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Old 11-02-2004, 10:35 AM   #1 (permalink)
Savage Riders Rock
 
Va bene's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Bike: Suzuki Savage LS 650
Location: Dandelion Alley
Posts: 255
Default Scary Skidding Lessons
Sooo... Sunday was a beautiful day in Pennsylvania. It was about 70 degrees, sunny and the leaves were beautiful. We went for a ride on the local twisties through the woods, alongside streams, over the hills, all along the way surrounded by amazing fall color. I couldn't have asked for a better day or a better ride until the following happened...

We were coming through a nice series of twisties, the last one was a righthand curve up a hill. Everything was so amazing and I was feeling so great on my bike that I forgot one of my cardinal rules of riding -- ride within your sight distance. In other words, I was going TOO FAST because I had no idea what was over the hill around the curve...

...a stop sign!!!

I definitely did not have enough time to brake safely before the stop sign. I tried though. I was leaning heavily into the curve (love to lean), so the first thing that happened after I slammed on the brakes was that the bike stood up. Next thing that happened was the rear tire locked up and slid out to the right; I let up on the brakes to unlock the tire and then braked again; rear tire locked up and slid out to the left; let up on the brakes and then braked again; tire slid out to the right; released and braked one last time and ended up stopping before the stop sign but I was on the wrong side of the road (in the lane for oncoming traffic). Fortunately no one else was in that lane. I left some pretty skid marks. The whole thing happened in a matter of seconds. Shook for a while.

Hubby saw the whole thing. Poor guy. He was amazed I didn't dump the bike. He said I smoked the tires twice. Amazingly enough, even though I was scared, I never felt like I was going to dump it.

So here's what I learned/relearned:
  • RIDE WITHIN MY SIGHT DISTANCE. No question about it, I should have been doing that.
  • Use more front brake. I experimented the next day and I can use a lot more front brake safely than I might have thought.
  • Practice quick stops more often. I have practiced but clearly not often enough.
By the way, after I recovered, we kept on riding -- there was no way I was going to waste a beautiful day inside. All in all I was lucky. I relearned a valuable lesson and the only cost was a bit of fear.

P.S. Uncle Bob recently posted a study on braking that was done in Canada. I found it helpful. See Braking Tips and Myths


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