Ducati Monster Forum

So last night I took the Duc out as a reward for mowing the lawn, (history) this is my first bike in 3 years, been riding on and off since '95, mostly on, 100% on my MSF course back in the day [clap]. I had a very unenjoyable ride. It seemed like everyone was out to get me.....about 5 close calls in a half an hour, then I made an idiot move on the way home probably because I was feeling frazzled.  I did make it home safely.  So today, a beautiful day to ride to work and I took the car because I'm still feeling off keel. Anyone else had a ride like this recently? It's been a long time and it sure puts the fear into you.

Some days are just off.  From the title, i thought you might have discovered ho slick fresh horse shit is when you hit it on a motorcycle ~

JM

You're probably better off hitting a patch of ice than a patch of fresh horseshit.......

Yes, that is true, I live in a rural area of the NC mountains, so it didn't take long to have a "shitty experience"

JM

I was going to ride to work today but felt off kilter. I went for the cage. I saw a gixxer commuting (full gear, riding the pace, not being stupid) and he nearly got taken out by someone cutting across lanes to catch an exit ramp they had almost already passed. I would be willing to wager a cell phone was involved.

It seems like there are more people driving with cell phones these days than not.

I don't usually ride in traffic anymore (lucky to have the option!) but my bad days are usually when there's always that last, extra-slow car that turns onto my favorite roads *just* before me. When it happens on 3 or 4 roads in a row it gets to be a little irritating.

As far as being cut off all the time, there's a lot you (as the rider) can do to reduce the instances, if it happens all the time, have a look at how you're riding in traffic. Read "Proficient Motorcycling" by David L Hough (and More Proficient Motorcycling if you're feeling frisky).

Yesterday i saw 2 people taking notes in their cars while driving. Seeing a tablet on the steering wheel and a pen in the hand driving in heavy traffic is slightly unnerving.

I just try to remove myself from their immediate vicinity post haste.

First day out of winter storage, 20 seconds into my ride, I had a "I-think-I-forgot-how-to-ride" moment in traffic. Got the blood going, but reminded me of what I needed to focus on.

As for the "close-calls"... another reminder of what we all need to keep an eye out for, as best we can.

I think it's probably good that you took a step back today.

Yup, good step back day.
One thing that I know has saved me a couple of times on the Duc, is using the brights trigger before going through an intersection or when it looks like someone is going to pull out on you, love that thing. It really should be standard safety equipment on every bike.

I have been commuting on a bike for a very short time, about a month.  Last week was the first bumper to bumper traffic day.  A whole new perspective on cell phones after that ride - i think stopped traffic is worse then moving traffic.  I had two different people come up from behind me and around me to scoot in front while i was moving forward.  All three on the phone - looking to pick up 'one spot'.

I am a new street rider, and trying to be cautious, safe etc....but it was SOOOOO hard to keep my cool. [bang]

ill say this, and probably get 3 PMs tellimg me to shut up, but i really dont care.

there really are people out to get you. Not you specifically, but some people just do not care who they hurt while driving, and they do it on purpose. Every day I hop on my bike to ride to school, you have to be sharp and aware of everyone around at ALL TIMES. Last night some dude decide it would be very important for him to drive 20mph on the highway along side an off ramp for the brooklyn bridge, i high beam him and honk my horn at him, he stays on the main lane, when i cut into the lane for the bridge, after a mile of space for him to enter that lane he decides to go in to cut me off for no reason. Then theres the usual "i need to show a biker that i can drive" that decides its a smart idea to gun it from behind me and enter the enxt lane where his mirror is a foot from my arm.

then theres the taxi drivers....one time a taxi driver got in front of and slammed on the brakes then when i almost hit the guy, he guns it. when i stoped, i punched his window and then he sped of. Actually to make this not seem like i was just a gangbanger he did this to me three times, once before the bridge, once on the bridge and again after the bridge.

However, i live in NYC so its a bit more excesive here, either way moral of the story is, there are people out there willing to hurt you and not care, and they WILL speed off especially if you live in an area where people are likely to not have insurance.

when i ride, ESPECIALLY in town, everyone and everything is my mortal enemy. at least that's the mentality i ride with.
i ride like im playing halo and all of my armor is gone and the next hit kills me...
sorry, i've been playing too much halo...

In Ontario, cell phones and electronic devices will be banned from use in cars come October.  It can't come soon enough.  On Monday I was riding in the left lane of a 3 lane road and a cager in the far right lane with a cell phone in his left hand decided he needed to make the next left.  He made a 3 lane change, I saw him coming and sped up so he could see me in front of him, he got startled and swerved back into the middle lane after just touching mine.  I let him know with some nasty sign language that that was not cool.  And you know, he just kept on looking straight with the cell phone glued to his ear like he did nothing wrong.  Make the beast with two backsing Guy!  I need to install that Stebel Nautilus ASAP!

Funny you should mention it - yesterday I rode to work and just didn't feel right.  I can't really say why, but everything was tight and choppy, and I had a couple of close calls with stupid !@#$%^&*( in cars.  In the evening I managed to make it out of the city in one piece so when I got near my house I just kept going out into the country.  Rode extra slow (even by my already pokey standards), and tried to focus on staying relaxed and precise.  Relax the shoulders, relax the wrists, relax the legs.  After a couple dozen miles on 2-lane roads things just started to fall into place again.

Sometimes you're in the zone, sometimes you're not.

You almost have to read people's mind when you are out and about.  There have been many instances where I could foresee cager changing into my land, cutting off my front wheels.  What I am doing now is to make sure I can see the drivers faces thru the car mirrors, when I am riding close to them.  If I can see them, chances are, they can see me and I am not in their blind spot and stay away from potential danger.

