Close Call and I am still Here

[Hwy 14]

The temperatures been up in the 100's here in Southern California so I thought I'd get up early Sunday morning and take a quick run up legendary Hwy 2. This small two lane road winds up into the San Gabriel mountains with constant left right turns with short straights up to an elevation of approx. 7500 ft. . I make this run three or four times a week usually early afternoon on a weekday with little traffic and avoid the Saturday and Sunday go fast cars and motorcyclist that think it's ok to pass on a blind turn. I should have stuck to my normal rule and waited until Monday.

It's hot and I decide to pack my jacket in the side cases and just wear a long sleeve shirt ( I never do this). The air is cool as the road rises in elevation and I enjoy the sound of the engine and the smooth turning of the newer Angel GT tires. Just a few early morning motorcycles and Porches coming down the hill. I'am thinking or maybe I'am not thinking (I'am in the zone) this is great as I come around a semi blind turn to the right with a large pullout when some clown in his German sportscar who wants to go back down the hill starts out from the pullout at a 45 degree angle and is about half way into the lane before I see him. There was probably 45ft between he and I when I spotted him. He slows to a stop and I'am on the horn as I pass unmolested in front of him. It happens so quickly that it doesn't really bother me at first. Then I begin to think about my options and did I make the right moves, which wasn't any, to avoid a collision.

Should I have moved over into the opposite lane possibly exposing myself to on coming traffic even though there wasn't any and he might not have stopped and crossed into the downhill lane and I would have hit him head on. There was room to pass behind him by turning into the pullout, although I don't know that there was enough room to stop without running into the side of the mountain. So by doing nothing other than to blow the horn and trust Jesus was this the best course of action?

 

[Abercrombie FJR]

Keep your motorcycle in top mechanical shape, practice emergency braking and evasive maneuvers often, keep you head screwed on straight while riding, drive defensively, and don't second guess when you avoid crashing. Its not like you had time to ponder all the options available at the time.

 

[gregory]

And no matter how hot, ATGATT

 

[RossKean]

I don't know how fast you were going or whether you had traffic on your six but the FJR's braking capability is pretty awesome. If there was NO WAY that you could have stopped or slowed enough to avoid a collision, then you were going too fast for the conditions (road surface, riding skills or range of vision). If you had hit the driver who was (apparently) not following the rules of the road it would be his fault (even though you would have ben the one with a long-term injury, or worse). If, on the other hand, that was a patch of sand or an animal, it would be 100% your fault in the event of a mishap.

Never outride the limits of what you can see!

 

[Bounce]

ATGATT

Never over ride your site line

Never go faster than you can stop in the distance you have (assume there's a brick wall just out of sight an you'll need to stop to not hit it)

 

[lonerider]

If you're in a situation like that where your horn is your best option, an aftermarket - like the PIAA - is worlds better than the wimpy OEM unit.

 

[bluesdog]

^^What they said

Most of the roads here are quite twisty, two laners, (fun!), but this time of year they are also busy with tourist traffic, retirees piloting huge land barges, herds of pirates, & etc.

Add to that the usual semis and logging trucks, aggressive pickup drivers, and wildlife - mountain goats, mountain sheep, forest rats, moose, bear, wild horses, wandering livestock and so on, and it's just not sensible to take those blind curves at anywhere near nominal FJR speeds.

Some of the roads less traveled are debris prone, as they cut through mountainous areas subject to erosion. Rockslides are not uncommon.

I never over ride my sight line, wear ATGATT, practice full on braking and avoidance maneuvers, and thus far have only had to use my PIAAs once, to alert a driver drifting into my lane, although I had an escape route and plenty of time to take it if required.

The FJR is a seductive beast, but it's wise to choose when and where to hoon safely.

Keep yer wits about ya!

 

[gixxerjasen]

First of all, let's get this out of the way.

This small two lane road winds up into the San Gabriel mountains with constant left right turns with short straights up to an elevation of approx. 7500 ft. . I make this run three or four times a week

I hate you.

