OK, I have scared myself...

OK, long one this (as usual) , sorry. But if you have the time, please do read on....

I haven't posted a thread about this since Saturday when this happened, because I didn't want a "hey look at me thread", maybe that's the side effect of posting a thread on an internet forum about something that has happened to yourself, but not the intention here.

I'm posting it 'cos I can't get it out of my head and I needed to offload it a bit, and just see what thoughts and reaction come back from a group of bikers. A group of bikers on an internet forum I might add, so if you want to post "Ralph you're a pussy", go right ahead.

I highsided the bike whilst hooning down a twisty coastal road in Ireland this weekend and met a patch of gravel that I was going too quick to avoid. I left the bike over the right bar and landed on my face and hands which I put out to save myself (well visor and gloves, but you know what I mean), then shoulder and legs went down and I slid on my belly for a bit. My visor, gloves and textile jacket are all wrecked, and my lid definitely went down but mainly flat on my visor, and even though the rest of it doesn't look bad in terms of scratches, the chin vent is broken off, etc.

I'm remarkably OK, and without looking too closely at my upturned left hand, and with my clothes on, you'd never know I'd been in an accident. I'm pretty sore and stiff all over and the hand's a bit black and blue and can't get my watch or wedding ring on because of a bit of swelling, and have a gouge out of one knee and bruising and particularly sore in my right shoulder and left leg.

The bike is actually not too bad, it found a nice soft hedge to come to a stop in, just a broken nose cone and a mirror, but I fear I may have bent the forks, won't know 'til I get them off. I've ridden 500 odd miles since and I've still got my XT600 to potter about on locally, so I'm still riding.

But, hitting the tarmac face down has scared the **** out of me, and it's not particularly that the crash itself scared me, it's the realisation that I've had 3 crashes on the SV which is only 4 years old

1. Lost it in icy conditions, went through a fence. Nothing to learn from the accident in terms of my riding, I was a mere passenger and s**t happens, but it was a cavalier attitude to risk that I was riding in those conditions in the first place, because I had asked myself if it was too cold and should I take the motorway before I left, and I decided "It'll be fine, just take the twisties"

2. Lowside attacking a hairpin on Hartside pass. I've analysed it a lot, along with others and inspected the damage, and the most plausible cause is that I unloaded my rear tyre by digging in a footpeg.

3. Highside this weekend, there was a deep area of gravel that I left a clear slide mark in, but had I not been so fast at such an agressive lean angle, I probably would have just had a wee slide and saved it.

So two crashes were entirely my own fault and due to riding like an idiot and pushing to the limit. I don't ride like that all the time, in fact a few qualified IAM instructors/riders have said I'm a safe sensible rider and my bikesafe feedback was that there was nothing constructive that they could add. I don't enjoy riding at three figure speeds, but, when I see a tight twisty B road where 60 mph is fast for the majority of bends, I just throw all caution to the wind and attack it for all I'm worth. I love throwing the bike down such roads, hitting one corner after another after another.

I know I'm not Valentino Rossi, but in terms of ability to ride a bike quickly, the fastest riders in SVEcosse and Madlanders are probably Carelesschucca and Binky and I can sit on their numberplates all day if the mood so takes me (whether I am as safe as them and whether I could keep up if either of them really wanted to leave me behind is another matter), I tend to lead or sit near the front of rideouts.

One of the guys I was riding with in Ireland personally knows of two fatalities:

One was a young lad who lowsided and hit a fence post, they thought he was just winded, but he died in the ambulance from internal bleeding. In crash no.1, I bust through a barbed wire fence, narrowly missing the wooden posts which were about 8-10ft apart.

The second was an older guy with a bit of a belly like me, who had a classic highside just like my crash no.3 and caught his belly on the bar end on the way over the front rupturing his spleen, he died at the roadside before the ambulance arrived. I think I took off my mirror, as it was in the road with me and the bike was in the hedge.

So I am scared into the realisation that I need to slow down, reduce my lean angles and give myself more room for error, because I have had two crashes when riding fully committed, and I am now of the opinion that when you ride like that, a crash is a matter of 'when', not 'if'.

I am going to take a break from my SV while it gets repaired, it will probably take me a while to find a decent nose cone in the right colour anyway. I'll potter around on my 43bhp XT600 trail bike, which I never try to ride that fast because A it doesn't go fast and B it's just not that kind of bike.

Once it's repaired I'm going to try getting back on the SV and resisting the temptation to hoon every time I see those tight twisty B roads, if I find myself being an idiot again, I'm going to sell the SV and buy something heavier and less sporty. I don't know what my riding will be like when I get back on the SV, but riding home from Ireland was a nervous disaster.

I really appreciate all the great folk on this forum that post, "sorry to hear that, and GWS", I know people really mean it and I'm truly grateful for anybody that's posted that in the GM chat thread or sent me PM's, thank you! BUT that's not what this thread is for, I'm after peoples reactions, not peoples sympathy.

Thanks for reading!

(well sorry to hear about it, sorry couldn't help myself )

I had my second off in 9 months around March this year. Highsided on a bend in town. Anyway, my first crash happened so fast I was on my back before I knew it.

My second crash however - well although I didn't go face first into the road, I went face last into a metal divide between the lanes. I could see I was gonna highside towards the metal divide and knew it was not going to be pretty. Anyway, slid on the road for a couple of seconds and went visor first into divide.
This crash was much more frightening - it seemed to build up, I knew the point I'd lost control and was gonna flip, and could see exactly where I was heading.

