Sometimes you pick up experience from the lessons of others, and sometimes you pick it up the hard way - first hand. But if you're paying attention you always learn...
I was with a group, led by tour organizer Highlander, that was moving along pretty briskly. While riding the twisties with this group I was not without sin (bad decisions) and as a result had a couple of (literally two) close calls on curves that thankfully did not turn into spills.
As I said to the group I was with as we parked in front of the lunch venue and removed our helmets, "I had one 'Oh sh*t!"
moment in a turn that I'll admit to." Seems I would have another such moment after lunch on Skaggs Springs Road, which was the first time I'd been on what is easily the best California M.C. road I've ever been on: Long, positively cambered sweepers, no traffic and no cross roads. :yahoo:
In both "Oh sh*t!" moments, I had come into the turn too fast and scraped the pegs pretty good, which on the FJR is like when the sub in the war movie begins to exceed its dive depth and the rivets start popping, or the nuclear reactor temperature enters the orange bar and tensions begin to rise in the control room along with reactor temperature.
On the first one, it was a downhill LH turn, with a dirt shoulder and oblivion just beyond in the form of a canyon.
mg: The pegs started scraping as I pushed on the left bar, but the bike was approaching the fog line. My "Oh sh*t!" brain communication yielded practiced response, which was to stay off the front brake, maintain throttle, and look where I was going. To gain a little more ground clearance, I gave it slightly more throttle and came out okay. This all in about 4 seconds.
The second one was a downhill sweeper to the right coming out on Skaggs Springs Rd, and this time when the pegs started scraping, I wound up going about 4 feet over the double yellow. Thankfully no on-coming traffic, but that was stupid and could have been ugly. :rip_1:
Mea culpa mea culpa mea maxima culpa. :innocent:
I do practice the David Hough advice of hard braking while straight before entering the turn; it just wasn't enough in these two instances.
Yesterday was great skills practice. Fortunately I had some lessons reinforced without costly or painful consequences.
Glass 1/2 Full was able to head to his brother's house near Hopland; still waiting to hear that he got there all right.
Yesterday was a great motorcycle day--I'm ready to go again! ['cept I think my wife, Fang, requires some husband time today. I'm already getting grief, after spending all day yesterday playing motorcycles, for playing virtual motorcycles this morning :glare: ]. (MM2, is this sufficient grounds for divorce? :blink: )
Jb
