The newb squid goes down for the first time!

[flyer_kaz]

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK...

ok.. now that I got that out of my system... heres the rundown...

Was actually practicing earlier in the day going up and down South Border Rd and around Spot Pond, the Fellsway... trying to get more comfortable leaning into the turns and getting more relaxed... smooth positive throttle.. etc...

came home and chilled for a bit, was waiting for the UPS guy to deliver a package. Package arrives and I head out a little early for work. This is around 3:30-45... I head toward the Honey Dew in Wakefield as I've never been up in that area and I was thinking I could meet some of you fine folks there if anyone was there a little early for the ride to Lowell.

So I'm going up Main St, heading around the bend going left... I'm doing about 25-30 mph so not too hot... but as I'm doing the turn its a little sharper than I had realized and I get kinda freaked out. I have this big fear of my front tire always sliding out so I spooked myself a little and straighten out a bit in the turn... slightly hitting the front brakes... mistake #1

as I do this my vision shortens up... mistake #2...
so I see this curb coming up and target fixation happens... mistake #3...

So of course in my mind I'm like "Don't hit the curb...Don't hit the curb...Don't hit the fucking cur-BAM!!"

Hard lesson #1 in my motorcycling career... your bike goes where you look... don't look at curbs!.. lol...

I slam my front tire right into this curb thats part of someones driveway...

I get pitched over the right front handlebars as the front rim rebounds out to the left... luckily I get pitched toward the grass and not the road so it was a pretty soft landing... I was wearing a backpack with some clothes in it for work so I'm sure that helped alot... landed on that and rolled to my knee and slid on the grass for about 30 feet... got right up and went to pick up my bike which had slid about 15 feet farther on the street. Luckily no cars or other vehicles were around me when it happened. Was wearing all my gear so that was good too... Helmet, jacket,gloves and boots.

I'm fine... just sprained my thumb a little on my right hand from the rebound of the handlbars and getting pitched over the front. Bike is scratched up but overall not too bad... it was still running as I walk up to it and then slowly died as I started to pick it up. I think I did something to the coolant system as a little green fluid was under the bike when I picked it up.

The bad news is that now when I try to start it... nothing... the lights come on and all that stuff but when I hit the starter button... nadda... I bent the front and rear brake levers on the right side but not too bad... can prob be bent back into place and get some cheap ebay levers.

I'm more worried about the rim and forks... I hope I didn't twist them or anything like that... that would be major suckage and major $$.

This is actually my first motor vehicle accident EVER... damn... thought I would I have a little more time to prepare... lol...

*sigh*

I have a few consolations though...
1. It wasn't really that bad in the grand scheme of things... I walked away with only a slightly sprained thumb and a shot to the ego
2. Couldn't have asked for anything better to land in than soft grass. Barely felt it.
3. I'm SO glad it didn't happen in front of the Dew in front of EVERYONE!

I'll update with pics as soon as I can.

Of course the wifey is fuming at me now...

[Wanderer]

Urg, sorry to hear you went down!

Take it eeeeeasy with that thumb sprain. What you think may be a sprain may be a tear of the ulnar collateral ligament of the thumb. Trust me - this is no fun at all - recovering from one currently. Strongly advise you get it looked at. Until then - Ice, Elevate, Compress (moderate/light)

You're going to hurt worse tomorrow!

(You may have a tip-over sensor that may need to be reset before it'll fire again)

[KB]

FUCK FUCKFUCKFUCK...

ok.. now that I got that out of my system... heres the rundown...

Was actually practicing earlier in the day going up and down South Border Rd and around Spot Pond, the Fellsway... trying to get more comfortable leaning into the turns and getting more relaxed... smooth positive throttle.. etc...

came home and chilled for a bit, was waiting for the UPS guy to deliver a package. Package arrives and I head out a little early for work. This is around 3:30-45... I head toward the Honey Dew in Wakefield as I've never been up in that area and I was thinking I could meet some of you fine folks there if anyone was there a little early for the ride to Lowell.

