MSF class and parking lot practice saved me today!

[tejkowskit]

I went for a day ride to some roads I rarely ride. Starts off with quick sweeping turns, and eventually leads to tighter forest road. Needless to say, the tight forest road snuck up on me and I entered a decreasing radius turn going way too fast (velocitation, maybe?). Had I not been educated and practiced the proper maneuver in this situation I definitely woulda gone wide and went down. This is the first time I've had to use this skill in a practical setting, and it went smoother than I expected. I recognized I was going too fast in the turn for my comfort and slowed as much as possible after recognition. When it came down to crunch time I avoided target fixation by picking my head up, looking through the curve, and being smooth on the throttle. PRESS AND LEAN!! A loud peg scrape and before I knew it I was safely through the turn. It was text book. I got out of the turn and wasn't even phased at what could have just happened. Everything felt and happened so natural.

Now im not trying to brag, but show how important proper riding technique and practice is. Had I slammed on the brakes and looked at the objects on the side of the road, I guarantee this thread would be titled "had my first wreck". I've watched countless youtube videos of people failing to take proper actions resulting in them going too wide and crashing.
Twisty roads near me are rare so I get excited and jump right in when I do arrive at some. This was a good reminder to go slow and get familiar with the road (no matter how excited I get; FIGHT THE TEMPTATION!).

 

[Shiny_side_up]

Call me crazy, but I'm still kinda looking forward to this moment to happen for me, where I come out the other side and think "damn, I *can* deal with that situation w/o having to think so much".

I had it happen on a car track once where I came upon a turn, hit my brakes where I normally did, and the pedal dropped to the floor with zero resistance. (boiled the fluid). I downshifted to scrub speed as best I could and pointed the car the way I was supposed to, accelerated out of the turn, and I came out of it just fine, going much faster than I normally would have tried to. My instructor later pointed out "see, you'd been going unnecessarily slow on that turn..."

Glad to hear that your training kicked in and it just makes me feel that much better that I spend the first day of every riding season in a big parking lot redoing my MSF course materials to make sure there's still in my brain somewhere.

 

[Carlos840]

I had the same thing happen to me recently (i am a pretty new rider) came into a right corner to fast, went wide, i was getting close to the center line, with a van coming straight at me.

Instinctively i put two fingers on the brakes, had a split second "bad idea" thought, forced myself to stop staring at the bumper of the van coming towards me and into the turn, pressed my bar, leaned, hoped for the best and it all went well...

I did have a pretty massive adrenalin rush, heart was pounding!

 

[tejkowskit]

Call me crazy, but I'm still kinda looking forward to this moment to happen for me, where I come out the other side and think "damn, I *can* deal with that situation w/o having to think so much".

I had it happen on a car track once where I came upon a turn, hit my brakes where I normally did, and the pedal dropped to the floor with zero resistance. (boiled the fluid). I downshifted to scrub speed as best I could and pointed the car the way I was supposed to, accelerated out of the turn, and I came out of it just fine, going much faster than I normally would have tried to. My instructor later pointed out "see, you'd been going unnecessarily slow on that turn..."

Glad to hear that your training kicked in and it just makes me feel that much better that I spend the first day of every riding season in a big parking lot redoing my MSF course materials to make sure there's still in my brain somewhere.

I never "looked forward" to it happening, but I can say it felt pretty damn good that I took the right actions. It was actually a huge confidence boost (and a good reality check/lesson).

I had the same thing happen to me recently (i am a pretty new rider) came into a right corner to fast, went wide, i was getting close to the center line, with a van coming straight at me.

Instinctively i put two fingers on the brakes, had a split second "bad idea" thought, forced myself to stop staring at the bumper of the van coming towards me and into the turn, pressed my bar, leaned, hoped for the best and it all went well...

I did have a pretty massive adrenalin rush, hearth was pounding!

Luckily i was alone on the road and it was a left turn. Couldnt imagine staring down at a van! Haha

 

[dschult2]

Yep, best course of action, lean hard and ride it out and trust your bike. I need to work on that myself. Well the best thing is to not enter the corner too hard to begin with but it happens to everybody. Ride on !:thumbup:

 

[Red Wazp]

Another tip for you.
Always watch for sand and gravel on the roadway in the right hand corners. The debris is on the road where vehicles pulling trailer or long trucks allow a tire to drift off the asphalt and pull the debris on the road.

 

[tejkowskit]

Another tip for you.
Always watch for sand and gravel on the roadway in the right hand corners. The debris is on the road where vehicles pulling trailer or long trucks allow a tire to drift off the asphalt and pull the debris on the road.

Definately good to be conscious of this. There is a short stretch of road with a few curves near me that is always littered with gravel from driveways. Luckily the whole stretch of road from yesterday was free of all debris; I was just lacking the patience and neglected to get familiar with the stretch to begin with! :spank:

 

[AdamFZ]

This happened to me not so long ago.... Going round a blind left hand bend and started drifting out wide to the centre of the road and of course a LORRY had to be coming round the corner on the opposite side on the road !

Needless to say i shat myself but push into the handlebars and leaned... Came out the other side with a massive adrenalin rush and heart pounding !

I honestly thought that was it !

 

[tejkowskit]

I honestly thought that was it !

Haha that thought briefly went through my head too! Then i was like, "think of your training!!" Lol

Its really awesome to see the skills you practice pay off when you need them most. Its a very rewarding feeling.

 

[paperpirate]

had a friend out on his first ride out a few weeks ago and he did the opposite... braked halfway round the corner and locked the front. everything was ok got back up and ten minutes at side of the road with tools and he could ride home, but i dont think he'll be pulling brakes round corners again!

 

[rickthefix]

Glad you took the training & you remembered to use it!
I just finished teaching another class of 12 yesterday & hopefully they will do the same. I get emails from past students with regularity saying the same thing. Even if you have been riding for years, it's still a good thing to SOME training. You might learn something you have been doing wrong or something you didn't even know you were doing right!

 

[tejkowskit]

Glad you took the training & you remembered to use it!
I just finished teaching another class of 12 yesterday & hopefully they will do the same. I get emails from past students with regularity saying the same thing. Even if you have been riding for years, it's still a good thing to SOME training. You might learn something you have been doing wrong or something you didn't even know you were doing right!

You can never stop learning! I take the experienced msf course every 2 years. Helps with insurance rates and its always good to refresh. Saved my butt this past week. Just posted a thread on it hahaha