High-Siding; Fickle February Weather
Monday, February 19th, 2018
After perfect riding weather yesterday, this is what today is like. That’s February in Colorado.
I turned over 29,000 miles on my V-Strom Sunday. It was a fabulous, warm day to ride and there were a lot of bikes out. Temperatures were in the high 60s and everywhere I went there were motorcycles. Now today, Monday, it’s looking like that photo above. That wasn’t shot today but it may as well have been.
So yeah, I turned over that thousand-mile mark. Back in November all three of my bikes were very near turning over one thousand or another and I decided I would make it a point to turn each of them before the end of the year. Then in December my Mom’s illness and death stepped in and the only bike that made it past that 000 mark was the Concours. Of course I rode in January and again earlier in February, but I never did make it to that roll-over on the V-Strom till yesterday. I still haven’t gotten there on the CB750.
I had one bit of a thrill yesterday. It wasn’t part of my plan but I have been needing to stop in at some antique shops on South Broadway and I found myself in the area so what the heck. I was cruising fairly slowly up Broadway and spotted a parking space open in front of the shops I was headed for. I braked to pull over and Whoa! My rear tire locked up and slid out to the left and as I quickly let go of the brake the bike righted itself and shook the way it does when you high-side. I maintained control because I just wasn’t going that fast but it was a big surprise.
After I got parked I went over and looked at the pavement but there wasn’t even a skid mark to indicate my slide. I wanted to see if I had hit a bit of oil or sand or who knows what but the road all looked clear and with no skid mark I couldn’t be exactly sure where the slide happened. Oh well.
Now, I’ve taken a number of rider training courses and I know when your rear wheel locks up you are supposed to hold the brake on until you stop. If not, the result can be a high-side. And while I’ve never been thrown, I have had the experience leading up to it on a number of occasions, but ridden it out safely. It seems to be something I just haven’t gotten locked in my brain despite the training.
I think the reason it doesn’t come naturally is that it isn’t natural. On Sunday it all happened so quickly that I had no time at all to think. But another time I recall, I did have time to think. I was on I-25 in fairly heavy traffic and the car in front of me hit his brakes. I hit mine–I didn’t think that hard–and next thing I knew my rear wheel was sliding out. Well, I had time to think about riding it to a stop but I was on the freaking interstate in traffic and coming to a dead stop didn’t seem like such a good idea. So I eased off the brake.
Wham! The bike stood up and shook violently, with the force that throws you forward and over clearly discernible. Again, I was able to maintain–or regain–control and I stayed up. But that was pretty scary. And what else could I have done?
I’m going to have to think this one over. Maybe I can contact some experts and get their thoughts. If I learn anything I’ll be back to pass it along.
Biker Quote for Today
Riding a motorcycle is 10% hands and feet and 90% mind and eyes.
