Slight Incident

[MaeLyneS]

Posting this is embarrassing. I had an incident yesterday. Carl, another PGR friend and I were riding to Bushnell (Florida National Cemetery) to attend a KIA mission for a young soldier. I took a right hand S- curve a little too hot and got over the center line. I was only doing about 30 mph. There was an oncoming car and I decided it might be wise to head off of the road since I didn't think I could get it back on my side of the road in time. so turned and plowed into the woods. All would have been OK except my hack wheel hit the edge of a concrete culvert.

I did not get get hurt and the bike did not get hurt. The mount that holds the spindle got bent and the hack wheel was at an obscene angle. I am a little bruised and sore where I bounced into the side car after my unplanned sudden stop. The biggest injury is my very bruised ego :sad:

There is a house next to where I decide to ride into the woods and the guys there were working on a car and came running. They helped Carl, and our firend pull the bike out on the road and took it up to their house. They had a floor jack and they helped Carl remove the wheel. With a length of pipe, they were able to bend the bracket back enough to make the rig rideable. Carl road tested it and it handled fine - though the wheel was still canted out at the top.

The three of us continued on to Tavares, about 20 miles and had lunch since we had now missed the mission. We came back home via US 441, Carl did not want me to take the rig on the freeway, and we dropped the rig off at a machine ship in Plymouth. This machind shop is owned by Carl's cousins. We will pick it up this afternoon. They will straighten the mounting bracket.

 

[CarlS]

Our friend was leading and I was riding sweep. Fred saw the whole thing in his mirrors and I had a cats eye view. I was so glad that she was not hurt. The little bit of bent metal is nothing. If not for the culvert, there would have been no damage.

 

[MaeLyneS]

I should have added my lessons learned.

1. Ride my own ride. Do not try to keep up if if I am not comfortable doing so.

2. Pay attention to the posted speed signs on curves. The hack does not corner like two wheels.

I had no fear about getting back on and riding it. But I will admit that I was very cautions on curves!

 

[DaveM]

Wow glad that you are ok and as you say the rig can be fixed. All adds to the riding experience I suppose but lessons we could do without :silent:

 

[dazco]

Glad you got thru it, but be careful !!! You guys already had one incident that didn't turn out so happily recently and we don't need to read about another one !
One thing i learned long ago is that if you ever let yourself relax and devote less than 100% of your concentration to the road, make sure the one place you never ever do that is on a curve. curves are deadly because things happen so fast it's scary, and it can catch you off guard very easily. And i imagine in a hack rig it would be even worse. Once you made the mistake i think correcting it in a hack would be nearly impossible. So when it comes to curves i become ultra vigilant, never taking my eye off the road for an instant. I was re-introduced to how dangerous it is to lose concentration or take a curve a bit too fast when i first got the speedy after many years off of bikes. It had a sorta close one too and it hit me how i'd forgotten things like this. Good wake up call tho, and now i'm Mr concentration in the curves, even more so than before i had quit riding way back then. Be careful !!!

 

[Rocky]

, I'm glad to hear that things didn't turn out too badly.

 

[Geoff587]

Glad there were no injuries, Ego,s can be massaged better, bones take a little longer.

 

[The Seeker]

Yeah...just like sailing. You can't call yourself a sailor until you've flipped your sailboat at least once.

Embarrassing moments like that are just part of riding.....like when I came to a stoplight in the middle of busy city traffic and put my foot down on the only damned wet leaf on the roadway. It may as well have been ice!

 

[devo]

Running it of the road was a far better choice than into an oncoming car
You did well to keep your cool :y115:
:y18:

 

[avion]

Glad to hear it was only a learning experience and not a hospital visit.
I think your survival instinct did it's job nicely there Mae.

...

 

[MaeLyneS]

Thank you all for the encouragement and support. Other than being angry with myself. I am just fine and not afraid to ride.

 

[Rocky]

To use Oprah's well worn phrase, "You go girl!"
Since my "incident" many people (family too) have asked if I'm now afraid to ride again. The answer is no. You have to have confidence in yourself and your ability. Things like this happen and we get over it.
In both of our cases it could have been much worse, but it wasn't so there's no point in dwelling on "what might have been."
Your incident has been a learning experience as was mine. We learn from it and go on with life.
Enjoy your warm weather and I'll enjoy my -11C (12F) today :ya2:

 

[MaeLyneS]

Thank you, Rocky. I appreciate the encouragement and support from all of you. Rocky, I do not want to change weather with you!! It will be 83 here today.

 

[The Seeker]

Just out of curiosity????......Did the automobile stop and lend assistance?

 

[Simmer]

I am always late. Glad you are okay Mae Lyne. Take care.

Dave

 

[dazco]

If anything this would make you MORE confident because it's another lesson learned. I'm always seeing what COULD happen as I ride and learning lessons from even that. But when an incident actually happens it leaves a impression on you thats sticks with you as you ride from that day forward. So IMO when you have a close call it is a good thing because it makes you a better safer rider. I consider myself a much better rider today because of the close calls and accidents that actually happened back when i was younger. Nothing like a couple months in a hospital to teach you some valuable lessons in safe riding !!! h: :ya2:

 

[Rocky]

Just to carry on with this line of thinking, a recent Japanese study compared a group of men who had all ridden motorcycles many years ago. Half continued to drive their cars and the other half rode only motorcycles. After two months the motorcycle group showed a significant improvement in alertness, awareness, memory and and a general sharpness of mind.
The need and will to survive in traffic will certainly sharpen the senses :ya2:

 

[CarlS]

Yes, they did. As soon as they saw she was OK, and others were helping, they went on. In fact three cages stopped to make sure she was OK. This was a rural area and people are country friendly.

 

[CarlS]

Rocky, I am a much more alert driver because of my motorcycle experience. In the cage as well as on the bike, I look way down the road and try to anticipate. It pays off.

 

[Rocky]

Carl, I am too. When I came back to riding in 1992 I took the motorcycle safety course and that taught me a lot. Right away I became a better cage driver by being more aware of possible hazards and also a better pedestrian. I don't trust anyone behind the wheel.
I have only ever been involved in three fender benders in my life and none of them were my fault; drunk driver, icy conditions and inattention.
My years of riding have sharpened my senses and I too anticipate situations before they happen....except on a curve in Peru :ya2: