- This topic has 6 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 7 months ago by plastic.
Automatic for beginners, pt3-Knuclehead days
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August 22, 2010 at 7:42 pm #4200plasticParticipant
Took the mana for a long ride yesterday, doing some canyon roads, a bit of PCH, a bit of traffic. All working quite well except for a couple mistakes from this here knuckle head. Once again, the best advice I think I heard so far about bikes “it’s always your fault” and “don’t be a knuckle head”.
The idiot part was riding for 7 hours in a day. On the way back I was a bit tired, had to take some curvee roads. 5pm, nice weather, roads are all empty except for me a car a good 1/3 of a mile behind me. So, out of overzealousness, being tired and not complete sure of what kind of curveees I had ahead, I decided to pull over and let the car go by, so I would hold him back when taking curves at my slower “newbie/grandpa” pace.
All good and proper, slow down, get on should and then… Get into gravel at about 10mph. All stupid mistakes you are not supose to do. Went into gravel at an angle, slowed too much, minor freak and front brake. Swiftly before I couldn’t even know what exactly had happened, I was o the ground ith 500 pounds on my right knee, a scratch on my brand new bike and a huge ego bruise (STUPID!!!!!). No big pain or body damage aparent (knee is def banged up and will probably stay out of it for the next few days, but no huge swelling or anything).
I guess my lesson was, don’t override (dumb!), don’t pull over out of overzelousness And most important respect the gravel. Actually I plan to avoid it. Oh yes, and I’m getting lower body gear -knee pads, hips the works. Stupid to loose a day of riding for a minor drop that woul’ve been nothing with some knee caps on!
And yes, had I’ve gone for a bike that was 2 inches lower and 150′ lighter, I could probably had not tipped it.
Have a good sunday everyone!
August 22, 2010 at 8:15 pm #28246Jeff in KentuckyParticipantA wet Mister Clean Magic Eraser rubbed onto the scratch area, then some rubbing compound polished in with an old cotton sock, then some wax will probably make the scratch much less noticable.
For your knee, soak in a tub with epsom salt in the water, take some ibuprofen, and slowly walk as much as is comfortable to keep the muscles and tendons around your knee stretched out and not getting weaker from lack of use. You may want to go to a pharmacy and buy a knee brace. An ice pack is probably a good idea for the first couple of days, to speed the blood flow to your knee and reduce the amount of bruising and swelling. If you limp for several days, it might be best to see a knee expert.
I wear dirt bike shin and knee guards, and a dirt bike kidney belt while street riding. I had a cast on one leg for 3 months when I was 16 years old, from not seeing a leaning fence post hidden in some tall grass, and breaking my two lower right leg bones on this old abandoned fence post while riding a dirt bike.
August 23, 2010 at 6:13 am #28257Gary856ParticipantA big part of the danger for new riders is encountering new/unfamiliar situations, which tend to overwhelm a new rider who’s still struggling with the basic control of the bike. A lot of us got our first taste of gravel like you did – with the good intention of getting out of somebody’s way, only to be surprised when tires hit gravel.
I wish rider training classes spend some time discussing these topics. Some discussion, visualization ahead of the time on what to do, and some short practices can eliminate a lot of these unnecessary surprises.
August 23, 2010 at 1:31 pm #28258ranetteParticipantIt’s one thing pulling into the right lane, if one exists, to let a faster vehicle pass. However, you should never pull onto the shoulder for any reason except for mechanical or physical difficulty; it’s for emergencies, not politeness. It’s your lane, own it. If somebody wants to get past you they will. We’ve all been stuck, both in cars and on bikes, behind vehicles going too slow for our liking. We either accept where we are or pass when we’re able to, not a major thing. Concentrate on your riding and what’s ahead rather than the feelings of whoever is behind you. Be aware of them, especially if you think they’re going to pass you, but do not obsess about them. They’ll deal.
Glad to hear that you and the bike came away only slightly grazed.
August 23, 2010 at 1:53 pm #28259AParticipantIt’s those small mishaps that make you learn important lessons without permanent injuries, hopefully.
One thing about gravel is to keep your momentum, sudden changes to direction of travel or velocity can quickly loose traction, even from 10 mph. Sometimes it might be better to continue at 10 mph or even accelerate a little to gain stability, before you find solid ground that provide better traction.
Sometimes these lessons can only be learn by falling.. hopefully it’s not too expensive of a mishap.August 24, 2010 at 12:00 am #28270TrialsRiderParticipant… question to OP : did you have your feet on the pegs at the time or foot dragging along in a futile attempt to hold up the moving motorcycle ???
August 24, 2010 at 5:36 am #28275plasticParticipantFeet were on pegs, I think it was just entering the gravel sideways and then applying brake to sopt. Although my speed was slow, the fall happened quite quickly – I just had no idea how the bike was going to react on gravel. And I guess all the lessons above are good.
“I wish rider training classes spend some time discussing these topics. Some discussion, visualization ahead of the time on what to do, and some short practices can eliminate a lot of these unnecessary surprises.”
Indeed. Also, I wish there was a “mechanic bull” version of a bike lesson so you could learn how to drop from a bike, etc… Silly but hey, in a way it was good to find out the bike’s weight and respect it at a slow gravel pace.
Also, it did make me look into knee and shin braces, along with maybe hip braces. No serious injuries, but a good wake up call to gear up (I already have boots and jacket with protection).
Thanks for all the input and any more is welcome. And I guess I’ll have to go back to gravel and learn it this weekend, now with more a more carefull touch… And protection.
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