[Honclfibr]

I was taking the long way home from work, Island Pond road in Derry, and got stuck behind a minivan going slower than I wanted to go. I followed back for a while, but my pride got the better of me and I began to follow close, looking for an opportunity to pass. Looking back, part of it was also I wanted to harass the driver for going the speed limit, talk about a horrible idea...

Regardless, we're coming up to a straight area and I raise my left hand and motion to the minivan that I will be passing (aka shake my left fist in anger, yes I realize how squidly I'm looking here). Suddenly, the minivan brakes hard. Looking back I'm still not sure why; I really hope it wasn't in anger, but let's be honest here, it was certainly provoked if it was.

So here I am, left hand up in the air, tailgating a rapidly decelerating automobile...and I finally make a (somewhat) positive decision: I brake, smooth and hard. The world flashes before my eyes, I feel the ground rushing up to meet me, and I let go of the handlebars to meet the pavement hands first. My hands break my fall, my head doesn't hit the ground, and I roll over on my jacket shoulder pads...Just in time to see a 500 pound ZX6 *straight up in the air on the front wheel* starting to fall down towards me. I guess this is where self-preservation really kicked in, and I rolled forward in some desperate attempt to save my body.

Amazingly, it worked. Mostly. The bike came down, the grab bar slammed down onto my right ankle, and the bike rolled onto it's right side, away from my ankle and the rest of my body. I got up just in time to see the first few cars stopping around me. People were very helpful. I was kind of dazed, which made it difficult to pick the bike up; a man and a woman got out of their cars and helped me pull it up and off to the side of the road. Meanwhile, another passerby called the local police. Who, when they arrived, were amazingly courteous and helpful. The chief of police mentioned that they didn't have to file a report with the state if the damage was under $1000, and showed me that opening up the throttle a bit was a good way to start a flooded bike. Apparently he had rode a Honda once upon a time. He was pretty amazed that I was able to loop the bike like that. Hell, so was I.

Ok, post crash debriefing. What did I do wrong? A whole hell of a lot, but let's go through the major points...

1) I was tired, and had a pretty long day at work, so I shouldn't have been riding hard. Maybe not at all, I'm still pretty new at this whole motorcycling thing, I don't have a lot of skill to spare...

2) I sure as hell shouldn't have been tailgating. Looking back, there was no need for that. If I was going to pass, I should have waited at a safe distance for a clear zone and then accelerated up.

3) For that matter, why was I gearing up to pass? Island Pond is nothing but double yellows. I was coming up on a straight, but it wasn't a legal passing zone. This one's iffy, we do this all the time, but I certainly shouldn't have been passing in a no fly zone given that I was tired and less alert.

4) Ok, the hand thing. There's really no need to take your hand off the controls, ever. Sure as hell not when you're tailgating. And to shake it in ANGER? I'm just about ready to kick my own ass...

5) I should have seen the brakelights waaaay sooner. I was 15-20 feet away and the minivan was almost stopped before I did. I'm not sure exactly what I was looking at. But it sure as hell wasn't in front of me.

I'm sure there are more, that others will point out, or that I'll realize as I have time to mull the experience over, but those are 4 pretty major points. Just for completeness, I'll cover what I did right.

1) When I did notice brakelights, I reacted quickly, rolling off the throttle and grabbing the brake.

2) I grabbed the brake like they taught us in MSF, smoothly with no jerky motions, like squeezing a sponge. I'm hoping this is why I stoppied instead of locking the front and sliding into the minivan's bumper. It's hard to say whether I grabbed it too hard, I don't think I'll ever know how close I got to the minivan...I think I probably did though, so that's another negative...

3) When I hit the ground, I got the fuck out of the way. I'm actually a little proud of this one, that bike was coming for me and I scrambled like my life depended on it...which it damn sure did...Survival instincts are cool...

Ok yeah, not a lot of positives, and a whole shitload of negatives. I get a big F on this one. The fact that I ended up with nothing more than a slightly sore right wrist and a scraped up sore ankle is a miracle, by all rights I deserve to be in a hospital at the moment with cracked ribs from where a 500 pound bike landed on me.

As for the bike, I don't want to jinx it, but I think it'll be ok, amazingly enough. The passenger grab handle snapped off about 1/2 inch above the bolts, the upper fairing is busted in around the right mirror, and the headlight is loose in the front end. Scratches are limited to the mirrors and the upper and right mid fairing, with a minor scratch on the tail fairing near the taillight. I tried to take the upper fairing off to check for other damage, but I don't have my service book with me; I'll do that tomorrow. The bike had a scratched upper and right mid when I bought it, I was just thinking how I was going to repair them...guess their getting replaced.

