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jlcnuke · 07-03-2009

Today was a gorgeous day here north of atlanta where I recently moved to. I spent the morning fixing a coolant leak on my car, success! After a quick shower to clean up I said to myself: "That bike is just sitting there waiting to be rode and it's about time you obliged it." So it was time to gear up and go

Shortly after I moved here I did some google mapping to see if there were any roads that looked promising and found quite a few, one just a couple miles from the house. It looked perfect for a short ride like I was planning, with quite a few of what I'd call decent turns (the kind that get you the snake symbol on the road sign). So I was off.

I leave the neighborhood and traffic is light. Turn onto my 35mph road for a bit of fun while trying to take in the trees, turns and a nice, if brief, view of lake Allatoona. Having relatively few miles in the saddle I was starting to feel fairly comfortable with my handling of the curves. I didn't have any perfect entries/lines but most were pretty good. As I come near the top of one of the many hills I see a sign for curve ahead with 25mph on it. As I'm new I was already doing the speed limit but had a car behind me so I engine break it with a couple taps on the brake to let the car behind know I was slowing and check my speedo to see what I was down to (mistake).

Then came the turn.. trees lined most of this road making looking too far into any turn (and for some of the hills into the turn at all) impossible before going in. This one was no different. My head is turned looking as far as I can see into the turn. It's a decent turn, maybe 35-45 degree bend in the road. Then it's not... then it's a 90degree bend with a stop sign and cars. I'm at about 30mph, maybe a little less when I see this huge decrease in radius.

Three thoughts immediately go through my head in about the time it takes to blink (maybe faster). First: oh ****. Second: Can I lean that far, then get up and stopped before I'm merging myself with a car? Third (and thank goodness I was keeping an eye out): there's a driveway right in the middle of the turn.

I have to remember to go thank my MSF teachers because I went with option 3. I stood the bike up, aimed for the driveway (half dirt, half driveway of an apparently abandoned house) and immediately practiced my emergency stop. It worked just like when we practiced in the parking lots in MSF and a few practices since then. Bike was vertical, progressive squeeze didn't lock the front, back got a bit too much pressure from the extra pressure when it first went off the road (about a 1" drop onto the dirt/concrete driveway) but I remembered to keep it applied and stopped about 2 feet off the road.

My subsequent trip down that road (to get beer!) in the car showed me what I missed. When I looked at the speedo apparently I missed the 90degree arrow sign that followed the curve sign. Fortunately practice and the MSF course allowed me to evaluate an exit from a situation I wasn't ready for and execute that plan keeping the newly painted bike scratch free and me out of a wreck.

I'm sure many experienced riders could take that turn at 35 but I'm not there yet and recognized it.

Lessons of the day:
Practice escapes and be constantly looking for them.
Pay close attention to signs on new roads or drive them first, ya never know what's around that next turn.
Ride within your limits, and if you find yourself pushed past them find a way out.

07-03-2009	#1 (permalink)
jlcnuke Too busy, I blame Donkey BTK Expert Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: North of Atlanta Posts: 1,900	New roads and new riders... Today was a gorgeous day here north of atlanta where I recently moved to. I spent the morning fixing a coolant leak on my car, success! After a quick shower to clean up I said to myself: "That bike is just sitting there waiting to be rode and it's about time you obliged it." So it was time to gear up and go Shortly after I moved here I did some google mapping to see if there were any roads that looked promising and found quite a few, one just a couple miles from the house. It looked perfect for a short ride like I was planning, with quite a few of what I'd call decent turns (the kind that get you the snake symbol on the road sign). So I was off. I leave the neighborhood and traffic is light. Turn onto my 35mph road for a bit of fun while trying to take in the trees, turns and a nice, if brief, view of lake Allatoona. Having relatively few miles in the saddle I was starting to feel fairly comfortable with my handling of the curves. I didn't have any perfect entries/lines but most were pretty good. As I come near the top of one of the many hills I see a sign for curve ahead with 25mph on it. As I'm new I was already doing the speed limit but had a car behind me so I engine break it with a couple taps on the brake to let the car behind know I was slowing and check my speedo to see what I was down to (mistake). Then came the turn.. trees lined most of this road making looking too far into any turn (and for some of the hills into the turn at all) impossible before going in. This one was no different. My head is turned looking as far as I can see into the turn. It's a decent turn, maybe 35-45 degree bend in the road. Then it's not... then it's a 90degree bend with a stop sign and cars. I'm at about 30mph, maybe a little less when I see this huge decrease in radius. Three thoughts immediately go through my head in about the time it takes to blink (maybe faster). First: oh ****. Second: Can I lean that far, then get up and stopped before I'm merging myself with a car? Third (and thank goodness I was keeping an eye out): there's a driveway right in the middle of the turn. I have to remember to go thank my MSF teachers because I went with option 3. I stood the bike up, aimed for the driveway (half dirt, half driveway of an apparently abandoned house) and immediately practiced my emergency stop. It worked just like when we practiced in the parking lots in MSF and a few practices since then. Bike was vertical, progressive squeeze didn't lock the front, back got a bit too much pressure from the extra pressure when it first went off the road (about a 1" drop onto the dirt/concrete driveway) but I remembered to keep it applied and stopped about 2 feet off the road. My subsequent trip down that road (to get beer!) in the car showed me what I missed. When I looked at the speedo apparently I missed the 90degree arrow sign that followed the curve sign. Fortunately practice and the MSF course allowed me to evaluate an exit from a situation I wasn't ready for and execute that plan keeping the newly painted bike scratch free and me out of a wreck. I'm sure many experienced riders could take that turn at 35 but I'm not there yet and recognized it. Lessons of the day: Practice escapes and be constantly looking for them. Pay close attention to signs on new roads or drive them first, ya never know what's around that next turn. Ride within your limits, and if you find yourself pushed past them find a way out.