Oil in middle of lane on 405...

[camaroboy]

Well I was on my way home from a weekend in LA, on the 405 about to merge onto the 101, getting over to the exit lanes from the fast lane. I kept checking over my shoulder because cars kept coming out of nowhere, the last time of which I looked back forward to notice the car in front of me was on his brakes pretty hard. Not realising that I was right in the middle of the SUPER oil slicked middle part of the lane I grabbed some front and rear brake, nowhere near a panic stop but decently hard. By the time I realised the front was locked I was too far gone and did a bit of a tumble, luckily I was only going maybe 25mph+/- and aside from a tiny scrape on my knee was perfectly fine.

So now my bike is laying on its side in the middle lane of the 405 with crazy la drivers all around... So I go to pick up the bike, I had made the stupid mistake of dropping it once before and know that its very easy to pick back up. Unfortunately I still had not made the realisation of the ammount of oil on the road, so standing right in the middle of it go to pick up the bike, I get it up about 6 inches then my legs slide and I pummel the shit out of my tailbone on the asphalt:toothless. So after laughing it off I do a nice almost split to get my feet on the non oily spots of the roadway and manage to get it up and off the road.

So In the end I am fairly sure my not realising and compensating for the oil slick was the cause, and for that matter not being able to react in time to save it. Luckily there was no mechanical dammage to the bike (a scratched and tank and tail) and aside from the scratch on my knee and bruised tailbone (which made the 120 or so miles of the ride FUN!) I am perfectly fine, and hopefully a bit wiser for the wear.

If anyone has any other advise I'm nothin but ears. I'm mostly pissed off because I considered max braking one of my best skills on the bike (lots of practice on empty roads at various speeds and I believe even managing to get the rear wheel off the ground) and now I find myself hesitant with the brakes, it was two hours or so ago so I guess I am still a bit shook up.:blah

 

[nweaver]

A: Calm down and relax.

B: The center part of the lane where you get lots of stop & go can be EVIL EVIL EVIL. (worst are toll plazas).

C: Call caltrans?

D: This is exactly the situation why I want (but unfortunately don't have ) ABS on my bike.

 

[afm199]

Sometimes you are screwed. I never ride in the middle for that reason, only in a lane that tires are on.

You might want to think about practicing delaying your panic reaction for a fraction of a second, to give you time to MODULATE the brakes rather than slam then on.

 

[camaroboy]

Well the funny thing is I avoid the middle of the lanes anywhere like the plague, but having just seeing that the next lane was clear I started to move over and timed it perfectly wrong.

Seeing the car in front thought, "Okay stop leaning and get on the brakes because you may not turn quick enough". It was not a hard grab but definately not smooth modulation. The problem is in my mind I was thinking okay dry freeway, brake "this" much, and before I knew it things were too far gone.

I will be doing a bit more practice on modulating the brakes. And now I definately see the appeal of abs...

I am still trying to figure out how in the hell I managed to break BOTH my front blinkers.