I screwed up, I learned…

[LanceK]

This morning I was taking a ride down a two lane that I have covered many times. Speed limit is 70, long straight sections, with long radius 90degree turns followed by another long straight section. I was traveling along at 60-65mph coming up on one of the turns, the turns have a yellow diamond that says 55mph on them, so 60-65 isn’t really pushing the limits.

It was a left hand turn and I was set up to make the turn when I noticed a falcon on the right side on a fence post. I spent just a second or two too long looking at the bird and all of a sudden I am way to wide in the turn and the outside of the corner has a lot of loose gravel, not looking good…

I make the decision to stand the bike up and go into the ditch. Lucky for me; no obstacles in the ditch, only tall grass and a little mud. I get slowed down, downshift to second and ease back on the road.

I got lucky, and I learned my lesson the easy way. Kind of glad I was on such a forgiving motorcycle.

 

[dduelin]

Riding under control off the pavement into the ditch was better in my view than a panic driven braking effort possibly leading to loss of control. Kept your head in the game until the end…. Good riding.

 

[670cc]

Don’t give up. When things go awry, just keep riding the motorcycle. As long as the rubber side is down, you can still be in control.

To your point about the distraction, it‘s amazing how one second of looking away from the turn, and your line is totally lost. Unfortunately, I do glance away and lose my line every now and then, and it’s scary stuff.

Glad you pulled out OK. Live and learn.

 

[Deleted member 1183]

Well done on hanging on to it. As Dduelin says, "good riding".

I am finding as I get older that nowadays taking my eye off a tight line for even two seconds is not good. I ride a lot on narrow backroads with grass in the middle. As such I am confined to less than two feet of lane especially on wet days. Taking ones eye off that would be potentially an off situation even to look at the GPS. However such riding also keeps one sharp. A friend who hates such roads, refers to them as "dual cabbageways"

 

[MZ5]

Well done keeping your head and riding the bike. Much better outcome than ‘I had to lay it down.’

 

[halfSpinDoctor]

This is why I always try to ride up to not greater than 90% of my abilities (interpret that however you want; 90% of max corner entry speed, 90% of space/time cushion with the vehicle in front of you, 90% lean angle, etc.). It leaves 10% of headroom to be able to react and correct a mistake. If you don't have that 10%, then there's no room to stand up and apply the brakes, or you are going too fast to ride off into the gravel or grassy shoulder and instead slide out.

 

[Bcsmith]

Wow!!! Glad you kept it upright. This is one of my worst nightmares. Going into a corner and knowing I am not in a position to complete the turn. I know about wanting to take eyes off the road to enjoy the scenery but I’m working hard to make sure I am looking what my tire is going to run over.