So I'm going up Main St, heading around the bend going left... I'm doing about 25-30 mph so not too hot... but as I'm doing the turn its a little sharper than I had realized and I get kinda freaked out. I have this big fear of my front tire always sliding out so I spooked myself a little and straighten out a bit in the turn... slightly hitting the front brakes... mistake #1

as I do this my vision shortens up... mistake #2...
so I see this curb coming up and target fixation happens... mistake #3...

So of course in my mind I'm like "Don't hit the curb...Don't hit the curb...Don't hit the fucking cur-BAM!!"

Hard lesson #1 in my motorcycling career... your bike goes where you look... don't look at curbs!.. lol...

I slam my front tire right into this curb thats part of someones driveway...

I get pitched over the right front handlebars as the front rim rebounds out to the left... luckily I get pitched toward the grass and not the road so it was a pretty soft landing... I was wearing a backpack with some clothes in it for work so I'm sure that helped alot... landed on that and rolled to my knee and slid on the grass for about 30 feet... got right up and went to pick up my bike which had slid about 15 feet farther on the street. Luckily no cars or other vehicles were around me when it happened. Was wearing all my gear so that was good too... Helmet, jacket,gloves and boots.

I'm fine... just sprained my thumb a little on my right hand from the rebound of the handlbars and getting pitched over the front. Bike is scratched up but overall not too bad... it was still running as I walk up to it and then slowly died as I started to pick it up. I think I did something to the coolant system as a little green fluid was under the bike when I picked it up.

The bad news is that now when I try to start it... nothing... the lights come on and all that stuff but when I hit the starter button... nadda... I bent the front and rear brake levers on the right side but not too bad... can prob be bent back into place and get some cheap ebay levers.

I'm more worried about the rim and forks... I hope I didn't twist them or anything like that... that would be major suckage and major $$.

This is actually my first motor vehicle accident EVER... damn... thought I would I have a little more time to prepare... lol...

*sigh*

I have a few consolations though...
1. It wasn't really that bad in the grand scheme of things... I walked away with only a slightly sprained thumb and a shot to the ego
2. Couldn't have asked for anything better to land in than soft grass. Barely felt it.
3. I'm SO glad it didn't happen in front of the Dew in front of EVERYONE!

I'll update with pics as soon as I can.

Of course the wifey is fuming at me now...

Glad you are ok.

Get a new wife.

KB

[flyer_kaz]

Look!.... I even made an interactive map of what happened and where I went down...

Crash Map

[#1 masshole]

sorry to hear man. We've all been down so we feel for ya(and your ego).
Glad you're alright though!

[ThisBitch]

I did the exact same thing the first day I ever rode a motorcycle on the street... end-over-ended into a guy's front lawn while he was standing there.

That was my first and only crash on the street with almost 20,000 miles under my belt, so the more you learn from it, the better off you are.

Glad you're ok!

[noxin]

Well, knowing it was by the lake, that corner is the one that makes sense

Hell, I crashed a bike on the test ride as my first on-street experience!

If you're that unsure of your cornering ability, it may be worth it to look into either an ARC Class or a track day with some instruction to teach you to trust your tires.

[DaSarge]

Time to upgrade from the F2!

Glad to hear your ok man, going down always sucks but it happens to everyone eventually. Stay positive about it because it could of been a lot worse.

[odieoh24]

every REAL rider goes down at least once. consider it a learning experience. my girlfriend, who has only been riding for a year, has the same fear of losing the front tire when in the corners. she's on the brakes and not leaning the bike enough. she's had 2 close calls but has managed to keep the bike off the ground both times. i.ve been having her watch some of the superbike races on tv, just to show her that it takes quite a bit before you'll lose the front end. practice makes perfect, so get it running and get back on her. glad to hear you're alright.

later odieoh24

[KillBill]

Don't beat yourself up too much man.

