattering and crushing my lower right leg. Took three years to heal properly and almost 14 years to get back on a bike. Funny thing about that one, while it was the worst of the lot, I wasn't really all that scared. When I heard the scream of his brakes locking up and I saw he was going to hit me dead on, the only thing that went through my mind was "puck, I'm dead".
One other oddity about all my crashes, they all happened when I was wearing rain gear, even when it wasn't raining. And apart from the first two crashes, all the others happened while I was a courier. Guess I was tempting fate riding seven days a week for six years, up to 12 hours a day during work days.
Always ask why.
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TorontoBoy
- Elite
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Brackstone
- Legendary 1500
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- Location: New Jersey
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ceemes
- Legendary 2000
- Posts: 2153
- Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2007 5:35 pm
- Real Name: a big secret
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- Years Riding: 26
- My Motorcycle: 1998 Triumph Trophy
- Location: Burnaby, BC, Canada, Sol 3, the Milky Way Galaxy, the Known Universe.
Ya got to remember, those seven happen in around a 10 year period and the majority of them happened when I was a motorcycle courier running the downtown Vancouver BC corridor. I rode year round in all types of weather, including snow storms. In those six or so years as a courier, I probably put on more miles and racked up more hours in the saddle then most riders will in a life time. On average, I was replacing my chain and front brakes every six week and the rear sprocket and brakes every eight weeks. Went through two Honda CM400's and a Kawasaki KZ550, not sure how long the CB650 would of lasted, only had it for six weeks before it was murdered by a Ford 1 Ton pick up.Brackstone wrote:ceemes wrote:Think I've had more then my fair share of crashes and spill......
wow ceemes that's horrible.
I admire your ability to get back on the horse though.
Always ask why.
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sv-wolf
- Site Supporter - Platinum
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Re: How to brace yourself in an event of a crash?
One that doesn't damage your wallet - you're going to need it!Erg0n wrote:When you are about to crash what's the best body position to try and get into when sliding on the ground?
Hud
“Man has no right to kill his brother. It is no excuse that he does so in uniform: he only adds the infamy of servitude to the crime of murder.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley
SV-Wolf's Bike Blog
“Man has no right to kill his brother. It is no excuse that he does so in uniform: he only adds the infamy of servitude to the crime of murder.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley
SV-Wolf's Bike Blog
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sv-wolf
- Site Supporter - Platinum
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- Real Name: Richard
- Sex: Male
- Years Riding: 12
- My Motorcycle: Honda Fireblade, 2004: Suzuki DR650, 201
- Location: Hertfordshire, UK
Hi ceemesceemes wrote:Ya got to remember, those seven happen in around a 10 year period and the majority of them happened when I was a motorcycle courier running the downtown Vancouver BC corridor. I rode year round in all types of weather, including snow storms. In those six or so years as a courier, I probably put on more miles and racked up more hours in the saddle then most riders will in a life time. On average, I was replacing my chain and front brakes every six week and the rear sprocket and brakes every eight weeks. Went through two Honda CM400's and a Kawasaki KZ550, not sure how long the CB650 would of lasted, only had it for six weeks before it was murdered by a Ford 1 Ton pick up.Brackstone wrote:ceemes wrote:Think I've had more then my fair share of crashes and spill......
wow ceemes that's horrible.
I admire your ability to get back on the horse though.
I'm always in awe of couriers and the risks they run (as well as the pressure they work under and the daily endurance of riding in traffic in all weathers). I have a friend who couriers in London. He's been doing it for fifteen years - way beyond the average - and has had more spills than I've had holidays. He's a little crazy. I guess it helps.
Hud
“Man has no right to kill his brother. It is no excuse that he does so in uniform: he only adds the infamy of servitude to the crime of murder.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley
SV-Wolf's Bike Blog
“Man has no right to kill his brother. It is no excuse that he does so in uniform: he only adds the infamy of servitude to the crime of murder.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley
SV-Wolf's Bike Blog
Ceemes: Observations
Ceemes:
That's some pretty sobering information. You noted that five of your crashes involved rain gear. I was curious to know if you believe your rain gear may have made it harder for you to be seen; ie, was the gear darkly colored and long enough to hide the sides of your bike from view?