Second, you made it through without an impact which means you made the right decisions. After that, you can second guess yourself to death. I ultimately determined that if I hadn't stopped for the last minute pee on the way out of work I'd have been through that intersection a minute or so earlier and that lady would still be in the parking garage. But how was I to know. In the end, examine, learn, but don't beat yourself up too much, especially if there was no contact. Ya did what was necessary.

As far as not moving...sometimes you do just have to trust that things will work out. I was stopped at the front of the queue at a red light when two cars collided right in front of me and the two cars and various parts and exploding parts such as bumpers and such were coming my way. I thought about dumping the bike and running but didn't know if I'd end up running into the path of something. In the end I stood right there watching two vehicles and parts pass very close to me and nothing touched me. I could have run, moved, gassed it, but all of those would have been the wrong decision in this case.

Glad you are still around to post, and that the bike is still very usable.

Ok, back to hating you now for your several times a week awesome ride. I think I'll go outside into the 100F temps and ride the local straight roads I have.

 

[JamesW]

you are still here, that counts.

 

[rushes]

*snip*I make this run three or four times a week usually early afternoon on a weekday with little traffic and avoid the Saturday and Sunday go fast cars and motorcyclist that think it's ok to pass on a blind turn. I should have stuck to my normal rule and waited until Monday.

Avoid the idiots.

 

[Uncle Hud]

1) Twisties for fun is an all-gear ride. Like you, I don't always wear the armor, but only when the ride will be slow-speed, no freeways, low traffic volumes, and less than 30 minutes. (I know that's stupid, so no need to tell me.)

2) Trust yourself: your experience, your instinct, and your capabilities. If you came through unscratched, then you did the right things and luck was with you. But read that again: "... and luck was with you."

3) Test your ABS in a safe, controlled environment (big, empty parking lot) so you know how it feels and how it quickly it will stop the FJR and you.

4) Never ride beyond your stopping sight distance. Never, ever, because then the entire outcome will depend on whether luck is with you, and there's not much future there.

 

[HotRodZilla]

"...was this the best course of action?"

I don't know, because I wasn't there.

What you did got you through the situation unscathed, so even if it wasn't the "best" course of action, it was good enough, which is all you needed.

Because of my job, my guys and I go through this all the time. We walk into something and make decisions as fast and as accurately as we can. Many times we debrief to see what we could have done better. We try to learn from the positives and negatives, but every scene is so different from the others, only very small bits ever come into play. Like you, if we are able to leave with a positive outcome, it may not have been "perfect," but it didn't need to be, because it worked.

The important thing is you made a decision. Not making any decision is worse than making even a wrong decision. Do something to try and save your own ass because if you had done nothing, you would have T-boned that car. I say good job!

Learn from your perceived mistakes and try not to repeat them. Run it through your head and see where you can mentally prepare better. This gives your brain something to index next time some guy pulls out in front of you.

As most have already pointed out, and you already know, wear your gear. It doesn't do you any good in your side bag.

HRZ

 

[SwollenRaccoon]

Now that you've already been scolded, here's my worthless opinion (actually, somebody else's opinion). Read this in an article about 20 years ago.

What if you could see the future, and you HAD to ride your motorcycle today, and you could see that you were going to crash? What would you wear? Well, why don't you wear that every ride? You don't know that a deer will run out in front of you today, but maybe he will. Aunt Edna in her Buick. A kid on a bike. A combine filling the road around a corner or over a hill. Or a ********* in a German sports car pulling an ass-hat maneuver. The possibilities are endless. At that point, it doesn't matter who's at fault. What matters is your skill with your bike, the gear you're wearing (or not), and just a whole bunch of luck.

Sorry for sounding like your driver's ed teacher from 45 years ago. Hot button, I guess. (I've fallen down without really planning on it, and I was thankful I had all my gear on).

 

[Geezer]

You did the right thing. The only thing that surprises me is that you are thinking so much about it after the fact.

