Worst case sceneario

[Ivan]

I haven't heard many talk about stuff like this, so if it is taboo or controversial, have mercy.

I have been seeing some of these "worst case sceneario" type shows lately that quiz you on making it through certain situations.

So, as a low mileage rider, I want to ask the experianced guys.

You are in a bad place at a bad time. The $hit already hit the fan, and you know its going to hurt. At this point, you can't run home and put on the extra gear you should have been wearing, can't try the turn over again, go back and sweep away the gravel. Only thing left is luck and experience. What can you do to minimize the time until you ride again?

Again, if this is too touchy of a subject, mods feel free to dispose of the thread.

[Wildkat]

Guess it would depend on the situation...

But I'm going to say first... relax as much as possible... If your body is tense... you will sustain worse damage...
Second... if you can... roll with it... I mean... actually tuck and roll... This will also minimize damage to your body...

Sorry... not having a definite situation to deal with in mind... kid of makes it difficult to answer...
Will be interesting to see what others say though... and might help someone if they find themself in a bad place at a bad time...

Not a bad thread at all, I think...

[SanDiegoMike]

I agree with Wildkat and would add that experience is the best teacher. The best defense you have as a rider is to expect that every car on the road is a potential life ender, and you can NEVER be sure of road conditions, no matter how many times you have traveled them. Take the time to read the excellent post by TopCatGr58 as well in this area called "Yes You/We ARE Invisible".

[egsols]

I've fallen out of car going backwards on a gravel road at about 60 mph (came over a hill, driver lost it at 90 mph on fresh gravel and spun), I mutter some choice words as I hit the gravel, went limp and woke up in the ditch. I was, however, wearing a jean jacket and jeans so I wasn't scratched up too bad just stunned with torn muscle in my back.

Locked a motor on a YZ125, WOT top gear, gravel road, lost it trying to lay it down in a ditch, and top sided, made a best effort to push bike as far away as possible and did the tuck and roll, no helmet in this instance.

Both falls above, I was left with a welt on my head and a headache for a week but I survived.

I think back on all of the times I flipped off a skateboard or bicycle when I was kid and helmets back then were generally for race car drivers and football players. I think the body has a built in mechanism to protect the cranium but I wouldn't count on it since there's really no excuse anymore for not wearing the proper gear.

The actual fall is not what scares me the most, its the cage that's going use me as a speed bump once I'm down.

[trbig]

I was an EMT for many years, and we rolled up on a motorcycle wreck once where the rider had slid a considerable distance on his butt wearing no protective gear.. just blue jeans. He was standing bent over grabbing onto the guard railing and in EXTREME pain with his "Butt" facing traffic. I put the word butt in quotes since the only thing left of his was some hamburger looking material with a single strip of denim (The seam) going right through the center of it like a thong.

Do you know how hard it is not to laugh sometimes in situations where you know without a doubt that you can NOT laugh under any circumstances?

As stated.. don't slide. Tuck and roll with your hands clasped around the back of your head iff possible. Broken hands/fingers is preferable to broken skulls.

Tod

[mstic2000]

I was working in Lewisville Texas back in 1985 driving a gravel truck/cement tanker. I was riding my XS11 home from work one day and as I turned on 423 from 121, I came up on so large dirt clods in the middle of the road. They came off some farm equipment that had just come out of a field apparently. I didn't see them right away because traffic was pretty heavy and yup I hit one. The last thing I remember was, "Ooooh Sh****" before I knew it I was up over the handle bars with the bike landing on top of me. I was out but they told me in the E.R. they had to pull the bike off from me. I got cut up pretty badly but I didn't break any bones luckily. In my situation I didn't have time to react. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Took me a couple weeks to get back on the bike.

[webbcraft2150]

There are not many ways to practice a getoff, whether is is rider induced or road/car conditions caused it. This is where dirt bike riders have been proven to be a notch better on the street than non dirt bike riders when it comes to bailing, sliding or high siding, they are simply more comfortable with it. Aside from buying a dirt bike and practicing you bails, or worse using your XS as a training platform, watch some racing movies or check out u-tube and watch what the rider does when they bail, crash or get crashed. Critique there actions. Biggest problem with low mileage riders is they do not have there brakes dialed in. Problem shows up in front of them and the grab a handful of brakes, the wrong one usually and down they go. Take your bike out on a deserted road or parking lot. Practice using BOTH brakes. Figure out where the "point of no return" is, without actually hitting it. A bad deal that pops in front you suddenly is no place to figure out how to modulate your front brakes to the rears, or in some cases, gas it and go around. Stopping is not the only way to avoid an accident.

[trbig]

Dirt bike rider's moto.

"If in doubt... Burn out!"

I also believe that too many road emergencies are reacted to with brakes automatically. I always approach a situation with a hand and foot covering the brakes, with the throttle ready to be ripped back. Assess it and go from there.

Also in a worst case scenario.. as stated. If you are for sure going down, get away from the hot, gas-filled, 700 pound piece of metal if possible.

Tod

[prometheus578]

"Not that I would know..."

You will spend the last remaining seconds trying to decide how to solve the problem, or at least mimimize the damage to yourself if that fails. (Lean the bike till it drops, lock up the brakes and skid to lower impact speed, aim for the softest object around and try to ride it out, etc)
You will not be able to voluntarily "loosen up", nor will you exercise a "tuck and roll"... you will do whatever physics demands and your body is physiologically able to do. Sometimes your body will do a little bit more, and that's when things break.
You'll have to rely on witness statements for whether you looked cool or clownish when you were flying through the air or sailing across the asphalt, as from several seconds before point of impact till the time you finally come to rest, you'll remember nothing about it.
Actually, if you don't get too beaten up... the mind-blank, altered time and space thing is sort of cool.