Also, if you were wearing your rain gear, it seems that you were likely to have been expecting rain which means that your crashes may have happened on overcast days rather than sunny ones, which makes it harder for the eye to differenciate colors due to the reduced light. Maybe you were getting hit on dark days, or foggy/misty days? Also, just a thought, but if there was a lot of humidity in the air on those days, then it is possible that the cars that caused your accidents had reduced visibility due to windshield fogging.
I appreciate your post because it really made me stop to think about environmental factors that make it even harder for cars to see us. Whatever the case may be, you have been through a lot of crashes and I'm sure it took tremendous courage to start riding again after your last accident.
You said you rode up to 12hrs/day, 7 days a week for 6 years. This is a lot of riding: no off days, sick days, doesn't take into consideration the amount of time you spent off the bike dropping off packages, etc... but if that's an accurate estimate, then that's 84hrs/week; 4,368hrs. per year. In six years you would have experieced your 7 crashes at a rate of 1 crash per 3,744 hours. Obviously, you were not riding at highway speeds and over long distances since you were working within a busy city, but if you had averaged 25mph then your 7 crashes happened at an average rate of 1 crash for every 93,600 miles.
It would be interesting to get the statistics for the average number of miles and/or hours for every motorcycle accident in a given year... I'd be curious to know what the "odds" are just out of curiosity. It would probably make more sense to ignore crashes among novice riders with less than a couple thousand miles under their belts, since everyone knows most crashes happen while riders are new.
But I digress, thanks for sharing your detailed story, it gave me a lot to consider!
-- Dave
That's some pretty sobering information. You noted that five of your crashes involved rain gear. I was curious to know if you believe your rain gear may have made it harder for you to be seen; ie, was the gear darkly colored and long enough to hide the sides of your bike from view?
Also, if you were wearing your rain gear, it seems that you were likely to have been expecting rain which means that your crashes may have happened on overcast days rather than sunny ones, which makes it harder for the eye to differenciate colors due to the reduced light. Maybe you were getting hit on dark days, or foggy/misty days? Also, just a thought, but if there was a lot of humidity in the air on those days, then it is possible that the cars that caused your accidents had reduced visibility due to windshield fogging.
I appreciate your post because it really made me stop to think about environmental factors that make it even harder for cars to see us. Whatever the case may be, you have been through a lot of crashes and I'm sure it took tremendous courage to start riding again after your last accident.
You said you rode up to 12hrs/day, 7 days a week for 6 years. This is a lot of riding: no off days, sick days, doesn't take into consideration the amount of time you spent off the bike dropping off packages, etc... but if that's an accurate estimate, then that's 84hrs/week; 4,368hrs. per year. In six years you would have experieced your 7 crashes at a rate of 1 crash per 3,744 hours. Obviously, you were not riding at highway speeds and over long distances since you were working within a busy city, but if you had averaged 25mph then your 7 crashes happened at an average rate of 1 crash for every 93,600 miles.
It would be interesting to get the statistics for the average number of miles and/or hours for every motorcycle accident in a given year... I'd be curious to know what the "odds" are just out of curiosity. It would probably make more sense to ignore crashes among novice riders with less than a couple thousand miles under their belts, since everyone knows most crashes happen while riders are new.
But I digress, thanks for sharing your detailed story, it gave me a lot to consider!
-- Dave
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Z (fka Sweet Tooth)
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I'd have to agree...Kal wrote:As a rule of thumb, if you have time to plan your crash you have time too save it.
Spend less time thinking of what to do when you hit the ground and spend more time practicing how to get out of a sticky situation. If you do go down i'll happen faster than you can possibly prepare for anyways...
I don't know about anyone else, but when im on my bike and in traffic, I think about possible escape routes should anything happen. It's helped out so far because it becomes second nature.
2006 VTX 1300 R
Life looks alot better through a set of handlebars!!
Life looks alot better through a set of handlebars!!