It sounds like the situation is something I would expect to happen to me any time I ride my motorcycle, or drive my car. If you want to avoid this kind of thing completely then you have to stay home. An intermediate avoidance would be to ride more slowly, but there is a relationship between slowing down and not enjoying the ride. Slow down too much and, again, you might as well stay home. So you simply have to accept the risk. As I told my kids when I was teaching them to drive, there are a lot of stupid people out there and most of them drive.

 

[CAJW]

Scolding, reminders of ATGATT, second guessing yourself have all been noted above. With very few exceptions, we've all pushed limits (either ours or the conditions), ridden without some specific piece of safety gear and had a close call to bring us back to the fact that we're not immortal. Bottom line is, the more of those types of incidents we have (and survive) the more they reinforce the fact that we'd better modify our behavior, or end up 10 toes up and the obit column lists many of the ones that didn't get the message.

I've backed off on the "Stupid" things I used to do as I want to continue to be able to do less "stupid" things and still have some fun. Remember, "That which doesn't kill us, makes us stronger". Learn from the experience, apply the lesson(s) and stress less.

 

[Bounce]

I guess everyone's different. Unlike Geezer, I embrace the evaluation process after a close call. It helps me consider options and (hopefully) learn from the experience. Not unlike my understanding of what HrZ said.

Losing "the fun" because slowing down is the only way to be safe® is one reason I no longer ride a certain section of Hill Country in central TX. The deer population got big enough that riding it for fun was impossible to leave any safety margin and running slow enough to be able to react to the inevitable wasn't fun any more. The third option was to ride somewhere else.

 

[Hwy 14]

Thanks to all those that responded. I posed this question hoping to understand why I had allowed this incident to occur. After review, I believe that I was too comfortable with the ride, weather, and the motorcycle and that I failed to look beyond the immediate curve in the road. Had I looked up the road at the next curve I would have had sufficient time to stop if necessary.

I guess it was just a case of being extremely distracted by too much moto pleasure. After all, at my age the only other thing that comes close is a good bowel movement.

 

[CAJW]

Thanks to all those that responded. I posed this question hoping to understand why I had allowed this incident to occur. After review, I believe that I was too comfortable with the ride, weather, and the motorcycle and that I failed to look beyond the immediate curve in the road. Had I looked up the road at the next curve I would have had sufficient time to stop if necessary.
I guess it was just a case of being extremely distracted by too much moto pleasure. After all, at my age the only other thing that comes close is a good bowel movement.

How appropriate, you referred to #2 on post #2. You're going it fit in here just fine......

 

[MajBach]

If you're in a situation like that where your horn is your best option, an aftermarket - like the PIAA - is worlds better than the wimpy OEM unit.

Agreed! I replaced my horn 2-3 years ago with this one:

https://www.harborfreight.com/bad-boy-air-horn-94117.html

This horn is ridiculously and amusingly loud and I do not use it sparingly. ANY time I see someone waiting to pull out into traffic or change lanes that I believe may not see me, I lay on the horn politely a couple of times to grab their attention and judging by how quickly most turn their heads, the horn is well heard even from a hundred yards away or so. One of the best investments Ive made for the bike.

For any interested, I used some 1/16 flat bar (https://www.homedepot.com/p/Crown-Bolt-1-3-8-in-x-36-in-Zinc-Steel-Punched-Flat-Bar-with-1-16-in-Thick-18040/100337901) curved to the same arc as the rad and bolted it to the same screws that the OEM horn was on. I mounted the horn slightly off center (to ensure it doesn't touch the forks) through the hole in the flat bar and used a relay (even though I don't think you need to). The horn is instant on (no exaggeration - as fast as OEM) despite having to spin up. It does not appear to significantly impede cooling ability of the rad, but I added "Wetter Water" to my coolant just in case. It also doesn't seem to be bothered by water or exposure. I've put on at least 30,000 miles in the last 3 years and it still works fine.