So I wiped out on PCH over the weekend. Many things played into this, and many things could have gotten my ass out. All in all, probably not playing catch-up with my buddies on far lighter bikes and entering the turn 5 to 10 mph slower probably would have made the difference. The other side of the guard rail is a 670 foot drop to the coast. I took the liberty to add a few thoughts to the screencaps, and i’ll post the link to the youtube clip I upped to see the action. After a quick checkup from responding medics, I got back on the bike and completed the 300 miles / 10-hours it took to get home.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgiWqocAd0c
Orange County or near Santa Cruz? I heard reports of a biker down on the 1 last weekend.
closer to santa cruz. we had left our hotel in monterey, and went down probably 20 or 30 min out of big sur. in fact, i think i just found the bend in google maps based of a nearby road and the turnouts. damn, it doesnt even look like a bad bend.
maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=big+sur,+ca&sll=33.723682,-117.803889&sspn=0.008192,0.017402&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Big+Sur,+California&ll=36.210715,-121.741921&spn=0.002004,0.004351&t=h&z=18
I believe seeing the guard rail closing off the far end of the turn-out appeared to basically be a wall in front of me, and that hesitation instead of pointing my view of “where I want to be” is the key factor of my failure. As I was not dragging the floorboard (which freaks me out in itself) , the bike could have been lower. It’s a pricey mistake, but not the worst of outcomes thankfully.
crazy bastard…
Looks like you did pretty damned good actually.
I’d have been more worried about the car since you’re supposed to be in the left side of the lane.
Nice.
ha between the drop on the other side of the rail, and oncoming traffic to the left, the odds of a safe shot straight up the middle kinda reminds me of Luke taking down the first star destroyer.
OMG nerd fail. Deathstar. It is 6AM and haven’t had my coffee yet. Gawd I even know the Falcon was a YT-1300, still my inner nerd failed me.
Good slide and glad you made it out in relatively good shape. I laid down my R6 five years ago and ended up with a high ankle sprain, lots of road rash and a nice broke collar bone (plus a plate and six screws).
Looks like you might have hit your breaks as you seemed to straighten up toward the guard rail. Just a guess, as we’ve all done that.
I’m pretty sure your spot on. I would venture to guess I had hoped to have reduced enough speed to try and straighten out and stop the bike on the shoulder. Alas it was still in a bit of a lean when the tires reached the dirt/gravel and lost it.
I rear ended an elderly old coot looking for a petshop in Florida in `79.He stopped dead in front of me.Had almost an ounce on me.Went through my fairing and windshield.Some old Brother came to a halt and carried me home.I was a little scuffed up and had a black eye but this man saved me from the Redneck cops that were in place at the time.If his kids see this post,thank you for saving me from the Leon County Jail.(PS:Tiki is a local,too.)
good story. A man driving the white vehicle I slid past stopped and ran over to me. I climbed off the bike, stumbled to the shoulder and sat down to catch my breath, having that kinda sickly feeling in my stomach people get when they have reason to believe they may be hurt pretty bad. The dude pulled the bike out of the road so approaching cars wouldn’t hit it and cause a further wreck on the road. The medics did arrive and make sure I did not break anything. After it was determined the bike was still functional, we (I and the two riders I was with) hung out on the shoulder for almost an hour while I savored a handful of cigarettes making a few phone calls. Then I completed the 300 miles home. That was a long day.
Good slide. I’ve gone down a few (too many) times. It can really hurt. Gotta love leather. Glad your ok.
thankyou much. I am all about the proper gear, last thing I need is a nick like “Skin Graft McGee”.
Maybe you would ride a little better if you hadn’t been holding a camcorder. DERP.
I’m pretty sure it was a fixed camera. If not, helluva job holding onto it through the whole slide and fall.
I’m gonna make a (fairly confident) bet that it was a helmet-mounted cam, and therefore no hindrance to riding.
I used a RAM-MOUNT to affix the cam to the handlebars, set right behind the windshield. I’ve very happy the shield deflected all the gravel from the cam. I used a similar mount for GPS as well. I actually have a photo of the setup, here ya go… img696.imageshack.us/img696/6060/photowf.jpg
you know that guy driving a stick shift, talking on a cell whilst eating a happy meal? I’m not that guy 🙂
im quite grateful that i havent fallen yet in my first 10 months of riding. watching this makes me realize just how quickly it can happen.
there are two types of riders, ones that have wrecked, and ones that are going too!!! cbr900rr in parking lot, spooked from someone reversing to quick and overcompensated, however the pain, i still think i ego hurt more!!!!
Hence the Broken Wing Foundation. They’ll help riders that have been injured and have only the most basic insurance coverage, which unfortunately, is all that is available in some states.
WaltherKid is my new hero.
Anyone who can come off a bike and add captions to the images of it happening is very damn cool in my books.
lol we don’t see that very often. I am very happy that I can make light of my own mishap and share the experience through photo and video.
YOU SIR, ARE A BAD ASS MUTHERFUCKER OTHERWISE KNOWN AS A NAMF
your man points just went up by 50!!!
Much appreciated Rage 🙂
dammit BAMF
I know it’s easy to second-guess, but maybe taking a wider line to start with might have helped.
Also, I am obliged by the rules of the internet to say that you’ll run out of skill before your bike runs out of cornering ability. Even a cruiser, if you play your cards right. Buy a little clearance by hanging off (yeah, even you cruiser guys can do it).
And, good call on looking where you want to go.
Glad you’re OK.
Most definitely. On a cruiser, I should never be in a hurry to get anywhere. A friend once asked me to describe the feeling of riding. The best way I could put it: no matter where I was going or why, from point A to point B, I am on vacation.
i’ve ridden that road many times towing a trailer behind my bike. it is anus clenching adventure. awesome road.
dont you just love that split second while your going down, just before you start sliding of “oh shit this is probably going to end painfully?” nothing quite like that feeling. im glad you were able to continue, could have wound up a lot worse…
I think hubby gets off on that feeling. Me? Not so much.
LOL
Yeah you definitely could have leaned further, dude. You actually picked the bike back up a bit as you rounded the corner which is an outcome of braking mid-corner. It’s good that you came off lightly though. I used to ride Victory cruisers flat out scraping floorboards everywhere, it’s surprising how much give they have. 🙂
I don’t want a pickle
Hubby loves that song. I couldn’t believe he’d never heard it.
first time I heard that line
lol
HAI GUYS
OSHITZOSHITZOSHITZOSHITZOSHITZOSHITZOSHITZOSHITZOSHITZOSHITZOSHITZOSHITZ
EVERYTHING WENT BETTER THAN EXPECTED