I think it's great that you have realized what mistakes you made.
Like everything in life, riding has a learning curve....no pun intended.

When you learned how to ride a bicycle did you ever fall.....or did you
instantly stay shiny side up

Glad things turned out ok for ya

[Mondo]

glad your ok buddy, when i went down i felt fine that next day...the day after it felt like i had tripple sessions during college football.

did anybody walking the lake come over and try and help ya?

[slammp]

+1 on the riding class if you can swing it. check out www.trainingwheels.com, they do one in Brockton. Glad that you are ok, that's the most important thing. To be honest it sounds like prior to that you were doing the right thing. Fellsway is a great place to learn turning you can go at your own pace and just keep at it. I used to rip that road every Saturday and Sunday morning to practice turns.

Like you said, hopefully ther is no serious damage to the front end and you can get back at it soon. Be carefull out there. They say that the majority of single vehicle motorcycle accidents happen in the turns when the rider underestimates how sharp the corner really is.

[elissama]

That sucks man. Heal up and I hope the bike fixes easy. I haven't pitched on the street yet but I've done a cartwheel or two on the dirtbike.

+1 on watching vids to see how far the bike can go / stay loose

["Dangerous" Dan K]

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK...

ok.. now that I got that out of my system... heres the rundown...

Was actually practicing earlier in the day going up and down South Border Rd and around Spot Pond, the Fellsway... trying to get more comfortable leaning into the turns and getting more relaxed... smooth positive throttle.. etc...

came home and chilled for a bit, was waiting for the UPS guy to deliver a package. Package arrives and I head out a little early for work. This is around 3:30-45... I head toward the Honey Dew in Wakefield as I've never been up in that area and I was thinking I could meet some of you fine folks there if anyone was there a little early for the ride to Lowell.

So I'm going up Main St, heading around the bend going left... I'm doing about 25-30 mph so not too hot... but as I'm doing the turn its a little sharper than I had realized and I get kinda freaked out. I have this big fear of my front tire always sliding out so I spooked myself a little and straighten out a bit in the turn... slightly hitting the front brakes... mistake #1

as I do this my vision shortens up... mistake #2...
so I see this curb coming up and target fixation happens... mistake #3...

So of course in my mind I'm like "Don't hit the curb...Don't hit the curb...Don't hit the fucking cur-BAM!!"

Hard lesson #1 in my motorcycling career... your bike goes where you look... don't look at curbs!.. lol...

I slam my front tire right into this curb thats part of someones driveway...

I get pitched over the right front handlebars as the front rim rebounds out to the left... luckily I get pitched toward the grass and not the road so it was a pretty soft landing... I was wearing a backpack with some clothes in it for work so I'm sure that helped alot... landed on that and rolled to my knee and slid on the grass for about 30 feet... got right up and went to pick up my bike which had slid about 15 feet farther on the street. Luckily no cars or other vehicles were around me when it happened. Was wearing all my gear so that was good too... Helmet, jacket,gloves and boots.

I'm fine... just sprained my thumb a little on my right hand from the rebound of the handlbars and getting pitched over the front. Bike is scratched up but overall not too bad... it was still running as I walk up to it and then slowly died as I started to pick it up. I think I did something to the coolant system as a little green fluid was under the bike when I picked it up.

The bad news is that now when I try to start it... nothing... the lights come on and all that stuff but when I hit the starter button... nadda... I bent the front and rear brake levers on the right side but not too bad... can prob be bent back into place and get some cheap ebay levers.

I'm more worried about the rim and forks... I hope I didn't twist them or anything like that... that would be major suckage and major $$.

This is actually my first motor vehicle accident EVER... damn... thought I would I have a little more time to prepare... lol...

*sigh*

I have a few consolations though...
1. It wasn't really that bad in the grand scheme of things... I walked away with only a slightly sprained thumb and a shot to the ego
2. Couldn't have asked for anything better to land in than soft grass. Barely felt it.
3. I'm SO glad it didn't happen in front of the Dew in front of EVERYONE!

