Low Sided on Central Freeway Onramp

[Jbel]

Good Morning, I usually don't post but definitely use BARF for anything motorcycle related.
This morning around 6:10 am I low sided my CBR headed south on the Central Freeway onramp that is located on Duboce and South Van Ness (the one with the round-about onramp).
As I was veering right on the round-about, my tires gave way and I low sided at around 20 mph. After the low side I got up and almost slipped as the road was extremely slippery. Fortunately it was early in the morning and there were no cars around to cause further injuries. I inspected the area and from the smell of it, it must have been a combo of gas and oil that caused the accident. There were no puddles of oil/gas visible. I have a few scrapes and my CBR has some road rash but was saved largely due to the frame sliders. Thank goodness for a good samaritan that got out of his car and helped me pick up the bike. With the road so slippery, I could't have done it alone.
I've taken this route to work M-F for the past 3 years and never had this happen before. My tires have plenty of tread left and I was not speeding. The weather conditions were misty but nothing out of the ordinary.
I have a few questions.

1. Is there someone I can notify to have that area looked at and possibly cleaned to prevent further accidents that might occur today?
2. Is there a way to find out if there was a spill that was recently cleaned up in that area. (Wondering if there was, should there have been warning signs?)
3. Does anyone have tips on how to prevent this from happening again. I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary and would like to learn from this experience. I can't think of anything I did wrong. I was getting ready to merge and boom, down I went.
3. Am I SOL in regards to the damage to my bike, or can I submit a claim somehow maybe to CalTrans?

Thanks everyone.

 

[tzrider]

1. Is there someone I can notify to have that area looked at and possibly cleaned to prevent further accidents that might occur today?
2. Is there a way to find out if there was a spill that was recently cleaned up in that area. (Wondering if there was, should there have been warning signs?)
3. Does anyone have tips on how to prevent this from happening again. I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary and would like to learn from this experience. I can't think of anything I did wrong. I was getting ready to merge and boom, down I went.
3. Am I SOL in regards to the damage to my bike, or can I submit a claim somehow maybe to CalTrans?

1) I'm not really sure. You might start with CalTrans or CHP, but slippery stuff on on-ramps is pretty common and they may not be inclined to do anything. Nothing ventured, nothing gained though.

2) No idea.

3) On-ramps do tend to accumulate slippery fluids, from oil and gas to anti-freeze. You can find them anywhere, but riding to the inside edge of a curve is usually cleanest in my experience. Ramps can be tempting places to play due to their configuration, but it's unwise because of the stuff that can be on the surface.

4) I think a CalTrans claim is a stretch. They will likely look at it as "too fast for conditions."

 

[Jbel]

Thanks for the replies.
tzrider, I appreciate your point 3 comment about sticking to the inside edge, that was going to be my next question as to where on the road is safest and your explanation makes perfect sense. I'll make sure to incorporate that into my riding.
Can anyone recommend an advanced motorcycle training course? After the spill I find myself wanting to better prepare myself to best handle specific riding situations.

On a personal note:
I was so upset after the spill, I did everything right and I still went down.
After replaying the spill in my head over and over again I came to the conclusion that somethings are out of our control and all we can do is to protect ourselves as much as possible i.e. have the right gear on, make sure our rides are well maintained and learn from our experiences.
I was not fully protected as I had on normal jeans on so I came away with scraped knees that would have been prevented had I had the correct protection.
I'm taking this experience as the motorcycle Gods telling me to have all the right gear on all the time. Who knows what injuries I would have sustained had I been going at a higher speed.

Also, for those reading this after having a spill of their own: Its normal to be upset and afraid to get back on your bike regardless of how "minor" you spill may have been. Your probably also contimplating hanging up your helmet and calling it quits which I know I was. But I've been without a bike in the past for about 3 months when my Nina 650 gave out. I can tell you that was the worst 3 months that I can remember. I tried to hang em up but not riding affected my attitude. All I could do was think about riding again. So for me, I will ride on, but with more experience and proper gear.

 

[Smash Allen]

Also, for those reading this after having a spill of their own: Its normal to be upset and afraid to get back on your bike regardless of how "minor" you spill may have been. Your probably also contimplating hanging up your helmet and calling it quits which I know I was. But I've been without a bike in the past for about 3 months when my Nina 650 gave out. I can tell you that was the worst 3 months that I can remember. I tried to hang em up but not riding affected my attitude. All I could do was think about riding again. So for me, I will ride on, but with more experience and proper gear.

