RRrider
Enthusiast, Fukrwe Club
So in support of crash analysis, wanting both others to learn from my experience and for me to gain the insight barf has to offer, I thought I'd share the crash I had yesterday on my way up to Skaggs from the bay area along Hwy 1. (It wasn't a bad one - but perhaps some lessons to be gleaned nonetheless).
I was having a good day, feeling good, and the bike felt good and responsive (a Speed Triple R). We were on a fast flat section north of marshall (north of golden gate bridge) a bit inland in grassy fields and farms on our way to Skaggs. The road had some nice sweepers in it, not tight technical turns.
I was riding with a group, and entering into an S turn (right hander followed immediately by a left hander) at a speed that felt entirely comfortable to me, but was described by others in the group as "a pretty good clip".
As I put pressure on the right handle bar and leant in, the bike felt a little sluggish compared to how it had felt all day...but it was subtle, and I wondered if I was imagining things. Nonetheless, I gently eased off the throttle a bit as I completed the turn, and put pressure on the left handle bar for the second half of the S turn: the left hand turn. At this point the bike was suddenly extremely unresponsive and alarmingly heading off the road. Having learned a lesson from an eariler crash a couple of years ago, I forced my eyes on to the road where I wanted to go, leaned in harder into the turn, and pushed much harder on my obstinate handle bar. Nonetheless, the bike "decided" not to heed my wishes, and instead charged off the road, fortunately down a slight incline into grass.
The guys I was riding with immediately came to help (thanks guys!!!). We picked up the bike and pushed it onto the road, and saw that the front tire was entirely flat. Fortunately we were right by a farm, and the farmer (cool guy, ex rider) let us use his air compressor. It became immediately apparent that there was a nail sized hole in my front tire, dead centre. I do carry tools and a tire repair kit with me at all times (another lesson learned here at barf!) and so we were able to repair the tire with one of those mushroom plugs (they're great), use some allen wrenches to fix my mirrors. And then, on we went.
Damage to my bike was miraculously little: a broken turn indicator, and some scratches.
Damage to me amounted to scrapes and bruises.
Very lucky, on many fronts!
So lessons learned? Now that I know that a sluggish reaction from the handle bar could mean a blowout in the making, and that a blow out can happen REALLY fast, next time I feel that, I won't just ease off the throttle as I continue on my way thinking about what could be going wrong. Rather, I'll immediately do my best to stop the bike safely so I can check out what is going on. Reacting sooner may have given me just enough "time" and "room" (at least in this case).
And yes, clearly if i were going slower, I'd have had "more time" / "less need of room" to get the bike onto the right path. But does one ride at a speed thinking what if I got a blowout right now? That would be really conservative riding, in my opinion. [I expect this could generate some reactions from the "always plan for the worst" crowd].
That's about it. I'm actually pretty proud of how I believe I reacted. I had another crash a few years back which I believe involved target fixation in a decrease radius turn, and the fact that I got my eyes onto the road and committed to the turn despite the impending crash feels really good. It would feel better of course if I had managed to keep the bike on the road
The other lesson is it is really worthwhile to bring some tools and a tire-repair kit along with you when riding. My day would have been over, probably with an expensive tow otherwise. But instead, I got to keep on riding, and get in some good runs on Skaggs.
Oh final lesson: it's a long way from the peninsula, but Skaggs is a really fun road
:ride
I was having a good day, feeling good, and the bike felt good and responsive (a Speed Triple R). We were on a fast flat section north of marshall (north of golden gate bridge) a bit inland in grassy fields and farms on our way to Skaggs. The road had some nice sweepers in it, not tight technical turns.
I was riding with a group, and entering into an S turn (right hander followed immediately by a left hander) at a speed that felt entirely comfortable to me, but was described by others in the group as "a pretty good clip".
As I put pressure on the right handle bar and leant in, the bike felt a little sluggish compared to how it had felt all day...but it was subtle, and I wondered if I was imagining things. Nonetheless, I gently eased off the throttle a bit as I completed the turn, and put pressure on the left handle bar for the second half of the S turn: the left hand turn. At this point the bike was suddenly extremely unresponsive and alarmingly heading off the road. Having learned a lesson from an eariler crash a couple of years ago, I forced my eyes on to the road where I wanted to go, leaned in harder into the turn, and pushed much harder on my obstinate handle bar. Nonetheless, the bike "decided" not to heed my wishes, and instead charged off the road, fortunately down a slight incline into grass.
The guys I was riding with immediately came to help (thanks guys!!!). We picked up the bike and pushed it onto the road, and saw that the front tire was entirely flat. Fortunately we were right by a farm, and the farmer (cool guy, ex rider) let us use his air compressor. It became immediately apparent that there was a nail sized hole in my front tire, dead centre. I do carry tools and a tire repair kit with me at all times (another lesson learned here at barf!) and so we were able to repair the tire with one of those mushroom plugs (they're great), use some allen wrenches to fix my mirrors. And then, on we went.
Damage to my bike was miraculously little: a broken turn indicator, and some scratches.
Damage to me amounted to scrapes and bruises.
Very lucky, on many fronts!
So lessons learned? Now that I know that a sluggish reaction from the handle bar could mean a blowout in the making, and that a blow out can happen REALLY fast, next time I feel that, I won't just ease off the throttle as I continue on my way thinking about what could be going wrong. Rather, I'll immediately do my best to stop the bike safely so I can check out what is going on. Reacting sooner may have given me just enough "time" and "room" (at least in this case).
And yes, clearly if i were going slower, I'd have had "more time" / "less need of room" to get the bike onto the right path. But does one ride at a speed thinking what if I got a blowout right now? That would be really conservative riding, in my opinion. [I expect this could generate some reactions from the "always plan for the worst" crowd].
That's about it. I'm actually pretty proud of how I believe I reacted. I had another crash a few years back which I believe involved target fixation in a decrease radius turn, and the fact that I got my eyes onto the road and committed to the turn despite the impending crash feels really good. It would feel better of course if I had managed to keep the bike on the road
The other lesson is it is really worthwhile to bring some tools and a tire-repair kit along with you when riding. My day would have been over, probably with an expensive tow otherwise. But instead, I got to keep on riding, and get in some good runs on Skaggs.
Oh final lesson: it's a long way from the peninsula, but Skaggs is a really fun road
:ride
