Riding Scared
Thursday, February 6th, 2014
Yeah, these guys know how to do it.
Have you scared yourself recently? On your bike, I mean?
I’m happy to say I haven’t–recently–but that doesn’t mean I haven’t scared myself to death a few times over the years. I think the improvement comes with a lot of experience, plus, taking some rider training courses didn’t hurt me, either.
I don’t think there’s anything that scares me more than getting leaned over in a curve and seeing an unavoidable patch of gravel, and then feeling that rear tire slip. There’s nothing to do at that point except ride it through, and fortunately that’s generally what happens. In less than a heartbeat you’re through the gravel and your tire hooks up with the pavement again. Whew!
Carrying too much speed into the curve is another situation where that adrenaline pump can kick in big time. It probably happens most often when you think you’ve got the speed judged well but then the curve gets progressively tighter and all of a sudden, oh my god, hang on! The saving grace there, if you have the guts, is that your bike and tires are capable of a lot more than what you generally call on them for. If you don’t do something foolish, such as deliberately laying it down, you can usually ride it through.
In later years I’ve taken to practicing leaning as far off the bike as I have the courage to, to the inside of the curve. The more you move your weight in that direction the more you are able to stand the bike up, and the more upright the bike is the more traction you have. You see the racers do it all the time but who among the rest of us schlubs has the guts to drag a knee? Not me, but I still practice it as much as I can so that if the need arises some day I will have as much going for me as possible.
The trouble is, though, that sometimes you can be doing everything right but you’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time. There was one time I was coming north on Federal and was stopping at a red light at Alameda. Taking it easy, no big deal, when all of a sudden the bike started going sideways. I hadn’t seen anything but apparently someone had leaked some oil on the road right there.
I threw out my leg and braced it and my foot hit the ground hard. It was just enough to bounce me back over the other way, at which point I threw that leg out and braced it and hit hard. That bounced me back the other way again and kept me upright and I was able to save the situation. Holy crap. It happened so fast, was over so quickly, and all I could do was thank my lucky stars and my reflexes. It’s probably also a good thing I was on a smaller bike, my CB750 Custom, or else there’s no way I could have stopped the fall. And that bike’s not light, just over 500 pounds, but at least it’s not 800 pounds or more like a lot of the bigger bikes these days.
Yeah, I haven’t been scared in quite a while. I do think it’s mostly because I’m a better rider, but I know some of it has to be luck. The fact that I may draw a short straw some day isn’t going to stop me from riding. But more and more I think it has kept me from riding stupid.
Biker Quote for Today
Nine mile skid on a ten mile ride. Hot as a pistol but cool inside.
