So you've crashed....

[miztress6]

Twice ...

The first one a constant struggle in my head.

Could I have hit the throttle harder bumped over to the middle lane in front of the car next to me to avoid the cruiser coming out of the median at me?

Should I have had better braking skills? Would I have had a enough room to come to a stop without planting on the hood?

Would he have backed up had a I not pulled a street luge?

I chose to grab a handful of brake as a police cruiser came out of a median break. 3 lanes of traffic on the opposite side 3 lanes on my side. I'm in the left lane an my gf about 2 -3 car lengths ahead of me. She shifted to the right side of the left land and hit the throttle. I saw the car closing in and I grabbed the brakes not to hard but as I closed in on the car I hit the rear harder. I felt the rear end start to come out and I closed my eyes and let go. As I hit the pavement I picked up my head and tucked my hands and feet as I heard my helmet skidding. I looked down the street in front of me and the cruiser was backing back into the center of the median. I stood up and chased my bike down the street.

I managed to make it to my bike the officer and his "ride along" helped block traffic for us to get our bikes to a parking lot and told us they had to answer a shots fired call and left me. No accident report. No call to the supervisor to send another squad.

I broke a critical rule I knew nothing about. After the crash if you are sliding and you think you have stopped count to at least 30 before you stand up. My knee is still suspect I tore my meniscus.


I also bit it in deals gap less than 3 weeks later wearing a knee brace riding way above my skill level. I came into a corner too hot in the rain and hit the paint. Chose the side rather than going over and dislocated my shoulder...(hey I rode down the mountain in the rain lol)

In my head I will always be a beginner. There are times I still catch my breath and hold. I ride with great people who are very understanding and they just wait at the turns while I take my time. I can't say enough for placing yourself in this type of support group...or living in FL its easier to ride straight and flat with no elevation change

Don't even ask about me flipping my quad off the mountain

[Dave]

Originally Posted by miztress6

Twice ...

The first one a constant struggle in my head.

Could I have hit the throttle harder bumped over to the middle lane in front of the car next to me to avoid the cruiser coming out of the median at me?

Should I have had better braking skills? Would I have had a enough room to come to a stop without planting on the hood?

Would he have backed up had a I not pulled a street luge?

I chose to grab a handful of brake as a police cruiser came out of a median break. 3 lanes of traffic on the opposite side 3 lanes on my side. I'm in the left lane an my gf about 2 -3 car lengths ahead of me. She shifted to the right side of the left land and hit the throttle. I saw the car closing in and I grabbed the brakes not to hard but as I closed in on the car I hit the rear harder. I felt the rear end start to come out and I closed my eyes and let go. As I hit the pavement I picked up my head and tucked my hands and feet as I heard my helmet skidding. I looked down the street in front of me and the cruiser was backing back into the center of the median. I stood up and chased my bike down the street.

I managed to make it to my bike the officer and his "ride along" helped block traffic for us to get our bikes to a parking lot and told us they had to answer a shots fired call and left me. No accident report. No call to the supervisor to send another squad.

I broke a critical rule I knew nothing about. After the crash if you are sliding and you think you have stopped count to at least 30 before you stand up. My knee is still suspect I tore my meniscus.


I also bit it in deals gap less than 3 weeks later wearing a knee brace riding way above my skill level. I came into a corner too hot in the rain and hit the paint. Chose the side rather than going over and dislocated my shoulder...(hey I rode down the mountain in the rain lol)

In my head I will always be a beginner. There are times I still catch my breath and hold. I ride with great people who are very understanding and they just wait at the turns while I take my time. I can't say enough for placing yourself in this type of support group...or living in FL its easier to ride straight and flat with no elevation change

Don't even ask about me flipping my quad off the mountain

I hate paint


I'm curious how many folks get the time slowdown effect and if they can successfully use it to save themselves from crashing.

[Archren]

Originally Posted by OTB

PPS... IMHO there is NO SHAME in crashing....only in not learning from it, or blaming the rest of the world.............


Rubber side down, please.....

That's the part that freaks me out about my big accident. The other couple times I went down, I know where *I* fucked up (because there was no other cause for going down other than stupid rider error), and I'd like to think I learned from those (don't take corners hot when it's cold out/tires are cold/asphalt is cold.. easy braking in the rain ).

But the one that sent me to the hospital for 5 days, there was no obvious cause that anyone in the group I was riding with could tell me.. only that I ran off the road and lost control from there. Why I ran off the road? No one saw and the resulting concussion did a number on my memory. So I don't know... and it's always haunted me - where did I go wrong? There was no gravel.. no oncoming vehicles.. Did I look behind me to check on the guy behind me and swerve? Was there a critter? So I've kept on riding.. getting back on the bike was easy, there wasn't really much of a mental block there - hard to be afraid when you can't remember what caused you to crash. But I have slowed down a lot just in general - I don't go too far out of my comfort zone unless I'm on the track, and even then I'm still pretty slow.

[Ninjakel]

Great post!!