Re: Crash Analysis: What did you learn?
I'll start out with my recent mishap.
Brief recap of the crash
I was riding along a small country road at about 40, taking it pretty easy after a long ride. I'd been on this road a couple of times before but didn't know it super well. There is a small-ish hill I go up and then it drops away pretty sharply on the downside, and there, about 40 feet ahead, are a couple of cars stopped to take a left turn. I hit the front brakes pretty hard, but the road surface is washboarded and I'm bouncing around, finally locked up the front wheel and washed it out. Probably doing about 15 at that point, just fast enough to bend stuff on the bike. Hit my right shoulder and head as my first impact and rolled over onto the shoulder. Once I collected myself I saw a big pile of different types of auto glass on the shoulder, so I know I'm not the only one who got bitten by that intersection.
What you did right
Fortunately I had the new X-11, leather pants, back protector, the works. The helmet has big divots and scrapes all the way across the top. Also, I was not going crazy fast on a basically unfamiliar road.
What you did wrong
My mind was wandering a bit since I was going slow, and the left intersection sign right before the hill didn't really register as a potential danger. I didn't have the rear brake covered, but seldom do and don't think it would have helped much, but not sure on that.
Thoughts on how it might have been avoided
It is a bad road design, for sure, but there will always be those out there. I guess keeping focused, no matter what the speed, and thinking about the meaning of each yellow diamond sign I see, and how it might be a danger.
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No longer hanging out here, sorry.
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