Filmed my (near) death today

n10sive

n10sive

Well-known member
Today...I was ONE LUCKY BASTID!

The following is a short clip of my ride today and a near fatal mistake. I was riding my BMW R1200RT on group ride today on some new to me roads. I was following a GSXR 1000 and a busa to get them a little 'film time'. When we came to this particular corner, I fixated on the BIKE ahead and NOT THE TURN. The Gixxer got on it around the corner and me, being the dumb ass was fixated on the bike which pulled me into the corner too hot for my type of bike. Sometimes it's hard to go from a track bike (my SV650) to my street bike and not forget that my street bike does not do what my SV does. In the video you can hear the scraping start. I tried not to panic or chop the throttle or hit the breaks but tried to gently coax the bike around the corner and slow down gently. The apex tightened before I could accomplish this and the bike wound up sliding across the lane on hard parts instead of the tires. I was freaking LUCKY there was no oncoming traffic and that there was a hill there instead of a cliff (the next corner). It was a weekend and there was plenty of traffic this day. By all rights I should have been on the ground, and lucky not to be a hood ornament of one of the many 4X's pulling boats that we passed in the opposite direction.

My lesson? Ride my own pace and don't loose your concentration in corners.

FYI, this is Ice House Road between Wentworth Springs and Hwy 50 above Placerville.

So enjoy my OH FACK! moment :teeth


youtu.be/y-01JB0zsu8
 
Momo-san

Momo-san

Peachy!
Dude! Glad you made it. I've noticed that the times I come closest to getting into corner trouble is when I am "thinking" about other stuff and not completely focused on the road. Following the bike in front of you is a big one too, I try to leave a big cushion in the turns.

Luck was with you today, and nice job keeping your cool.
 
Joebar4000

Joebar4000

Well-known member
You identified most of what was wrong, but your could probably have turned a bit later, and been further out to the left on corner entry. It looked like you apexed early and were commited to the line that took you over to the wrong side, I don't think that was a situation where you could realistically just lean it over more as you looked pretty far over for that kind of bike already.

Apart from the obvious, 'slow it down' I'd suggest taking visibility lines, instead of what looked like a racing line, as they always have a larger margin for tightening radius turns.
 
humbug612

humbug612

Rastus
Thats exactly how my little brother died, the only difference was he found a U Haul coming the other way, Ride Safe!
 
phuzzy3d

phuzzy3d

In a world without cars..
Too bad we don't shit coal, cause you'd be crapping diamonds.

Now would cutting back across the lane be the wisest choice on the blind curve, or continuing ahead along the shoulder until you could check for oncoming traffic? It just seems like getting back across into your lane could of got you hit head on or from a trailing vehicle that was in your originating lane. That's three bullets you dodged.

I'm glad your OK.
 
n10sive

n10sive

Well-known member
Joebar4000 said:
You identified most of what was wrong, but your could probably have turned a bit later, and been further out to the left on corner entry. It looked like you apexed early and were commited to the line that took you over to the wrong side, I don't think that was a situation where you could realistically just lean it over more as you looked pretty far over for that kind of bike already.

Apart from the obvious, 'slow it down' I'd suggest taking visibility lines, instead of what looked like a racing line, as they always have a larger margin for tightening radius turns.
Click to expand...

I hear all that. My problem (as stated) was that I had never ridden this road, and instead of concentrating on MY lines at MY pace, I got fixated on the bike in front of me and lost my concentration. Result? Bad lines, bad speed and 'kick standing' the bike.

phuzzy3d said:
Now would cutting back across the lane be the wisest choice on the blind curve, or continuing ahead along the shoulder until you could check for oncoming traffic? It just seems like getting back across into your lane could of got you hit head on or from a trailing vehicle that was in your originating lane. That's three bullets you dodged.
Click to expand...

It's hard to tell in the video but my already small shoulder was getting even smaller as I aproached the turn. My exact thoughts (hard to believe I had any at that time) was "stay on the shoulder until after the turn or get back in my lane?" When I saw the shoulder disappearing I didn't want to get clipped by a car so I took the chance of darting back to my lane real quick. But your right...it was another bullet that I dodged. My mom always says "Good things come come in three's" so I figured I had one more coming! :laughing

In my defense, we were actually riding the speed limit with no funny passing because of the traffic. The bikes in front decided on these particular sets of corners to play a bit and accelerate through a set of 3 corners. The video clip was the second corner of the three. My stupidy came when I decided I would just 'follow'. :(

Edit: At the time, it felt like the whole thing took minutes from the slide to getting back in my lane. When I watched the video I was amazed at how quick the whole thing happened.
 
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dwarf

dwarf

Super StreetFighter
Omg that was crazy. I'm glad that you came out of that safely and no was on the other side of the road when that happened. You handled that situation well.

You're a stand up guy too. Not only did you explain to me the dangers of scraping 'hard' parts, but you demonstrated with an onboard video. Thanks for your help! :rofl:teeth
 
Duffil

Duffil

Hack
Ice House Rd!! Crap man, I drive a 4WD Toyota, and I've driven Ice House heading to the Rubicon. On a busy weekend, you are way lucky!

But, you know what you did wrong and can work to avoid it...good job on the save.
 
MotardJunkie

MotardJunkie

Banned
stunts like that get people killed. you need to take it to the track or slow down. thats all the advice needed for that video.
 
RhythmRider

RhythmRider

Still Rhythm Rydin'
Yeah, I've done that... several times... :x :later

For what it's worth, I think you nailed the analysis quite well. This is one of the dangers of filming (or just following) others during spirited street rides. Seems like you're experienced and skilled enough to learn from this mistake. Hopefully you won't need as much luck as I seem to have.
 
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scout

scout

Banned
First, thanks for an informative video, to me, because I ride solo, mentally. Really, I think you hit the analysis right when you said that the problem was an unknown road. And unkown roads NEVER go with group rides.

To me, and I don't ride fast, it appeared that you were going at a safe speed, but not concentrating upon the unknown road, and, like you said, thinking about the rider ahead. If you knew the road, you would've reacted safely using muscle memory.

I don't ride in groups because my weakness is competitiveness, which equates to riding too fast, causing a danger to others and myself. I could never film others because I would be the dumbass trying to get in front. A genetic flaw, I guess.
 
n10sive

n10sive

Well-known member
mikhail said:
How fast would you estimate you were going?
Click to expand...

Too fast is the first thing that comes to mind :laughing

Seriously...we were mostly doing speed limit + 5 over for the entire ride due to an increase in LEO activity on the mountain roads this year. However, when we get to corners we just do the same speeds as the straights. In this corner, since I wasn't paying attention to even the important stuff...I don't know what my speed was.

Interesting thing about this road was there were not a lot of cautionary speed signs that had you go slower in some of the tighter turns. Not knowing this road is a liability because of that.
 
bent_pipe

bent_pipe

extremist
Thanks for sharing and I’m glad you didn’t go down. Do you think modifying the bike to get more lean angle would have helped? Not a practical thing on a K series I know

~ Tom
 
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