Close call on Highway 94

[efforex]

So i was riding the 94 Highway (twisties in california) for the first time today and got a wide open awakening of how important it is to stay focused on the road and to use proper gear.
For Instance:
I have the icon boots (forgot what they are called) and i like them but they have a lip on the top of the rubber sole that has never been a problem till today. I went into a turn leaning to the right went to shift my body weight to the left into the turn and my foot caught the foot peg bar (don't know what it's called) where i was resting my heel and cause me to look down for a split second. I looked back up and noticed i was entering the turn to hot, I panicked and was about to go straight into a curb and gravel. At the last second i stopped staring at the curb and corrected with rear brake only and counter steering out instead of head on. Once i was mostly clear i noticed some gravel along the road luckily i kept a steady pace and direction didn't go down and was able to recover. Scary feeling but a true life lesson that i probably needed to learn.

I'm sure someone is gonna tell me that i was stupid and that's fine i deserve it but i wanted to share this so that people could maybe learn from my mistake and take caution till you really know the road and don't lax on any turn or push your limits.

 

[CrazyCawi]

Your not stupid, you learned an excellent lesson in how quick things can change and no matter what happens keep yoru focus on the road and slow down if you have an issue. In a perfect scenario instead of looking down you would have slowed up knowing something was wrong and pulled over. Then you inspect the situation. But no one can clearly say they would have done exactly that in that situation. If someone flames you for this Im going to nut kick em. Your alive today, to learn from that mistake, and to ensure you ride with cautious and analyze the situation at hand.

 

[efforex]

Your not stupid, you learned an excellent lesson in how quick things can change and no matter what happens keep yoru focus on the road and slow down if you have an issue. In a perfect scenario instead of looking down you would have slowed up knowing something was wrong and pulled over. Then you inspect the situation. But no one can clearly say they would have done exactly that in that situation. If someone flames you for this Im going to nut kick em. Your alive today, to learn from that mistake, and to ensure you ride with cautious and analyze the situation at hand.

Thanks def learned a lesson scared the shit out of myself took a minute caught my bearings then i went and rode that turn a couple times just to figure it out and make sure i truly learned how to take it.

 

[Detrich]

Good save and thanks for sharing. No one here will ever criticize you for riding incidents- unless you ride in tank top, shorts, and flip flops. lol.

Even very experienced riders sometimes lose focus. One of my friends crashed up in GMR cuz he said he started thinking about having pizza for lunch.

For me, on Sunday up in ACH, just seeing 2 bikers stopped along side the road a few turns ahead caused me to brain fart going around a turn as i was approaching. It was a split second, but they were stopped in such a weird place that I couldn't help but think, what's up? And that's all it took to break my concentration. And on any technical road, u just have to drown out those distractions. Luckily I regained immediately and then slowed down. Those two guys must've just decided to back track cuz they ended up doing u-turns.

 

[Enjarin]

Yep. You're not stupid. Increased awareness, learned a lesson. Will make you a better rider.

This would be stupid:

"I did this crazy thing and almost crashed! Scary but it was sooooo kewl! I'm gonna try to do it again tomorrow in shorts, a tee and flip flops cuz I'm uber and l33t!" :shakehead:

 

[JT]

twisties are awsome but as we all know can be extremely dangerous so take it easy on them get familiar before you push your limits

 

[buzzbomb]

So i was riding the 94 Highway (twisties in california) for the first time today and got a wide open awakening of how important it is to stay focused on the road and to use proper gear.
For Instance:
I have the icon boots (forgot what they are called) and i like them but they have a lip on the top of the rubber sole that has never been a problem till today. I went into a turn leaning to the right went to shift my body weight to the left into the turn and my foot caught the foot peg bar (don't know what it's called) where i was resting my heel and cause me to look down for a split second. I looked back up and noticed i was entering the turn to hot, I panicked and was about to go straight into a curb and gravel. At the last second i stopped staring at the curb and corrected with rear brake only and counter steering out instead of head on. Once i was mostly clear i noticed some gravel along the road luckily i kept a steady pace and direction didn't go down and was able to recover. Scary feeling but a true life lesson that i probably needed to learn.

I'm sure someone is gonna tell me that i was stupid and that's fine i deserve it but i wanted to share this so that people could maybe learn from my mistake and take caution till you really know the road and don't lax on any turn or push your limits.

Sounds to me like you did pretty darn well. No shame. Except re-re-reading your post: Your heal was resting on a twisty? Balls of the feet at all times, should be the norm. Resting the ankles happens when nothing is going on. A straight run, nothing around.

I'll put my heels on the pegs, stick my knees out, stretch everything I can stretch, and relax all the muscles I can. But it's brief, and only on the straight, boring runs between my house and the fun, or back again.

I'm not going to call you stupid. I suspect you were waiting for someone to point out what I just did. That means your aware of it. Not Stupid and lesson learned.

At the end of the day, it sounds as though you handled a possibly catastrophic event rather well. Lesson learned and ride on!

 

[SurfJunkie]

1. Never EVER enter a turn with your toe under the shifter.
2. If you are going to be a twisty/track champion, consider changing to a GP style shift pattern. ( 1st gear up, the rest down. This puts your toes on top of the shift lever mid corner if necessary. )
3. Balls of the feet on the pegs. You should never be flat footed/heels hooked on pegs in twisties.

Nice recovery. Just be careful out there. I had a buddy make this same mistake at a track day and partially sprained his ankle mid corner. Could have been much worse.

 

[efforex]

1. Never EVER enter a turn with your toe under the shifter.
2. If you are going to be a twisty/track champion, consider changing to a GP style shift pattern. ( 1st gear up, the rest down. This puts your toes on top of the shift lever mid corner if necessary. )
3. Balls of the feet on the pegs. You should never be flat footed/heels hooked on pegs in twisties.

Nice recovery. Just be careful out there. I had a buddy make this same mistake at a track day and partially sprained his ankle mid corner. Could have been much worse.

just to clarify my heel wasn't on the peg its that black long piece that runs along next to the swing arm it was resting on that.

But always thanks everyone for the advice i would def like to drag a knee and feel the excitement but i am gonna slow down a lot from where i was till i learn the roads out here better.

 

[Brock Kickass]

When I think of some of the speeds I've shot through turns on a course and not dragged my knee, man...
Save the knee dragging for the track. You can go plenty quick and have lots of fun without pushing to 100% on the street, which is where you are if your knee is on the ground. As you learned from this close call, leaving a little room for error is valuable.