My first (and hopefully last) crash

[Chipper]

Just turned 65 years old in January and on Feb 4th experienced my first crash. Five of us started in San Jose; headed up and over Mt Hamilton, in a cloud that day, and headed East toward Patterson along Del Puerto Canyon Road travelling about 35 mph. My crash happened ~ 4 1/2 miles from Patterson. Given our winter rains, the creek next to the road had plenty of water and given my interest in fishing, a group of cars parked on the North side shoulder, several people gazing into the water, I moved my eyes to the left to check out what was happening. My glance to the left coincided with my fellow riders braking to check out the scene as well but I didn’t see them brake. The road was clear, dry, and level. I was entering an easy 45° turn. When my eyes came back to the front, I saw brake lights. While I don’t recall thinking a collision was imminent, my instinct was to slow down quickly. So, I hit the front brake… too sharply and immediately found myself in a low side slide. Fortunately, the right shoulder opened into a meadow with only a slight drop off from the pavement. I've attached the crash site found on Google maps street view (37.472073 -121.240597).

I was quite perplexed as to why the bike went down so quickly. No sliding; no weaving; just up one second; down the next.

So, I went to visit my friend, Harry "Doc" Wong (https://www.meetup.com/docwong/), in Belmont to discuss the crash. Why the crash happened the way it did? What was the physics involved?
Doc had me first sit back with my eyes closed and replay the approach and crash. This enabled me to relay the details above. The fact that the road was clear, dry, level, and approaching an gentle left turn with plenty of visibility, gave me the confidence to look to the left should to check out what was going on and kept me centered in the lane. My mental plan was to stay centered through the turn. My recollection is of a quick glance. The fact that I had begun the gradual left lean told me I was in the turn. When my eyes came back to forward and saw the brake lights, I was still cruising along under throttle; no braking; no deceleration. In the absence of braking and deceleration, the traction on my front tire, while sufficient for a gentle left turn, was not enough to hold as I energetically applied the front brake. My front wheel broke free and I went down; no tire skidding; no weaving; just a low side slide to the right shoulder.

When I first learned of the slogan: Slow, Look, Lean, Roll, I understood the Slow part was to make sure one enters the turn at an appropriate speed. An appropriate entry speed is important but the additional purpose is to move the center of gravity forward to increase the front tire’s traction. Because of the simple turn, I was not planning any brake or deceleration. However, had I instinctively applied the brake gently at first with quick but gradual additional force, all would have been fine. I would have increased the traction enough for the front tire to stay on the road. I would have slowed sufficiently to avoid a collision, the low side slide, replacing my jacket and pants, and repairing the following parts on my motorcycle: scraped windshield, scraped mirror, scraped and bent left crash bar, broken gearshift lever, bent left passenger foot peg, and scraped Givi box.

I’m planning to attend Doc Wong’s braking clinic: https://www.meetup.com/docwong/events/237729714/
in a few weeks. When the braking clinic was announced, my son asked if my crash discussion had anything to do with the schedule. I smiled and said, “probably not.”

 

[DataDan]

However, had I instinctively applied the brake gently at first with quick but gradual additional force, all would have been fine.

That's one very good lesson. You can begin taking advantage of it next time you ride. On EVERY stop, practice gradual application of front brake. Whether you brake with two fingers or four, do it the same every time. SQUEEEEZE the lever, adding force over a perceptible span of time. When I'm rusty and do braking drills, I start at one second--"one one thousand"--and speed up from there, always increasing force smoothly. Think about this every time you apply brake, and pretty soon you won't have to think about it, because you'll do it automatically.

While that's a good bike control lesson, what else did you learn? About following distance, about group rides, about visual focus?

 

[RV6John]

Glad you're OK.

+1 on brake application technique.

Another point is choosing when to be distracted from your riding.

A school I attended last year stressed the importance of focusing on your intended path and avoiding distractions. I believe the numbers were 1-3 seconds to look, focus, interpret, decide and act. The goal was to look at your intended path as early as possible so you are "ahead of the bike".

At 35mph, 1-3 seconds is 50 to 150 feet of road covered.

Just a few weeks ago I was riding with a pretty quick group in the mountains going down a road that I don't frequent much. There were two close linked left turns, the first was no issue as were the 100+ just before it. For some reason I chose that time to check my six in the mirror for the other riders.

The mirror on my sumo is below the left handle bar and takes a head movement and a bit of time to focus on it to get usable information.

When I looked back up, I was closer to the turn then expected, got behind the bike, applied too much brake and screwed up the corner. No crash, but just eye opening.

It was a rookie mistake I haven't done in quite a while, but I know I'm not immune.

 

[ZeteticRaider]

Glad you're good to go and thanks for sharing. Made me realize I need to be more on point when I look at scenery and am distracted even for a moment.

 

[Aryana]

Glad you're alright. I have learned this lesson the hard way and maintain a 30 degree focus on what's in front of me and try never to break away for any reason.

 

[motomania2007]

Please to hear you came out of it relatively unscathed!

Practice quickstops. All the time. I generally do a quick stop every time I stop, unless there is a reason NOT to do a quick stop.

I feel this keeps my braking skills sharper.

It also has the side benefit of teaching one how to gauge surface quality.

When road speed turning, I use the brakes, always. I am usually trailbraking into corners but at the very least using the brakes to help initiate the turn.

Practicing being smooth on and off the throttle and on and off the brakes.

Bigger than all of the above thoughts, I also suggest thinking about your vision. The way you describe it, your visible field of view sounds pretty narrow.

Practice a bigger picture view. Think of it this way, spread your arms out wide at shoulder level until you can just see each of your hands in your peripheral vision and wriggle your fingers while you look ahead or even walk along outside. Practice seeing what is out in your peripheral vision while you are walking and looking ahead.

Next apply it while riding or driving.

Had you been using a bigger picture view you would have seen the brakelights ahead in your peripheral vision and noticed that you were closing on the bikes ahead and then you would NOT have panicked.

There is also something to be said looking where you want to go and not away from your desired path of travel, but we all enjoy taking in the sights along the way as well. That is part of enjoying the day. Just don't loose sight of what is ahead as well.

In applying scanning ahead, it is also worth noting that if you had a plan in mind for "while I am glancing left, if the bike in front of me slows unexpectedly, I will do...<insert our plan such as "gradually apply the brakes as I stand the bike up and add more brake pressure">

If you have such a contingency plan in mind then when the contingency is satisfied you merely execute your plan.

Bigger picture view and having a plan helps prevent surprises and panicking and the resulting target fixation and panic braking...