Anyway, that's my crash story, if nothing else it's a cautionary tale. I know I'll certainly learn from it. In the last week I was getting a bit big for my britches, following too close, passing on the double yellow, things I never used to do. This is a wakeup call for me. I thought about calling it quits, maybe I just don't have the focus required for motorcycling. But I can see where I went wrong, and I can avoid this. I'll fix my bike, and get back out there. A little bit wiser and a lot more cautious, this is not an experience I'd care to repeat.

Feel free to post your comments, suggestions, flames. I can take it, I've got thick skin and I deserve some finger-wagging for all the stupid stunts I pulled today...

[SVixxer]

I don't think that there is any flaming needed. You learned your lesson and will now back off a bit. It is hard to hold back sometimes. You just need to remember that this is a lifetime sport. Plus think of it this way. When you are around traffic, if you show curtisy it will look good for all sportbike riders. We have a bad enough rap as it is.

It's good to see that you are in good shape.

[zx-stewie]

That sucks. Bad luck or not, dumping your bike just sucks.

Glad you made it through the incident ok.

Check out Ron Ayers Motorsports if you want to fix the bike yourself and save a few bucks on replacement parts for the ZX. I bought all my plastic and engine covers from them last year when my ZX went down, and I saved several hundred bucks as compared to a local dealer.

[Honclfibr]

Originally posted by SVixxer
I don't think that there is any flaming needed. You learned your lesson and will now back off a bit. It is hard to hold back sometimes. You just need to remember that this is a lifetime sport. Plus think of it this way. When you are around traffic, if you show curtisy it will look good for all sportbike riders. We have a bad enough rap as it is.

It's good to see that you are in good shape.

Appreciate the kind words. I agree wholeheartedly about the courtesy thing, and I've been so careful about being a polite rider in the past. I don't know what got into me this week, I guess I just got caught up in accelerating my learning curve and pushing my own limits...but looking back, pushing your limits is not about being an asshole or endangering yourself and others. If there's one thing I'm gonna take from all of this, it's that there's no need to be aggressive around other cars to push your limits...hang back and enjoy the slow ride, and wait for the other vehicles to turn off, or at least for a good passing opportunity. No need to rush things, There will always be another sweeper just ahead, the question is will I be alive and well to ride it...

[Honclfibr]

Originally posted by zx-stewie
That sucks. Bad luck or not, dumping your bike just sucks.

Glad you made it through the incident ok.

Check out Ron Ayers Motorsports if you want to fix the bike yourself and save a few bucks on replacement parts for the ZX. I bought all my plastic and engine covers from them last year when my ZX went down, and I saved several hundred bucks as compared to a local dealer.

Definitely, Ron Ayers seems to have the hands-down best prices for OEM kawasaki parts, appreciate the tip. I know the upper is a $300 part from looking a few weeks back, not sure about the grab rail. I'm going to put in an order just as soon as I have the oportuntiy to give the bike a full look over and tally up the parts I'll need.

Again, thanks for the kind words...

(damn server pissing me off can't post under my own goddam name!)

but here's my reply:

Just glad your okay Daryl...

we all learn from our experiences ...

rest up - fix the bike and get back out there


just next time dont ride so damn close to those fucking minivans - those soccer moms are brutal

I'm glad to hear you're ok! Hairy situations like that suck, for sure...and it's even worse when it results in a crash, whatever the ultimate reason.

I think it is very commendable of you to step up and take responsibility for your actions. Your report will help others through your experience.

This kind of incident/report is a FAR cry from "he's a new rider so it's ok", and that's just awesome.

[Honclfibr]

Thanks again for the heartfelt response Josh and Rachel, I know from my short time here that you two really consider everyone on this board members of your extended family, and that whatever you might say that people take the wrong way is just you two being concerned for the wellfare of other riders out there. I really respect the community you've built here, it helps a whole lot to have a place where I can come and talk about my mistakes and get the support of other riders. I would be in a lot sorrier shape right now if I hadn't found this place...

I don't know much about the ODFU crash, and I'm going to remain neutral on that issue except to say that I feel for the downed rider and hope that he recovers and learns from his mistakes like I'm trying to. Crashing puts you in a real bad place, whether you're the rider or just a concerned friend, and it can be difficult to sort out the emotions sometimes. We never got to hear what the ODFU rider was thinking post-crash, but I can imagine he's running through the incident in his head just like I am, trying to learn from the experience and wishing he could be back there to do things different. With luck, we'll both be back out there quickly, with a heap more respect for our bikes, our limits, and the vehicles around us.

[bemused]

mostly repeating what others have said, but:

1. glad you're alright, and (I assume) the bike's rideable.

2. thanx for the full, unvarnished report. takes some guts to open yourself up to possible shots like that. can't speak for anyone else... but it gave me a snapshot of some of my occasional bad habits. especially when I started out, still--unfortunately--sometimes today. reminders are a GOOD thing...

