Video: Had a close call this morning

[Shifty]

I decided to go for an early morning ride today and I had a close call. The video tells most of the story, but to eliminate the analyzing which will surely take place, I will give my own account. Basically I saw wet gravel in the road on the second curve and panicked a bit. I started to tense up and when I hit the gravel the front slipped a bit. I stood the bike up, covered the brake and clutch but didn't pull, and fixated on the ditch in front of me. Then I really panicked and put my right foot down for a second or two. Luckily I was going slow enough I was able to snap out of it, get my foot back on the peg and pull the bike back around the bend.

This was honestly one of the scarier incidents I've had, despite being at such a low speed. I think a lot of that had to do with me being paranoid about laying down my 'new' bike.  Anyway, analyze away and any tips for this type of situation are appreciated. 

 

[stopintime]

Of course this is scary.
Being on the wrong side of the road is dangerous

Avoid gravel, stand up = not turning, starting to turn all over, not enough road.
Natural reaction, I believe....

Lesson for you and many of us:
even though you think you were going slow, you were going too fast and/or not paying enough attention.

It's surprising that even those speeds can be dangerous

[Shifty]

Oh, yeah I was quite scared at the prospect of oncoming traffic. So lucky this was a quiet Sunday morning! 

[stopintime]

Oh, yeah I was quite scared at the prospect of oncoming traffic. So lucky this was a quiet Sunday morning! 

Yeah, you're lucky ... and maybe a little skilled as well...
, but don't let that stop you advancing.

[bikepilot]

Very glad there wasn't oncoming traffic.  Be careful out there!

[iRam]

Thanks for sharing. Glad you got out of it fine

[EvilSteve]

It's hard to tell from the video but was there a clean line through that mess at all? At what point in that video did you see the gravel in the corner? It's also hard to tell from the video but were you able to see through the corner to the empty road ahead before you hit the gravel? Did you know you were about to hit gravel?

Based on those answers here's what I'd suggest:
1. Be looking further up the road and plan a route around obstacles sooner.
2. If you are looking further up the road you'll have more time to react, pick your line and/or slow down.
3. If you have no option but can see that the road is clear, stand the bike up, pass through the gravel and then lean it back over.
4. You should be scanning the road for a lot of things (corner radius, road condition, traffic, obstacles, animals, etc) so looking and seeing are two different things.

I've done my share of early season riding up in the Catskills in NY and in this area, scanning for dirt in the road (or more appropriately, somewhere there isn't dirt) is a very important skill. It affects the line you take, the speed you can safely travel and your required site distance to be able to plan and adjust for any issues as they come up. Sometimes though, things just catch you by surprise, that's life, glad you kept it on two.

[dasrider]

^ +1 for sure.

glad you're ok.  Having the front slip unexpectedly on you is one of the worst feelings, I know!  But one of the hardest things I've encountered while riding is target fixation.  Gotta force yourself to recognize when you're doing it and to force yourself to stop it.  Of course all of that in a fraction of a second too!  Fortunately you've got the video to help replay what happened and have firsthand experience of how easy it is TF.

[hunduc]

If I see it right, you were going about 50-60mph - that is fast enough to get some nice injuries for you and the bike... As I see it, it was a very good save. It is good this video ended up here, and not in the crash topic.

[Shifty]

If I see it right, you were going about 50-60mph - that is fast enough to get some nice injuries for you and the bike... As I see it, it was a very good save. It is good this video ended up here, and not in the crash topic.

Well thank you. It didn't seem very fast at the time, it was all in super slow-mo. I remember thinking "Rob, either you get your foot back up and start looking through this turn or you're going right into the ditch".

[ilbuono]

Thanks for that video - really useful to analyse and well done!

There were also a few very good and useful comments! I just would like to add one more thing for when you're already in trouble: I think you reacted well and got out if it in one piece. However, this situation is one of the biggest killers because of oncoming traffic! Therefore the most important thing is getting back onto your side ASAP! Watching it many times over, I found myself in this video in my earlier driving days - you slip, you notice, you get the adrenaline feeling, you manage to avoid by basically 'being sensible' and turning a radius as you would still be on gravel... and only afterwards you think, 'shit, what if there would have been oncoming traffic!?!'.

These days, I feel slightly more prepared for this situation (as it's a common one if you're going on new roads... even without gravel, it's enough if you go slightly to fast and misjudge the corner):

 - my inward foot goes of the footrest right away and just hovers over the floor (maybe even touches slightly). This kind of happens automatically these days (and I think you mentioned it too?). It gives me confidence and let's me judge better how much further I could lean into the corner.
 - my first conscious thought is: 'realign the the corner!'. I immediately try to look where I should be going (and kind of think about the narrowest possible radius).
 - I then give the handlebar a little push on the side I want to turn to (in this case the right side). Basically a quick counter-steer. That tilts the bike underneath you faster than you could achieve by leaning into it and puts you back on course. Basically it's kind of the same as you do when avoiding an obstacle just that you're in a bend already.

Fact is, when the road is back to normal, you can tilt the bike much more than you think it can and while running out of road or the bike sliding away underneath you 'might' kill you, driving into oncoming traffic is usually worse!

Needless to say, this needs a bit of practice... ideally without gravel and traffic;)

I hope that makes sense.

[ab]

glad you saved it and no on-coming.

i am sure most of us have had that.

like many, we fight target fixation and that panic that sets it while in a turn and not knowing what is coming etc.  It's a fight, a struggle.

[R0CKETMAN]

No "arm chair" rider advice here...you did good , could probably see further up the road than it appears, and had there been oncoming, would have adjusted accordingly.