A delicious slice of humble pie.

[epim]

Public service announcement:

Temperatures are starting to dip fairly low in the mornings. Mind your P's and Q's with throttle control and tire temp.

Some dumbass (me) nearly* stacked his R1 Monday morning on 17. The air was somewhere around the mid 40s, I was distracted and in kind of a bad mood. I pulled around a car and goosed the throttle to pull onto 17. The rear wheel spun up, stepped out, and tried to chuck me off.

I straightened the bike out (and up), dipped the throttle to catch some traction, then went back on the power so I didn't get run over by an approaching semi.

So, learn from the dumbass. Your tires are really cold, your engine is loving the nice dense charge of cold air, and the roads are covered in dew. Keep your head on straight.


*For the reading impaired. I said NEARLY, that means I didn't crash.

[the_grinch]

Maybe that bike has too much power for your skill level.

[lugnut]

Maybe that bike has too much power for your skill level.

Maybe he should get a 'busa?

[epim]

Maybe that bike has too much power for your skill level.

That's a fascinating observation Jon, and one which I shall consider carefully while I shift in to and out of second gear.

*click* in second

*click* out of second

*click* in second

*click* out of second

Golly, I could do this all day. The acceleration is so smooth, too!

[the_grinch]

At least I can control a motorcycle. One that regularly slides in many combinations, all under complete control.


I hope that you too, might someday learn throttle control.

Of course, on a motorcycle that accelerates as smoothly as yours does, throttle control should be easy.

[crazy4f4i]

That's a fascinating observation Jon, and one which I shall consider carefully while I shift in to and out of second gear.

*click* in second

*click* out of second

*click* in second

*click* out of second

Golly, I could do this all day. The acceleration is so smooth, too!

dude, thats hella fucked up

[epim]

At least I can control a motorcycle. One that regularly slides in many combinations, all under complete control.


I hope that you too, might someday learn throttle control.

*click* in second

*click* out of second

*click* in second

*click* out of second



*click* in second

*click* out of second

[epim]

dude, thats hella fucked up

Yeah.. it is. But it's funnier than it is fucked up

[antipathy]

Let's see you lowside at Laguna in 2nd gear, tough guy!

[the_grinch]

That was motherfucking 4th gear, bitch!

[luckygirl]

BTW, he forgot to tell you that I saw the whole thing!

R1 torque + 47 degrees + cold tires = milliseconds to epic fail!

Good save, my friend. You really should get an award for that!

[wackyiraqi]

Speaking of humble pie...

I got hit while lane-splitting home last night (Wednesday 10/7) up 101, around 6:45pm. I was just a few minutes into my commute, about 1/2 mile shy of the 3rd Avenue exit in San Mateo.

I was cruising along in the #1 lane around 30mph, traffic was crawling around 20mph. An SUV changed lanes from the #2 into (my) #1 lane and almost hit me from the right. I braked hard to avoid him, then accelerated around him when he was all the way over.

A fraction of a second later, and before I had a chance to even collect myself from the previous near-miss, a gray Honda Accord changed from the #1 to the #2 striking my front left handlebar (and hand) with its mirror. I went into a respectable tank-slapper and pinballed between the Honda and at least one other vehicle for what seemed like an eternity.

It was a perfect storm of inattentive drivers, and I couldn't keep up with them. Somehow, by dumb luck and by striking back and forth between the cars around me, I managed to keep the bike up.

I slowly merged all the way over to the right and cruised at <5mph along the shoulder to see if anyone was going to pull over. The woman in the gray Honda did, and then proceeded to bitch me out. No one else stopped, despite my hitting at least one other vehicle.

I explained to her that she has mirrors installed on her car for a reason, and that she needs to use them before changing lanes. She just repeated angrily that I "came out of nowhere." Yeah, that's what they all say.

The bike seems fine, and I'm not broken, just very sore. My right ankle and my left hand and forearm hurt like hell from bouncing off cars, but I can walk and move all my fingers and toes.

So, for now at least, I'm about done with motorcycle commuting. I'm not saying that I'll never ride my bike to work, or even that I'll never do it fairly regularly, but it's definitely not going to be an every day, rain or shine thing anymore. The highway construction and inattentive drivers are worse than I've ever seen them, and it's just not worth the risk to me anymore.

I took Caltrain to work this morning for the first time in years. I had a cup of coffee, watched an episode of The IT Crowd on my laptop, and quite enjoyed my commute. It's slow, relatively expensive, and really not very reliable, but at least I'm not rolling the dice with my life twice a day. There's something to be said for that.

I really, really enjoy the freedom of riding to work, and even enjoy the ride itself now and then. That said, last night was enough for me--my third car strike in as many years, my second while commuting, and my first while lane-splitting. I'm tired of being sore and broken, and putting my life on the line to shave 30 minutes from my commute is just not worth it.

Over the past 5 years of daily, rain-or-shine-or-tornado-or-godzilla motorcycle commuting, I've slowly decreased my weekend pleasure riding to about zero miles a month. The daily grind wears down my body and my spirit--the last thing I want to do on the weekends is throw a leg over my bike, and that's a crying shame. I absolutely love riding, and I don't want to continue to push myself into hating it more and more every day.

To boot, my 919 has almost 93,000 miles on it. I've had a warped front brake rotor for over a year now, a leaking left fork seal for 2-3 months, and my brand new valve cover gasket appears to be leaking oil like a sieve. I just don't have the cash to make all these repairs, let alone buy a new bike when my baby finally shuffles off and joins the choir invisible.

My hat is off to Dave, Adrian, James and everyone else in this club who commutes on two wheels every day...some of you for many more years than me, and over much longer distances.

Please be safe, sharp and humble. I really don't want to attend any of your funerals any more than I want to attend mine.

[crazy4f4i]

glad it didnt go worse for you, im sure it could have.

[epim]

Glad you stayed alive and relatively unharmed.

I totally empathize. I remember the first time that I had to FORCE myself to throw a leg over my bike and go for a ride. About a mile into it I was glad I did, but often I face the mental block of associating my motorcycle with commuting to work. I've thought about buying a car and driving to work every day just to remove that association. I haven't done it yet, but it might happen at some point.

I'd rather see you driving a car (or take transit) every day and maintain that unhealthy obsession with motorcycling that we all prize in our brothers and sisters. The alternative is simply unfathomable.

[The Cretin]

DEEEEAMMMMN.....Glad to hear you're okay and in one piece, man.

Having spent a year and a half of my life doing nearly the exact same grueling commute, I applaud you for taking a step back, examining your options, and taking Caltrain. I did it for awhile when I was living down in Millbrae and working in the city, and aside from its obvious limitations it does have a pretty good upside....

If you've had a shitty day at work you can grab a tall can of Colt 45 from a quickie mart (or a couple of Coronas from El Metate and a paper sack) and drink on your way home...all the while thinking "Ha, I'm getting my drink on while those losers in their cars are stuck in cages....!"

-=e