Almost crashed but didn't, that's the story folks, good-bye!

Nah, seriously, this is a doozy.


I met a friend out here, Doug.  He rides an FZ-07, been riding for about a year, and like me he likes it way better than car riding so even in this lately 110+°F heat he rides instead of drives.  I rode with him once, very briefly, about a month or two ago and had a blast, been meaning to ride again with him ever since and got the chance yesterday.
A group was going to ride to a nearby town (Bisbee Arizona) for breakfast, meeting on the other side of town, and since Doug lives nearer to me we met up locally and planned to ride to the meet and then ride with the group.

So we get together, riding around all excited and half paying attention, and we go to get onto I-10.  The road we take actually terminates and forces you to turn left and get onto the on-ramp, and there's no one in front of us.  I take it pretty quickly (a little too quickly it would seem); both brakes with a downshift, adjust my body position, roll on as I press the handlebars down into the turn.  Not as soon as I do that do I lose the rear wheel, and dramatically!  The bike starts to swing around, and the pavement's all "Hey, baby, why don't you come a little closer?"  I've slid many times in the rain, and even had my one low-side crash, so instinct kicks in.  I'm not about to lose the "Desert Duck," the nicest motorcycle I've ever owned and my dream bike, nor am I about to test my brand new Dainese jacket (yes, I boarded the band-wagon, shoot me, it's an all mesh jacket and it's awesome)!  So I roll off the throttle and loosen my grip on the bars, and I feel the seat starting to press into me.

I have my weight off the side of the bike, the bars are at full lock countering the slide, and that wheel is starting to hook up.  If that rear tire bites the road...



So I go against instinct.  I begin to turn the bars to point the direction the bike is facing and I roll back on the throttle.  The bike still snapped up, but it wasn't a violent action so I stayed in control and kept going down I-10.

Edit: Turns out Doug WAS recording, and it doesn't look nearly as dramatic as it felt.  Either way it was a good save.




So yeah, recovered from a potential low-side and kept it from becoming a high-side, checked off that box today.
I was saved by quick wits and some knowledge I had stored away from "A Twist of the Wrist", I'm sure. 



The rest of the ride was lovely, I'll be sure to have some sort of video on my channel in a short time.  I have a lot of video to dig through and edit so it might be later rather than sooner.  Might be a music video since most of the ride has one side of a conversation...  Breakfast was excellent as well, I had Huevos Rancheros in a green-chili sauce.  Delicious!   

Impressive my friend. I know I10 quite well. Took it nearly every day to work @ 48th and van burn
@ desert schools federal credit union. Or is use iirc want it the 202?
Aaron

Quote from: Watcher on July 02, 2017, 08:47:48 PM
... nor am I about to test my brand new Dainese jacket (yes, I boarded the band-wagon, shoot me, it's an all mesh jacket and it's awesome)!

Told you buying a Ducati would turn you into a Eurosnob. I bet you ride with Ducati Biscotti in the pocket, dont you? Lol jk, Dainese is legit.

In all seriousness, glad to hear you didn't go down. Good job keeping your cool.

Quote from: qcbaker on July 03, 2017, 05:11:27 AM
Told you buying a Ducati would turn you into a Eurosnob. I bet you ride with Ducati Biscotti in the pocket, dont you? Lol jk, Dainese is legit.

In all seriousness, glad to hear you didn't go down. Good job keeping your cool.

I've been SO temped to go to a little cafe/bistro and get pictures, hopefully with a little old lady making the "talking hands" gestures towards the bike, and the caption "Took the Ducati to get some Biscotti/Manicotti while wearing Dainese on this Sunday that's lazy" or something 

In all seriousness though, I wanted a mesh jacket that was lighter than my Icon and my choices came down to basically a sedici jacket that was all mesh but lacked a little protection, an A-stars that had more protection but lacked a little mesh, or the Dainese City-Guard which is basically one step up from a dirt-bike armor-shirt.
So I went City-Guard...  It offered both the most protection AND the largest gauge mesh of any of the three.

I sipped the cool-aid, but it tastes good.

Update!

Doug was recording!

Video in the OP!



It felt a lot more severe than what it actually was, and I felt like my recovery was a lot more controlled than it actually was.  Seeing it from an outside perspective made me realize what kind of an affect adrenaline can have on perception.  I think it was a good save either way, but I definitely exaggerated some details in my excitement.   

Still a good save mate! Looks like a controlled roll off of the throttle which probably helped you save it. I've had a few wiggles going around corners where I've felt the tyres let go but I haven't had anything like that. Looks like it started as you ran over a patch of something / change in the road surface.

At least you didn't get up close and personal with the pavement this time!

Judging by the video, I wouldn't say your description is exaggerated. The only thing is that for you it probably felt like a much longer ordeal than it actually was. Your perception of time during a high-stress event (like almost wrecking your bike) can slow down. Great save mate!

Good save!   Wouldve hate to've read the story from that 'other' pov.