Nearly had my first road off last night… right outside my house!.
The road was busy so I had to take the smallest gap in the traffic when it came. On my bad part I pulled on abit too much excess throttle and dumped the clutch, which then made me find myself power sliding round onto the road. Then when I brought the bike in true I nearly got high-sided, just managed to keep myself on!.. It put a massive smile on my face though and in a strange way boosted up my confidence. It was like being on my motocross bike for second or two :D:D:D
How do you feel after a near off?, is it a buzz?? or a confidence knock??
I remember that when I pulled a wheelie with the missus in the back:) and yeah I mean a proper wheelie where the front comes up high:) I shat myself and laughted at the same time, was giggling like a school girl:) was right in front of the house also:)
I also had 2 funny moments where my back went sliding and I managed to get it back in line and a tank slapper after jumping over something.
if the bike slides…i rarely panic…think this is from riding off-road moto x/green laning and riding moutain bikes through trails etc so sliding isnt tooo much of a worry.
at first i react then think, FUG! hahahah
the worst thing i have EVER experienced was a month after i passed my test, i hit a bump at about 90+ on a dark unlight country road…cue…massive tankslapper lock2lock at least 5 times, i have no idea how or why it stopped and didnt chuck me off…i was literlally thinking what tree am i gonna hit…
that on bought a tear to my eye! jeeeez that was scary!:w00t: proper fugging scary…
i have no idea wasp!!! was on a chingford road just down from high beech;) not afraid to admit that a mile down teh road i got of the 'Effing thing and couldnt get back on!! i rang a mate in a bit of 2&8…tears n all…
took me good 20 mins to get back on it to ride home, that night i think my old man was definetly watching over me…its that thing called Fate…
I think there is a big difference between a “moment” and an “off.” When you have a “moment” you get your shot of adrenalin followed by relief and satisfaction about a heroic save (which we all make the assumption was down to our skill) so you are very pleased and your confidence goes up. If you end up sliding along the road you also get your shot of adrenalin but when you come to a stop you have to figure out whether you are about to get run over, whether you are injured and where your bike is plus what state it’s in. That kind of ruins the moment.
Racers get used to this so it’s not a big deal but if it only happens to you occasionally you can get really spooked. I had a minor off and it was the most scared I’ve ever been. It took me about a week to come back to normal.
I think when you lose a bit of traction resulting in a slide or shimmy or you get a (small) tank slapper you tend to react instinctively and then smile about it - it’s all part of the fun after all - However I do tend to sh1t myself if I’ve gone too fast into a bend and I’ve got my braking, throttle and line all wrong - this can result in the mind going blank and the body tensing up - a lot of people come a cropper this way - it takes practice to learn to relax, process the situation and get your throttle and steering right and just get round the bend - if I’d had a lot of track experience and been round all kinds of bends from fast sweepers to hairpins at close to the limits of my ability* a lot I’d probably be a lot better at this - but I haven’t. :blink:*(which is too dangerous to attempt on the road - e.g. if it goes wrong you will get killed/mullered)
when i first started riding the lanes i done that a few times! luckily i just ran off onto grass or occasionla gravel side road! pick it up mid corner few times too!:w00t: learnt through getting my knee down just how far i can lean…so now when i go into a bend im much more confident, and if i am carrying a bit too much speed i just lean it bit more…bac of throttle bit more…
i know what ya mean tho before you learn how to control that situation it can be very scary!
Remember when I first got my GSX. Was sat a pedestrian crossing and though it would be cool to try and spin the back wheel on the nice wet slippy bit of white paint. Well … instead of just spinning up the bike did a sideways thing and I ended up doing a left lock and a right and left and right lock, legs all over the place and hanging on for dear life. How I didnt come off or hit something I will never know. I do know that once out of sight of all the people that saw it I had to stop and have have a fag. I was shaking so much I had trouble lighting it up.
Its definately a buzz but I always beat myself with a big stick afterwards. Its a very different kind of buzz as Ratty says when you have an idea of what to expect even if its not quite the outcome you anticipated.
i think every one thats put a little story on here about a near off /off should all try a trackday day(if you havent allready) you learn so much about your riding and your bikes limits its worth a try because if you do push it to hard your not going to be worrying about lamposts cars lorrys curbs ect . and when i slid off at silverstone i only did 50 quids woth of damage . Ratty if you have never done one think you should do one next year , you can teach me how not to panic when your back tyre spins up from to much lean angle and throttle:w00t:., especially coming out of druids at brands hatch! ive stayed on so far but guess next year might have different ideas for me!!
I remember a few years ago when i was riding down a muddy country lane after a serious night on the beer, hit some omunumental large pile of cow **** :w00t: and had an almighty tank slapper, :hehe::hehe:i didnt know what the crap was going on or how to correct it, i just held on for dear life, think i made a bigger pile in the old under crackers than the one i rode through.
i have never again ridden at speed after a night on the beer, it put the fear of god in me, :sick:
maybe people should post how they got off “almost an off”:)
I for one found out that by simply letting the bike free she will simply come back in line. So either dip in clutch, slowly let go of the accelerator. With the tank slapper is just relaxed my hands and followed the bike, didn’t put any force trying to straighten it but was firmly gripping the handlebars.
lol yeah, or just hold on with your ass:) if you see lots of them bike accidents videos you will realise the bike will just keep going on her own, most of the time something happens the rider falls off and the bike just straightens up and goes in a straight line.
Talk about scarry moments, one of the guys on the BCR had a wasp in the helmet that came through the vents… how do you deal with that one eh?? That’s a bloody scarry moment:)
and yeah I mean a proper wheelie where the front comes up high:)