There are definitely people out there who will actually deliberately endanger your life. I've had a guy swerve into my lane on a quiet country road to try to hit me. I saw him coming and got out of the way. I was tempted to follow him but why put yourself in further contact with a crazy person? I also once had a woman try to pass me on the shoulder when I was doing 5 -10 over the speed limit. Needless to say, I sped up, and pulled over. I don't need that shit.

The reality is a little different from this however. Most people are just oblivious. They aren't concentrating sufficiently to see motorcycles most of the time anyway. Add to that the usual distractions we all like to engage in (music, talking to someone in the car, etc.) and then the outright stupid stuff like talking on the phone & texting you really are taking your life in your hands when you ride. The sad reality is that laws saying people can't talk on phones and the like have close to zero effect on people's driving habits. It's illegal in NYS but everyone still does it.

When you ride in traffic, you *have* to be 100% on your game. If anyone messes with you stop, pull over & get away from them ASAP. You can't afford to dawdle around and think that people will do the right thing eventually. I like to use other cars as shields when it comes to people driving dangerously. Don't ride in the slow lane right next to an exit. Don't ride in the kill zone around any other vehicle. Don't antagonize any other driver unless you're prepared to get the hell out of there.

Motorcycling is such a rewarding sport but don't ever imagine that your happy little cruise can't turn into a serious or fatal accident in the blink of an eye.

i think in most places people dont recgonize the left lane as teh fast lane and the right lane as the slow lane. Everyone ive spoke to on the east coast unless they are from big cities are oblivious to that idea.... but regardless of which

+1 to when you are in traffic, you must be at 100% of your game. a Loud horn and loud bike and bright lights help too.

Well, don't get yer hopes up. It has been a law here for many months and the cell phone usage hasn't dropped at all in my "area" of travel. It actually seems worse! All it is, is a $20 fine the first time and $50 the second and so on. No points on the record so they don't seem to care. Watch yourself out there...

NJ has now put a picture of a motorcyclist on the inside side of the vehicle inspection sticker.  The phrase "Watch for Motorcycles" is below.  So the driver sees this everytime they start their vehicle.  The sticker is in the lower left side of the windshield.  Something good finally came out of DMV here in "The Garden State"!

 [thumbsup]

First of all, that's not possible.  It just isn't.

Second of all, acting like people want to harm me has saved my ass countless times.  Take the last time I was in St. Louis for instance (not the worst traffic in the world).  Riding in traffic on the Duc can actually be fun, but riding the BMW is different all together.  I was on the Beemer heading towards an intersection with no center turn lane. There was someone stopped at the interesection at a green light waiting to turn left across traffic and there was a car behind them who was going straight.  I saw the situation 50 or 60 feet back and immediately thought, I would go around if I were that car in the back. Just as I reach about 10 feet behind the rear car, she decides she wants to cut into the right lane to go around the turning car.  So when she did decide to sweve (without looking mind you, i was watching her face in the rearview) I just putzed onto the shoulder and around her, but not without a honk of the horn and a fist shake to let her know to pay attention next time (like that actually worked). 

Always assume the car merging is gonna pull out in front of you.  Always assume the car in front of you is going to slam on their brakes.  Always assume someone's going to try and hit that exit from 4 lanes over.  You'll be better off.

Just remembered a guy from the local forum who got a ticket last week.  He was riding at an average pace in average traffic when the car in front of him slammed on their brakes (I think to avoid an accident or something).  He was admittedly following a tick too close so he went around the car (while braking) into the oncoming traffic lane where he saw that there was no one coming.  He got a ticket for wreckless driving and pretty much all the police on the forum agreed they would have ticketed him too.  I've been guilty of tailgating on the bike before and every time I notice I'm doing it I make sure to slow down.  Despite the fact that most of us have much better braking SKILLS than most cagers do, they still have double the brakes and probably 10 times the contact patch that we do.  Not to mention if you do rear end someone not only is it your fault, but that's a battle no bike is gonna win. 

I can't imagine why anyone would disagree - the fact that they're out to kill us is demonstrably true.

I had a day I'd like to forget.

Yesterday I was really looking forward to a ride since it had been 5 days since my last time on 2 wheels.

The problem stared when I got up and didn't feel real perky.

In fact I felt like I had a fever.

I have Central Air but also have a window Air Conditioner in my bedroom hallway for that extra dose of " cold " I crave now and then.

As I put my leathers on I was standing in front of the Air Conditioner sweating so when I got my bike out to go I was soaked with sweat and over heated.

I felt like shit.

It was only 70 degrees out and overcast but it must of been very humid .

I figured a few miles at highway speeds before I got into the " hills " would cool me down but no dice.

I still felt like shit. I rode a stretch of about 15 miles of tight curvy road and when I came to an intersection with another road I turned around and went to a Park to stop and drink some cold Gatorade and think about the situation .

By then the Sun was popping out every so often and when it did it was just making me that much more miserable.

I finally decided to ride some more but after about 45 minutes headed for home.

I got cooled down, got something to eat, got a different Helmet and changed bikes and by now the temp. was 74 .

I road for about 45 minutes and then came home.

I felt like shit. What a Horse shit ride.

After I put my bike away , I thought , " I must rid myself of this effect this day has had on me or I fear I may never want to ride again ."

Dolph

 

FYI, when you feel like crap.....


Don't ride  ;)

   Good advice, Dave.

Although, here in Ohio in July , when it's only 70 degrees instead the 90s, it's a real Bonus that very seldom happens.

Dolph