Sorry Webbcraft:

and watch what the rider does when they bail, crash or get crashed

Most of what it shows is the rider flopping around or tumbling, depending upon how the accident played out. If he's lucky.. he just slides for a while, but then again, that decision isn't up to him. That depends on how his body was oriented to the ground when he hit.

[barberad]

I would say from my personal experiences, the biggest thing that I did not have on was my gloves. It was manditory on the bases to have your standard riding gear; boots, gloves, long sleeves and vest. I, like most people, would strip that hot crap off as soon as we cleared the gates (noting like sitting in the hot, humid subtropics with a plastic vest melting on you). I have had oncoming traffic decide they needed to be in a parking lot more than I needed to be upright on my motorcycle. The hands almost always hit the ground first.
So while I'm at the doctors office having the rocks removed from the palms of my hands, the doctor asks me sarcasticly "Didn't have your gloves on did you?", as I tell him "no" and he pulls out a plastic brillo pad and starts scrubbing. I'm thinking gloves are a pretty good idea.
I have had a couple of accidents over the years, usually at the behest of others and also minor stupidity on my part (gravel driveway+tight turn=bike went straight, I went down). No gloves again.
I have also been riding along side my best friend when he was killed in a freak 5 MPH accident. (Wife wanted all my bikes gone after that.)
All I can say is: Respect the machine. Wear the gear that makes you comfortable and don't trust the idiot that just looked you in the eye. Freak accidents happen.

[trbig]

nor will you exercise a "tuck and roll"...

Again... dirt bike riding. Some do tuck and roll nicely. Others just land on their shoulders and then take a bow and TRY to act cool.. when they really aren't.




You're right though.. It does depend on how you hit the ground. My case.. was my face first with no helmet. It's even harder to look cool when you're limp and bleeding.

Tod

[Ivan]

This is a really great thread. It is always good to learn from other's experience.

As far as the front brake grab, for some reason, I have an instinctual reaction to slam the rear brake down and space off the front brake. I have had a couple of low speed panic stops, and each time ended up sliding the rear wheel. Also reactionary is the clutch handle.

Last one went like this:

Pulling into a parking space beside a car with tinted windows. Just at the wrong time the door flips open and the fat lady, who incidentally did NOT sing, sprang out. Clutch and rear brake. rear wheel lock. let up on the rear brake a tad. remember front brake. grab for front brake, which makes engine rev to about 5K, since I grabbed instead of squeezed. Ended up deciding to step off the bike while it was still moving to avoid hitting the door with my kneecap. This all happened at about walking speed, but in less than a second.

Guess who got called the @$$hat that day.

I stop every time with both brakes, in hopes of changing my bad habit of hitting only one when I get in a panic stop. I also don't park by cars with tinted windows anymore either.

[ClarkGriswald]

Its true that on dirt if your not gettin off the bike regularly your not riding hard enough. Try some gravel pit hill climbing with a lip at the top, sooo fun! I dont know anyother way to say it but trust yourself and go with the flow, your brain/body will do whatever you can automatically. With that said, your chances are probably better if you have more experiences of the extreme knife edge kind to draw upon. But its still nothing concious, it just happens. Kinda like how you have to look far ahead in the lane and you automaticaly stay centered in the lane but if you try to micro manage it and look right in front of you ya swerve all over. I would say be in attack position/mode at all times think about your lines like your in a race instead of just moving in the lane. I dont think I could bunny hop an XS11 but ya never know what might happen. hehe.

[xs11jack]

Sure explains alot.....

Yes, when reading about you guys banging your heads around like a golf ball in a tile bathroom, it sure explains alot. My heads encounter was not on a bike, I was 7 yrs old and decided to use a very tall cabinet to neal on and cut a board with a rusty saw. Went head first five feet to the concrete floor. Shortly thereafter I developed an intense desire to ride motorcycles. It never went away. I think that the fall is responsible for what my wife calls "The attention span of a demented Squirrel."

[trbig]

I dont think I could bunny hop an XS11

LMAO!! That's XSactly what happened to me. It wasn't an XS, but I hit some gravel turning into a store's drive. I hadn't slowed down any.. kinda zipping around a bit, so I was probably doing about 35 when I did it. I got it straightened up, but was right of the drive a few feet with a big square curb encircling the parking lot coming up. I thought.. "I'll just bunny hop this curb and it'll all be fine."

So just at the perfect moment, I bounced down to compress the springs, then jumped and pulled the bike by the handlebars to get the front tire over.... and succeeded in only extending the fork tubes. The tire never left the ground! lol. Everything slowed way down. I had recently bought a new windshield for it, and as I was going over the handlebars, I was trying to get my leg to raise up just a bit more... almost got the windshield cleared... a tiny bit more... Contact. Broken windshield by my too slow knee. I then remember cussing.

I'm told that 10-15 minutes went by, before I felt a towel on my face. Luckily it took the brunt of the force.. I could hear voices.. and feel the towel, but the eye sight wasn't back yet. Kinda cool. As Pro mentioned.. no memory of after going over the bars. Didn't hurt a bit when I hit! lol.

Plenty of road rash, broke eye socket/ cheek bone, and the bike was nice enough to come lay down right next to me and spoon a bit.. scorching the back of my arm with the pipes.

SWMBO put her foot down and said no more bikes. I listened for a while, but started noticing that when driving my work truck, I'd roll the window down and lean my head to the side a bit to feel the wind in my hair. Time for another.. and here I am to pester you all.

Tod