Riders Down

[Gixxus Christ!]

Ouch. I'll volunteer my services on your rebuild if you can get it down here. Guessing front fairing stay, plastics, headlight, pegs and either shifter or brake pedal, maybe subframe and other misc pieces. Get your parts and come down, I'll help you make her whole again.

[Casper]

Wow. Glad you're both relatively okay. Keep us updated.

[Gixxus Christ!]

And don't hesitate to share those pain meds....we wouldn't want you to develop a habit.

[JohnG]

wow...  glad to hear you're  both ok.  Someday, ODOT will do a better job keeping up on intersections like this one.  But I'm a dreamer...

[o-no-moto]

Man hate to hear bout stuff like this. Glad to hear your both able to talk about it.

[jschaf]

Glad both of you are ok. Good luck with the bike repairs Derek.

[Al Z. Heimer]

Good to hear you are both okay for the most part and hope you have no lingering issues. Two things that I fear the most are gravel and critters.

[whaler]

Just got home (8:30AM)

Ray is home and doing well, although with a lot of pain. Little rash on knee and hands, but the gear did its job.

Derek is home, also sore in the shoulder and neck.

Both bikes are home...Rays pristene FZ1 is a total loss...frame, forks, swingarm, and rims bent. Entire right side of bike looks like it was put on a giant belt sander.

Have been up for 30 hours between ride and aftermath...I am smoked!

Special thanks to the EMS crew for getting bikes out of 20' ravine and trailering bikes to safe place!

Mike for driving down from Akron at 7:00pm with no questions asked and picking up bikes, Derek and me, then rolling down to Huntington WV. To pick up Ray!

[snot]

Wow, you guys went through a lot. You all need some rest and time to heal.

[JackFlash]

That looks like a very tempting corner to ride through, hot.

I'm glad it wasn't worse for you guys.  It could have been.

Maybe this can be a reminder for the rest of us to tone it

down in places we are not 100% sure about.  Anything

can be on the road and appear before there is a chance

to react.  We'll see you both on the road again soon, I hope.

 

.

[smccrory]

Wow.  Sobering and eye-widening.  Glad you all made it through reasonably OK and that the gear did its job.  Really sucks about the bikes, but you're here to talk about it, thank god/universe/etc.  I don't know how old you guys are but if you're over 35, give yourself more time to heal than you used to to avoid reinjury complications.

[DerekClouser]

[jacobhawkins]

Woah, glad you both wear ATGATT.

[DerekClouser]

Just my leg. As I watch the video of the accident I realize I could have probably just stuck it out and rode it through and been fine.

Lesson learned. Video incoming.

[DerekClouser]

The Crash

[Tpoppa]

Sorry to hear your day turned out like this.  Glad you both were wearing gear and it wasn't worse.

[Connie14]

Best wishes on a speedy recovery.

[Helmutt]

Watching the vid it looks like you'd have been much better off holding your line or maybe widening your line a bit to try and ride it out, or lowsiding. But hindsight being 20/20 and all that jazz, the "what if's" are limitless. That leg looks nasty Derek. Glad you 2 aren't any worse off than you are.

[Bubba]

Just a heads up.  Sounds like you've been evaluated by a physician, but keep an ey on your leg for tightness and painful swelling.  Had a buddy wreck his MX bike and nearly died from a leg clot.  See link here:  http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/guide/compartment-syndrome-causes-treatments

[JackFlash]

I've had moments of panic braking when approaching corners

a little too fast, when I was a newer rider.  For me, I found that

diving in and putting the juice to it is more fun than hanging on

and hoping to stop in an upright position.  If I'm going to crash

in a corner, I'm going to do it on my terms, by trying something

aggressive as opposed to skidding and praying.  It's worked

several times even when my front tire has hit puddles of gravel.

 

.

 

.

[NinjaDoc]

Derek whaler, Glad you guys are okay, that video and the sound at the end is really a wake up call, I feel I should slow down even further, almost every one I rode with are good riders and move really really fast, and every time they are pushing the envelope a little more. We all gotta slow down a notch guys In group rides I guess we all keep pushing each other bit by bit, some body just gotta say hold back a bit I guess. I for sure will every time now on

[whaler]

Watching the vid it looks like you'd have been much better off holding your line or maybe widening your line a bit to try and ride it out, or lowsiding. But hindsight being 20/20 and all that jazz, the "what if's" are limitless. That leg looks nasty Derek. Glad you 2 aren't any worse off than you are.

As odd as it sounds, Derek did the right thing in this circumstance. By picking where he went off, it saved him from a much worse crash. Ray tried to ride it out and low sided and hit a tree (entire turn was tree lined). There was no way of going through that turn at even a moderate speed with lean angle and getting through clean.

I scrubbed off more speed then Derek and Ray as the turn is very blind when heading west, I do not like blind turns at all, and still had to cross the double yellow to get through clean.

This is a decreasing radius turn, and the stones were from right before apex all the way through the exit, but you could not see them until you were at full commitment and lean.

[claine650]

I agree, what happened was probably the best it was gonna happen, you definitely have more control over the what happens in this situation getting upright and picking the best line to try and slow down even if you end up off the road. There's such little control when your leaned over and trying to ride out the gravel, you'll just end up exactly where you don't want.

Sorry about what happened guys, get better, get back on.

[mojocho]

Wow! Glad you guys are OK considering it could have been worse. Watching the video makes me realize just how fast things turn to shit. Less than a second and shit happens.

[Tpoppa]

Derek whaler, Glad you guys are okay, that video and the sound at the end is really a wake up call, I feel I should slow down even further, almost every one I rode with are good riders and move really really fast, and every time they are pushing the envelope a little more. We all gotta slow down a notch guys In group rides I guess we all keep pushing each other bit by bit, some body just gotta say hold back a bit I guess. I for sure will every time now on

 

Whenever someone goes down, I think the natural reaction to be more cautious.  But if every time you ride, you are overly concerned about going down...you will & you probably aren't going to enjoy riding very much.  Focus on doing the right things, not on what you are trying to avoid.

 

I am not going to analyze the video.  But I'll say that even if you do all the right things you can still go down.  You just need to put the odds in your favor as much as possible.  Practice your technique until you feel it's perfect, then practice it some more.  Ride with a margin of error.  If you encounter an obstacle mid corner do you know what you are going to do to best avoid it?  Wear gear.  It sucks when a motorcycle gets totaled, but it's just a motorcycle.  There are plenty of others out there.