Welcome to the addiction, grab a seat and tell us what brought you here...:thumbup:ridearty

As far as preventing it in the future, I suggest to be aware of transition points. Street-to-Highway, Street-to-Parking-Lot, Intersections. These are a few examples of places where traction is often less-than-ideal. Everytime I encounter these transition points I assume (even with clear asphalt) that I will lose traction and am prepared for the slip by staying loose on the controls and lower body locked in place ready to let my hips pivot

 

[DIY]

Thanks for the replies.
tzrider, I appreciate your point 3 comment about sticking to the inside edge, that was going to be my next question as to where on the road is safest and your explanation makes perfect sense. I'll make sure to incorporate that into my riding.
Can anyone recommend an advanced motorcycle training course? After the spill I find myself wanting to better prepare myself to best handle specific riding situations.

On a personal note:
I was so upset after the spill, I did everything right and I still went down.
After replaying the spill in my head over and over again I came to the conclusion that somethings are out of our control and all we can do is to protect ourselves as much as possible i.e. have the right gear on, make sure our rides are well maintained and learn from our experiences.
I was not fully protected as I had on normal jeans on so I came away with scraped knees that would have been prevented had I had the correct protection.
I'm taking this experience as the motorcycle Gods telling me to have all the right gear on all the time. Who knows what injuries I would have sustained had I been going at a higher speed.

Also, for those reading this after having a spill of their own: Its normal to be upset and afraid to get back on your bike regardless of how "minor" you spill may have been. Your probably also contimplating hanging up your helmet and calling it quits which I know I was. But I've been without a bike in the past for about 3 months when my Nina 650 gave out. I can tell you that was the worst 3 months that I can remember. I tried to hang em up but not riding affected my attitude. All I could do was think about riding again. So for me, I will ride on, but with more experience and proper gear.

Hi jbel. The thing that jumps out at me was your statement that "I did everything right". There is an argument that can be made that if you crashed then you didn't EVERYTHING right. I don't mean to bust your balls, unless you're a girl, I just want to suggest that the conclusion you arrived at is only a transitory conclusion based on your experiences up till now. As you progress and develop as a rider your schema will be greater and you will have more experiences to draw from when making judgments. My reasoning has two objectives: 1. To promote active, open-mindedness instead of grasping closed ended solutions and 2. To open a dialogue where we can reflect on how all of the other motorcyclists that used that on that day did not crash. Just my food for thought for the day.

 

[T100]

Misty/foggy weather conditions will cause the oil, gas, antifreeze, etc. to leach out of the asphalt just like the first light rain of the season does.

All I can add is to just file that in your mind and, maybe take a different line (ride the edges) in the onramp as someone else already said.

That said, something could have crapped out there recently and dumped fluid onto the asphalt making it a trap.

 

[Jbel]

@DIY & T100, you are both absolutely right. I thought I did everything right based on my limited experience up until that point (which looking back on is not that extensive). I have searched similar spills and have picked up some good tips from them as well as from you all here, such as riding along the inner edge, making sure to make note of road transitions from street to freeway, and taking extra caution during different weather conditions.
The spill has increased my experience and like T100 said, I have stored that in the memory bank and learned from it.

 

[T100]

Also as much of a trap in foggy, misty conditions, are the painted crosswalks, reflector biscuits, and RR tracks. File those in the same folder under "traps".:teeth:ride

 

[zixaq]

Also as much of a trap in foggy, misty conditions, are the painted crosswalks, reflector biscuits, and RR tracks. File those in the same folder under "traps".:teeth:ride

Those crosswalks can be evil when you hit them while cornering in morning fog. I swear they make them out of teflon or something.

 

[El Feo]

3) On-ramps do tend to accumulate slippery fluids, from oil and gas to anti-freeze. You can find them anywhere, but riding to the inside edge of a curve is usually cleanest in my experience. Ramps can be tempting places to play due to their configuration, but it's unwise because of the stuff that can be on the surface.

Bold for emphasis. It's also unwise because think of your trajectory if you dump: right into high speed traffic.