3. to be able to walk / ride away from a lesson about things NOT to do on a bike is something to be grateful for. from what you wrote, you're obviously a wiser rider now. what we choose to do on two (or fewer) wheels is potentially lethal... sure am glad that you came out of this without becoming a statistic.

4. Ron Ayers is def. a good place for OEM parts if you can't find 'em used. I've had good luck with 'em.

looking forward to riding w/ you one of these days, man

Very noble write-up man!
I know I've done stuff like that before and and been very cross with myself for it (No! We are NOT stopping for ice cream! You have been a very naughty boy!)
I find I do it alot less now...Could be I'm getting old, but I hope it's the negitive re-enforcement...


Jank.
ster that is...

Yeah, and RonAyers is awesome.

[need4speed]

Glad to hear that your okay. crashing sucks no matter who's fault. We all make mistakes and hopefully learn from them.

[Matt K]

ach, damn, glad to hear you're ok man. The good thing is learning from it (which you seem to have done) I used to tailgate people on the bike, then I did something remarkably similar to what you did, and now I leave a LOT of extra space in front of me. Hopefully the ZX won't cost too much or take too long to put back together, the longer you get stuck off the bike after a wreck the more you tend to dwell on the wreck rather than moving on. you know what they say, That which doesn't kill us makes us stronger...

[fivetoez]

Originally posted by JCzx12
I'm glad to hear you're ok! Hairy situations like that suck, for sure...and it's even worse when it results in a crash, whatever the ultimate reason.

I think it is very commendable of you to step up and take responsibility for your actions. Your report will help others through your experience.

This kind of incident/report is a FAR cry from "he's a new rider so it's ok", and that's just awesome.

NOW who's carryin on & beatin a dead horse....................YOU!........."5"...................& yes!,glad to see your buddy's alright!

[twrayinma]

glad yer okay, mang...

i'll throw down w/ ron ayers as well... better prices than i've seen anywhere.

Originally posted by fivetoez
NOW who's carryin on & beatin a dead horse....................YOU!........."5"...................& yes!,glad to see your buddy's alright!

I don't recall harping on anyone for carrying this on or beating a dead horse (you guys aren't very good at putting words in people's mouths are you?)...but regardless............ ...........see my last post in the crash thread and you'll see that I don't care.

[VinceF2]

Glad you're ok man... way to stop drop and roll....

Dunno why I want to know.... but did the mini-van stop??? I agree that the tailgating thing is a bad idea... no need to harp on it cause you know it too... but in all likelyhood they hit the brakes because of it.... and that just plain sucks.... IMO

[Kham]

glad you're .. you know..

how the heck could you loop a 500lbs 600 bike. did you clutch hard? i like to know. i couldn't even do a small wheelie on ZX7R. well i've never tried.

this would be record #1

[twrayinma]

he did an ultra-stoppie, not a wheelie.

[Kham]

oh! only read the subject. story too long.

[s a x m a n]

Originally posted by Kham
oh! only read the subject. story too long.

lazy??


jk!

[NHViffer]

Originally posted by Kham
glad you're .. you know..

how the heck could you loop a 500lbs 600 bike. did you clutch hard? i like to know. i couldn't even do a small wheelie on ZX7R. well i've never tried.

this would be record #1

Kham, most anything can be wheelied. I put my first Interceptor 500 over backward during my first year of riding. That thing probably weighed close to the ZX6, and had a lot less power. Once had a guy blast by me on his Hardley Ableson on the rear wheel. He was flying.... too bad that he probably didn't have brakes enough to slow that thing down well, or clearance to corner with a knee on the ground.

My experience is that clutch wheelies can happen very fast, and a very little change in what the driver does (more or less throttle, fast clutch engagement, body position, etc) can cause it to come up a lot higher or faster than you might expect.

I had an old riding buddy who told me "everyone who rides wheelies at the balance point goes over backward once - then you either stop trying to do it, or learn where it is and also how to cover the rear brake...." I suggest that you decide early if you are willing to take that chance before attempting it.

Sorry for the digression.

Honclfibr, I am glad that you are doing well. Get that bike back together so that we can hook up and ride - BTW - I am very hestitant to pass on a double yellow. There is a reason that they are not posted as passing zones.

[NHViffer]

Also - you've probably heard: There are two type of riders 1 - those who have crashed 2 - those who are going to crash.

Congrat's on moving into the 1st class - and welcome to "the club".

[Kham]

Originally posted by NHViffer
Also - you've probably heard: There are two type of riders 1 - those who have crashed 2 - those who are going to crash.

Congrat's on moving into the 1st class - and welcome to "the club".

wouldn't it be 2nd class? cause maybe ill just go and crash on purpose.

[NHViffer]

Originally posted by Kham
wouldn't it be 2nd class? cause maybe ill just go and crash on purpose.

Nope, definitely 1st class. It's like a badge of honor. A secret society with codenames, secret waves and handshakes, etc... wow - that sounds a lot like NESR in general.