I seriously contemplated never getting back on whilst waiting in A&E (after I'd got back on it and rode to A&E that is with no foot peg or rear brake ), and kept getting images of me going head first into the metal divide, as I'm sure you now have of going face first inot the tarmac. It took a cuppla months to get bike sorted, and now I'm really disciplined on the road.

The way I see it, every time you come off and don't die or end up with serious injuries is another life line wasted - the more life lines you tempt the sooner it will end up bad rather than good.

I know you're a far more accomplished rider than I am, but crashing is crashing, and it's not a nice feeling. Thinking to yourself 'I could easily be dead' is a scary one. Anyway, you've obviously not decided to leave biking and that is a good thing.

Last off I was determined to tell myself that I need to sort the act out on the bike, or risk leaving loved ones behind. I was never too crazy anyway, but one careless moment is all it takes. I think if you can't help yourself on the twistys and think it's going to be a case of 'when' and not 'if' then perhaps 2 wheels aint such a good idea.

Reading your post I don't think this will be the case. I know what going face first into a metal divide feels and looks like. Whenever I feel a crazy moment coming over me when on the bike, I try my best to re-live that moment and it soons sets me straight.

Best of luck getting the SV sorted, and try not to forget that moment when you knew you were gonna hit tarmac (how could you tbh?) - it's helped me control my urges a great deal.

i know exactly how you feel, knowing i was at fault when i went over the roof of my dads car from been to close to stop in time i now i feel very uncomfortable when any thing brake's hard i brick it ...

im considering keeping the sv to stop me getting somthing like a gsxr 1k and killing my self on it within the first day, as i have the inability to ride slow when i find a tight twisty b road :/

[rictus01]

A few bits that you may have forgotten and might help,
1. having ability and choosing where and when to apply it are not the same thing,

2. focus changes every ride and isn't a constant, knowing the difference is the thing to learn ( or if you like "observational speed" never ride beyond it as that to changes each ride).

3. get it right first, speed comes as a consequence not an aim

4. Know that a lack of restraint is also a limitation.

to a degree we all suffer these things, it's just managing them to minimise risk that needs bearing in mind.

All basic stuff I know, but well worth reconsidering.

Cheers Mark.

Thanks for the comments guys. Please don't worry about posting basic stuff. If people post in here it's because they want to help, if I'm getting patronised then I have to take it on the chin, and if people wanna feed me humble pie, then I'm in a position where I have to eat it.

Mark, can you expand on point no.2 please? I don't quite understand what you mean by "observational speed".

[rictus01]

by all means, observational speed is the maximum you can travel whilst still being able to recognise and react to hazards.

For example some days I can flow through the London traffic, the gaps are easily big enough, I pickup on that guy reaching to the top of his steeringwheel before he's even turned it and I've made room and past, same day just not that focus, I need more time to judge that gap, I catch a car moving to turn only when it starts, I have a low observational speed and need to realise that and slow down.

Cheers Mark.

obvervational speed is how quick your eyes and brain react to what its seeing, this changes constantly, if your tired it slows down, eat to much it slows down, if your in good condition and have full focus it speeds up etc

my jitters after accidents are well known on here im sure youve commented on a few ,your last one ive had the same face plant senirio as yourself, not a nice thing is it

i changed bike to a bigger faster one ,due to not trusting my 650 anymore ,no other reason
but this also ment i had more reason to softly rebuild my skills ,therefore calming me down

my advice

softy softy catchy monkey
hth

[rictus01]

Point 3 I believe Dave.

Originally Posted by rictus01

Point 3 I believe Dave.

yep exactly mate

Thanks guys, makes sense now, just hadn't heard that term before.

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

One was a young lad who lowsided and hit a fence post, they thought he was just winded, but he died in the ambulance from internal bleeding. In crash no.1, I bust through a barbed wire fence, narrowly missing the wooden posts which were about 8-10ft apart.

...caught his belly on the bar end on the way over the front rupturing his spleen, he died at the roadside before the ambulance arrived. I think I took off my mirror, as it was in the road with me and the bike was in the hedge.

Originally Posted by thulfi

Thinking to yourself 'I could easily be dead' is a scary one. Anyway, you've obviously not decided to leave biking and that is a good thing.

That is the scary one, much more so than the face plant, the accident I can deal with.

After accident no.1 I was desperate to get back on the bike after a spell off the road getting it fixed, and I was hurt much worse with that one. Accident no.2 I was back on the bike and rode straight through the middle of the group with no gear lever, whilst they were still u-turning to see if I was alright. Then I hooned round GMII all the next day with a pillion. It didn't phase me at all, but this accident made me realise it wasn't a one off, s**t happens kind of thing, s**t was going to keep happening and one day it would get smelly!

I'm not sure I have decided not to leave biking. By that I mean riding on the road, not green laning or track days which are much less dangerous. I love riding on the road and I know for sure I don't want to give it up, but I separate heart and head pretty clearly, and I haven't decided that I'm not going to give up. The ride back from Ireland was necessity, I had to get me and the bike home. I have new tyres and an MOT to get done on the XT so I'll need to ride that before the week is out, and I guess the proof of the pudding will come when I climb on the XT this week, and the first time I climb back on the SV.

Every biker knows what they do is inherently dangerous, and knows they can die doing it. Any of my 3 accidents in this thread could have been fatal given an unlucky sequence of events. I used to say so long as I recovered from an accident, even if it took weeks or months, then that was OK and I accepted that risk. But that was high level thinking, how many bikers on here have been through that dark time of realising how real the risk of (for instance) rupturing a spleen is, realising how fragile the human body can actually be, really thinking about it, rationalising it, deciding what risks are acceptable to them and then getting back on the bike with their eyes fully open? And how did that process work for you? I can't even start to get my head round that one at the moment.