I'll update with pics as soon as I can.

Of course the wifey is fuming at me now...

Sucks, but it happens. Glad you're OK. I agree with those saying some sort of class might be a good idea, ARC or whatever.

Don't know if anyone mentioned this, or the year/make/model of the bike, but could the lack of firing be a tip switch thing?

edit: I think tip switch would let it crank and not fire. I'm no mechanic. Disregard my attempt at advice.

[Pittenger5]

Man I love that turn.

[obsolete]

Crashing sucks but it's part of the game. You identified your mistakes and you can now learn from them. Hopefully it's just a bruised ego.

I learned that a kick stand only works when it's down once. Don't beat yourself up too much, we've all done it.

[ZX11D]

Sorry to hear about your crash. If I remember you have that nice little F2. Sounds like its not to bad. Take care of that thumb. Most of us have been down and learned from it. I know I did. A few others didn`t get another chance at it. Live and learn. By the way I think you have to go back to the scene and paint that curb yellow now.

[CB750F]

crashing sucks, glad to here you are ok.

[kb1]

Take a class...it will help, but you seem to know exactly what you did wrong and I concur. When you start to get freaked out push down on the inside bars and look through the turn. Steady throttle and you'll be fine, it takes a lot of time and practice.

Glad you weren't hurt! Keep riding!!

[flyer_kaz]

I did the exact same thing the first day I ever rode a motorcycle on the street... end-over-ended into a guy's front lawn while he was standing there.

That was my first and only crash on the street with almost 20,000 miles under my belt, so the more you learn from it, the better off you are.

Glad you're ok!

Don't take this the wrong way but that makes me feel SO much better!..lol..

Thanks everyone for the kind words of encouragement. I did learn alot from it and hope to put it right in the future.

About the front tire thing... other than taking another course or doing a beginner track day (would love to do this) how long did it take for you to get comfortable leaning semi-aggressivley into the turns..?

I would say around 50%- 70% of the time I turn and lean in nice and smooth and tight... everything feels fine and I trust the bike and the front tire completely. The problem I feel, is that I can only do this if the street and the corner itself is really smooth. I get spooked when the turn has bumbs or un-eveness in the road, when I'm leaning the bike because thats when the front end oscillates... making me feel like the front tire is loosing grip and sliding out.

I totaly understand that this was actually prob the best way to have my first crash and I do consider myself lucky in how and where I went down... Live and learn.

Now to ice my thumb and see whats wrong with my bike.... gotta go practice soon!

Best,

Kaz

[Pittenger5]

I get spooked when the turn has bumbs or un-eveness in the road, when I'm leaning the bike because thats when the front end oscillates...

That still spooks me occasionally on unfamiliar roads, but its not too bad. Just a oh shit, oh well, kinda moment.

[toocrazy2yoo]

Damned glad yer ok.

Keep the concept in mind;"Look where you want to go". Keith Code, who wrote A Twist of the Wrist, said that whether you're racing on the track, or "riding" out on the street, when a bike goes down, we focus on THAT, because it's a more interesting vision, and proceed to ride right into the mess. You have to look where ya wanna go..

Don't sweat the grip of the front tire. Well, ok, if you KNOW you're in sand, in gravel, or if it's wet and you're traveling over metal grates, etc., sweat the front tire. But on clean pavement, your tires, even in the wet, have enough grip to sand down the footpegs. You're new. In a tight space like you suddenly found yourself, fear was your worst enemy. What I did when I started was got the bike in a big parking lot (my old high school, which was HUGE), and learned that bike.

