13-09-12, 03:03 PM
I don't suppose there can be many of us who have never crashed, overbalanced or made some sort of cock-up that has ended with our bike on its side. And it's always embarrassing.
Probably my worst was a few years ago on the switchback road that goes from Keogh Barracks towards Pirbright past the army ranges. After being held up for a while by a driver who appeared to think there was a 30mph limit I dropped back then accelerated as a short straight came into view. There was nothing coming the other way so I rocketed past him in fine style and absolutely nailed the next few bends.
Unfortunately, at that point I took a break from concentrating in order to mentally congratulate myself on the speed with which I'd negotiated those bends. A second later I woke up to the fact that there was a tricky off-camber downhill right-hander ahead and, as a direct result of my earlier successes, I was approaching it much faster than I'd ever attempted it before. Sensible braking was all that was required to get round it... sadly, that wasn't what I did. A boot-full of brake and fixating on the impact zone saw me lock the rear and slide ignominiously round the corner backwards leaving a trail of broken plastic in my wake.
Moments later, Mr 30mph arrived and patiently watched as I picked the bike up and cleared my debris out of his way. :o
Probably my worst was a few years ago on the switchback road that goes from Keogh Barracks towards Pirbright past the army ranges. After being held up for a while by a driver who appeared to think there was a 30mph limit I dropped back then accelerated as a short straight came into view. There was nothing coming the other way so I rocketed past him in fine style and absolutely nailed the next few bends.
Unfortunately, at that point I took a break from concentrating in order to mentally congratulate myself on the speed with which I'd negotiated those bends. A second later I woke up to the fact that there was a tricky off-camber downhill right-hander ahead and, as a direct result of my earlier successes, I was approaching it much faster than I'd ever attempted it before. Sensible braking was all that was required to get round it... sadly, that wasn't what I did. A boot-full of brake and fixating on the impact zone saw me lock the rear and slide ignominiously round the corner backwards leaving a trail of broken plastic in my wake.
Moments later, Mr 30mph arrived and patiently watched as I picked the bike up and cleared my debris out of his way. :o