A cautionary tale for Noobs, and other too maybe!

Message

Dragoon · #1 Post by **Dragoon** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 1:16 pm

I have no idea what I would consider and “experienced rider”. I do know that the key to being a safe rider is situational awareness at ALL times.

I ride a lot. I have been riding for 25 years: everything from dirt, to sport to cruisers. I ride 120 miles to and from work everyday and living in southern California that means with the very few exceptions through out the year. Unfortunately, the ride is on the I5 between San Diego and Irvine which makes it some of the most dangerous road to ride on. Since I bought my Spirit VT 1100 on May 22nd this year, I have put on 6234 miles as of minutes ago. Every evening I try and take a ride up and down the pacific coast highway (about 20 miles return). I do all my own wrenching so that I know my bike intimately. When I have a mechanic look at it, I watch everything he does. So, statistically, I am an experienced rider, but today I proved that that all doesn’t count if you are not aware of your surroundings.

So, my PCH ride today saw me going up a side road to get to the coast, the same road I ride almost every day. There is an S turn that I most enjoy and have taken a hundred or more times. I normally go into it at around 20MPH and come out at 30mph. This makes for a nice experience. Today however, I had one of those truly SoCal distractions, and she was hot a beach ready (I am sure you can imagine). So, instead of looking at where I wanted to be with the bike, I took a very short glance (I am talking just enough to establish gender). When I looked back at the road, I was way off track , doing 30mph and heading for DANGER in the form of an illegally parked truck on the side (no side really, he took up the ¾s of the lane). A pucker moment followed and my instincts kicked in and I both breaked and swerved and thankfully missed the damn thing by inches. I had to pull over for a moment to let my heart slow down. Had there been an on coming car, I would be a hood ornament now.

The moral of the story is that I let down my guard. I felt real stupid because I have so much time in the saddle and this should never have happened to me. So, for those just getting into the sport and wanting to survive the ride, I suggest you keep your situational awareness acute, practice what you read in the forum for new rider and experienced ones too. The only stupid questions on an open forum full of thousands of years of combined riding experience like this one is the question not asked.

Sorry for the drabble, but I am so disgusted with myself that I had to vent and hopefully someone reading this will not take the quick glance and end up alive, instead of the alternative.

Safe riding folks, that’s what makes this fun.

J.R. Bob Dobbs · #2 Post by **J.R. Bob Dobbs** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 1:47 pm

Glad you made it thru safely.

Thanks for the post, I think incident reports make for great reading, they are reminders of the various hazards that can get you.

VermilionX · #3 Post by **VermilionX** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 2:22 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajD3E7yu ... e%20comedy

Kal · #4 Post by **Kal** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 3:04 pm

Glad you are alright man. All the skill in the world won't do any good without the odd bit of goodluck every so often.

My question is do you think it was your greater Situational Awareness that caused you to notice the beach bunny in the first place or did you become target fixated?

Sorry. I'll get me coat and go...

MakeCarsStandSTill · Thu Aug 03, 2006 3:09 pm

Glad your ok

TeamONEinc · #6 Post by **TeamONEinc** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 4:40 pm

That woulda made a great conversation starter with the lady. "You made me almost crash...you owe me lunch".

asiantay · #7 Post by **asiantay** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 4:50 pm

You know what I hate? When some chick wears a tan bikini and I look twice to confirm nakedness. Usually ends in dissapointment.. actually, always.

Beach · #8 Post by **Beach** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 5:49 pm

Yeah, you should have swept her off her feet, since she nearly swept you off the bike.

Glad you are OK. Just proves we are never too old to learn. Every day is a new learning experience for all of us. My best guess is you were rubber necking a bit too long. I look at chicks , I dont understand all the bike goes where you are looking stuff. It holds its line if I just swivel my head to look. If I cant see far ahead then I dont look away. I am too much of a newb to be looking at chicks while turning, so I watch the road and traffic. Its a good read, and reminder to not get over-confident though. My greatest fear is going beyond my skill level. We can all get too comfortable and make a little screw up that could cost us big time. I have read of quite a few wrecks in my short time here. It just goes to show that if you ride long enough, you are going to be challenged at some point. I just hope when it happens to me, I have the experience and skill to pull off the avoidance manuver like you did. Congrats there, you were tried and you passed.

m1a1dvr · #9 Post by **m1a1dvr** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 5:54 pm

Glad to hear you are ok. But I can say that looking is purely natural. I dont think there is one guy on here that would not have glanced. The same thing happened to me the other day. I was making a turn out of an intersection and something caught my eye. I looked at it for not even half a second and the next thing I know is that I am in the gravel on the side of the road. I got out of it and back on the road okand kept going. But it made me think that target fixiation is a bit*ch.

Shorts · #10 Post by **Shorts** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 6:59 pm

Great, yet another thing to blame women for - (nearly) crashing your bike