Taking A Fall

As a teenager my buddies and I would take our dirt bikes out onto a frozen pond to oval race, also loved riding in the snow. Built a sandy flat track oval in an field nearby. Steering at full lock leaned over, feet on the pegs arse end sliding, directional control via throttle and sliding butt forward or aft. As required, great fun. Sand dunes, you gotta accelerate all the way down to keep control of the front end, otherwise it buries. Dirt bikes build experience to adverse conditions. Casey Stoner, and Rossi two good examples.

 

Almost without exception, the answers are one or more of

• failure to ride to the conditions
• lack of observation
• failure to ride defensively

I've spent most of my life doing all of those 3 things, generally all at the same time

 

My riding partner for 16 years witnessed me going down in a "no way out", T-bone crash... She was able to get stopped.
From then "We don't need a life changing experience..." was waiting for me, if the wick was turned up too far.

 

My last one was due to an inattentive 69 year woman on a cell phone who plowed into me at 55mph , I was stopped with my blinker on making a left into a Cafe She didn't touch the brakes until 20ft after impact.... "I didn't see him" Sunny day , bright blue coat . After surgery and 6 months in a wheel chair , 5 years of healing I"m back riding ...with VERY bright gear , and a much more acute sense of what's behind me .

 

I've taken a few falls without any injuries over the years, which is pretty lucky. My first bike was a 250 enduro, which I took to a grassy field to learn how to get it up on one wheel to get over obstacles like logs and rocks. I overdid the throttle, lifted the front wheel up and completely over to the left, then dropped the bike on its side and fell over it. This broke a mirror and bent the rear brake pedal. Later on a ride in very steep, rocky terrain, I simply fell off the bike going down a steep stair of limestone and I think broke another mirror. I did manage to break a brake lever and clutch lever on that bike as well. That's the extent of wrecks on that bike.

More recently, I put my KLR-650 down on a curvy, paved road up the street from me in Cheyenne Canyon. This tight, short canyon is fun to ride and I would hit it frequently. One day, a sports car went significantly faster than me in front, so it inspired me to up my pace. I fixated on a turn visually and got into the shoulder rut, planted the front wheel into a rock, and put the bike down on the left side, breaking the clutch lever off in the middle. Again, I plopped onto the road uninjured and no one was behind me. I managed to get the bike back upright and since the clutch lever was broken, I opted to coast in neutral down the canyon. I had to push the bike on level ground for a bit, then gave up, went home for a vise grip, and then walked back to the bike to clamp it to the stub remaining on the clutch lever. This allowed me to shift on the way home. I had a few traffic lights to deal with and wanted to be able to disengage the engine and not get pushed into the intersection.

And... hopefully that was the last one!

 

Stopping in a country road lay by at dusk on a 2015 Speedmaster ... Where my left foot should have met solid ground it didn’t as I missed seeing that the camber steeply fell away ... so me and my 1 month old bike fell away too... down into a ditch... I blame the chin bar on my full face helmet blocking my view of the ground and it was eveningtime...but it’s been a lesson learned to triple check that my foot is going to land on solid ground when stopping. .... there’s others but for another day !

 

The trick is not to tense up as well. That affects the bike and its ability to get you round the bend.