Getting back on the road after a spill

[Dannyboy]

About a month ago, I dumped my brand new M696 due to slippery conditions. It's my first bike and I only had 300 miles on it.

Same thing here, except mine was a gravel issue.  Roughly the same amount of miles too.  It did a little bit of damage.  Nothing major but it did break the shifter and bend the bars a bit.  The worst part was the fact that it was at really slow speed but it twisted the hell out of my ankle.  I haven't felt pain like that in a long time. 

I got everything back into rideable condition and went out yesterday.  First ride since New Year's day.  Man, I was so friggin nervous.  I was haing all kinds of problems.  The CRG levers that I loved when I put them on were now too small.  I couldn't shift.  I couldn't get my mirrors adjusted right.  You name it, it was a problem for me.  After about half an hour on some of the country roads in NoVA, I was finally starting to feel pretty good.  Then we stopped for lunch.  I got off my bike and was shaking like a leaf.  It was like all the nerves and adrenaline just hit me at once.  After lunch, we got back on the highway and surprisingly, because I'm not that comfortable on the highway, I felt better than I had all day.

I did have a few drinks when I got home, though.  That helped a little bit too.

[w7ck7d]

 

[swampduc]

In 3 yrs of riding, I've been down twice. In both cases, I got back on as soon as I was healed up and my bike was ready. I agree with those who say seat time is the only cure, but take it at a slow and easy pace, just as you did when you started riding.
And IIRC, didn't you crash from hitting some snow? You're not likely to make that mistake again...

[the_Journeyman]

I dumped Mothers bike back in September in a low speed gravel crash.

It took me several weeks to get back on but when I did, I just went out to a parking lot and worked on some of the basics to get some confidence back.

I still hate gravel though.

So...  I'm guessing you were glad you weren't on the ride where this one road had about 5 mile of gravel that wasn't indicated on the map...

After I totaled the GSXR...   I bought my Monster.  It took a few rides and realizing I still knew how to control the thing.  I'm still a bit slow in left handers though ~

JM

[fastwin]

You can read the prelude to this in my post in silentbob's "damn birds got me again" thread.

Once I got home from the rehab hospital I couldn't even drive a car or pick up anything over 5lbs for months. It sucked. Big time. Anyway, when my wife would leave the house I would sneak out in my pickup and cruise the neighborhood. Started doing that about a month or two before I was officially released to drive by my neurosurgeon. I would stick to neighborhood streets with as many lighted intersections as possible for safety and would check all intersections 4, 5, 6 times before taking off. I had very little neck mobility and could only turn left/right from the waist to check cross street traffic. It actually has made me a safer driver and rider to this day.

After a few months of driving (both secretly and officially) I snuck my riding gear to a storage unit where I keep a couple of bikes. Would tell my wife some BS about running an errand in the truck, drive to the storage unit, suit up and putt around the neighborhood on the Monster. Used the same "slow and easy" neighborhood riding technique I used in the truck.

Just took my time and it all came back. Sort of. Even though I did nothing wrong in my accident/bird attack it still effects your confidence. No two ways about it. I am not the same rider I was and I have been riding for 44 years. I guess that "oh sh#t, I can get badly hurt doing this" has a way of creeping into your psyche and messing with you. It's there every time I ride and I deal with it. Maybe it's not a bad thing. As I said, I may not be 100% the same rider but I feel that I am even safer now... and how can that be a bad thing?

Take it easy, be patient, be safe and keep having fun.

[sroberts152]

It's all been said.  The only way to regain confidence is to do it.  Get in the seat, take it slow.  Go past where you wrecked.  Mentally review the accident, think about your options, what did you do right (You weren't hurt too bad so something went a little right), what did you do wrong (other than laying it down, get specific), how do you fix it next time? 

And time. 

I've been riding for 12 years.  After my last wreck I was nervous for about 4 months.  I had a car erratically pull into my carpool lane from a dead stop and I was doing 45-50.  No time, no indication, nothing.  Over I went.  It took me  along time to be in a lane with traffic.  Every twitch, every movement by another car freaked me out.  Then it happened.  Some idiot wasn't paying attention, I was lane splitting and they went from the stopped lane into the carpool lane (although that lane wasn't doing much faster).  I trusted the bike, applied the breaks (hard enough to stoppie my 696) and stopped about an inch from her bumper (I know it was an inch because I could see my front tire and her bumper from the stoppie). 

So I shook for a few moments and realized that my current bike gives me greater confidence because almost the same situation here and I walked away and my bike stayed shiny.