Flyer,-Dood, in a big, unobstructed parking lot, you can heel it over, learn to slide the rear tire under acceleration, really LEARN to use that front brake, and learn where it wants to break loose when heeled over to various degrees. Slides on dry or merely wet pavement aren't serendipitous, you get warning. But first, dood, you have to learn what the warnings feel like, and for THAT, you need practice in an area open enough and flat enough that you won't run into stuff. Learning these lessons on the street are far harder than in a parking lot. While these warnings and indications of the attitude of the bike and the grip of the tires are learned at low-speed, they translate, with experience, to higher speeds, the "feelings" and indicators are the same, things just happen faster.

And, not doggin ya, but you need to translate "fear" into "respect" and learn to ride that bike. I highly recommend Keith Code's books, and you'll find em at this link on Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Twist-Wrist-Mo.../dp/0965045013

A lot of it's for the track, but it all translates to the street. Code always said, make these lessons second nature, so you aren't spending any attention on the basic skills and you'll have plenty of attention left to deal with real trouble and the skills to deal with it.

Good luck, dood!

[flyer_kaz]

Damned glad yer ok.

Keep the concept in mind;"Look where you want to go". Keith Code, who wrote A Twist of the Wrist, said that whether you're racing on the track, or "riding" out on the street, when a bike goes down, we focus on THAT, because it's a more interesting vision, and proceed to ride right into the mess. You have to look where ya wanna go..

Don't sweat the grip of the front tire. Well, ok, if you KNOW you're in sand, in gravel, or if it's wet and you're traveling over metal grates, etc., sweat the front tire. But on clean pavement, your tires, even in the wet, have enough grip to sand down the footpegs. You're new. In a tight space like you suddenly found yourself, fear was your worst enemy. What I did when I started was got the bike in a big parking lot (my old high school, which was HUGE), and learned that bike.

Flyer,-Dood, in a big, unobstructed parking lot, you can heel it over, learn to slide the rear tire under acceleration, really LEARN to use that front brake, and learn where it wants to break loose when heeled over to various degrees. Slides on dry or merely wet pavement aren't serendipitous, you get warning. But first, dood, you have to learn what the warnings feel like, and for THAT, you need practice in an area open enough and flat enough that you won't run into stuff. Learning these lessons on the street are far harder than in a parking lot. While these warnings and indications of the attitude of the bike and the grip of the tires are learned at low-speed, they translate, with experience, to higher speeds, the "feelings" and indicators are the same, things just happen faster.

And, not doggin ya, but you need to translate "fear" into "respect" and learn to ride that bike. I highly recommend Keith Code's books, and you'll find em at this link on Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Twist-Wrist-Mo.../dp/0965045013

Hey man... great advice and which I will def put into practice. No offense taken... I know I'm new at this and there's so much to learn by just listening to more experienced riders.

I never understood why people want to learn the hard way!?!?

question for you though... I have tried going to parking lots and whatnot to practice but I stopped because on those large flat surfaces, theres usually pockets of sand,glass and puddles almost everywhere...

Anyone know of some nice, flat clean parking lots around me that are good to practice at?

Thanks again for the advice... I apparently need all I can get at the moment. lol

Best,

Kaz

[WordTooYoMamma]

Wirelessly posted (Tilt: HTC-8900/1.2 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.6) UP.Link/6.3.1.20.06.3.1.20.06.3.1.20.0)

yea I did a squidly(partialy my fault partialy the car in my lanes fault)move once and I ended up in a ditch. I know how it feels to get up and just yell fuck in ur helmet until your throat hurts. If its a plasticed bike and it looks like it could be totalled totally do it! I went from a 2008 to a 2009 for 14 bucks a month more then I was paying in insrance ne way! haha

[Legion1440]

Hey Kaz,

Glad to hear you're OK. You definitely seem to be taking the right lessons out of the creash. I agree with Wanderer though, you should definitely get that thumb checked out. I thought i just sprained mine once, and it turned out to be a tear that I ddin't get diagnosed for over two months....not fun. Once you get the bike running, if you wanna ride, I live like five minutes from South Border. Definitely a good place to get some practice in.