DataDan
Mama says he's bona fide
I’m a huge believer in accepting one’s tendency to make mistakes, analyzing them when they occur, and working out ways to prevent them from happening in the future. I was forced into this attitude early in my career as a computer programmer—a craft that quickly brings the overconfident to their knees. But it works equally well for motorcycle riding, another humbling craft.
Inspired by several good riding tip threads lately, I thought I’d start a do-it-yourself thread about riding errors and remedies. The idea is for you to describe a near-miss or crash and, more importantly, what you learned from the incident and what changes you made to your riding to reduce the likelihood of recurrence. I think it would be helpful to get contributions from well-respected veteran BARFers to show less experienced riders that we all make mistakes, but that to survive and become a grizzled old fart you must learn from them.
I’ll start off with a few to get the ball rolling:
Inspired by several good riding tip threads lately, I thought I’d start a do-it-yourself thread about riding errors and remedies. The idea is for you to describe a near-miss or crash and, more importantly, what you learned from the incident and what changes you made to your riding to reduce the likelihood of recurrence. I think it would be helpful to get contributions from well-respected veteran BARFers to show less experienced riders that we all make mistakes, but that to survive and become a grizzled old fart you must learn from them.
I’ll start off with a few to get the ball rolling:
- Exiting 680 southbound at Treat in Walnut Creek, I’m a little too hot on the offramp and brake hard. But rain the night before had left the giant arrow slippery, and when I hit it, I go down hard. Lesson: Never brake hard on traffic markings; stay to one side or the other.
- Riding in light traffic on a 2-lane rural freeway, I’m in the #1 lane coming up on a Ford Explorer in the #2 and, further ahead, an 18-wheeler. I’m doing 75 and the Explorer is 10mph slower. As it approaches the truck, the Explorer moves into my lane without looking, and I have to brake to avoid him. Pissed off, I swoop by him and glare once we’re clear of the truck. My mistake was not anticipating that the Explorer would change lanes to get around the truck. To prevent it from happening again, I expect lane changes as traffic approaches a slow-moving vehicle and either gas it to get clear of potential offenders or drop back and give them room.
- This one I’ve learned several times, thankfully without crashing. Most recently, I was northbound on CA33 north of Ojai (Ventura County) but not yet to the mountains where the riding gets really good. I was riding in a small group (WARNING! WARNING!) behind a slow-moving car that we wanted to get around. As we enter a straight, two other riders pass, and I see my opportunity and go for it. But the car slows and signals to make a left turn into a campground up ahead. I quickly get on the brakes and move back into my lane behind the turning car. The lesson is never to pass when the passee has a left-turn opportunity in sight—wait ‘til you’re clear. I really, really hope it sticks this time, because riders die in that kind of crash.