Re: Crash Analysis: What did you learn?
i have two recent crashes i can tell you about, so here we go.
the first is the car door story
i stop behind a long line of cars and i want to turn right. i see that the right hand turn lane is open, all i need to do is shimmy down between the cars waiting to go straight and the cars that are parallel parked on the side of the road. so i start to go down the side of the cars and here's comes the car door. BAM!!! hit the car next to her trying to squeeze between the door and the stopped car.
i guess i didn't do anything right, except wear gear.
what i did wrong is tough. i did so many things wrong. one--i though that people might actually check their mirrors before opening a car door. when the woman (who left the scene to get her dog from the groomers) came back with her dog, i didn't do my impression of the invention of the catepolte (sp?) from history of the world part 1.
obey every stupid traffic law because people are ignorant and the laws are setup to protect stupid people.
rain racing:
i forgot to tape up the inside of my visor before hitting the track. at the end of the warm up lap i had to put my visor up to find my grid spot (mistake 1). at the end of the first lap of racing, and a good run down the front straight (mistake 2) and i started to be able to clearly see a narrow and unfocussed view of summit point (aka slippery point; aka the same place i nearly highsided my fzr earlier that same day in a drizzle (we'll call this mistake 2.5). i realized that i could see the guy one position up from next-to-last place and that if i got a good run into one and a nice drive out, i could catch him by turn 5 (mistake 3). so i hit my dry brake marker and then give it a good second and hit the brakes (mistake 4). did i mention that i have r1 calipers and kit pads on my 400, but not one set of rain tires? (mistake 4.5, the r1 calipers are awesome, but no rains--still a mistake i make). anyway, i apparantly locked up the brakes, but the front was just barely weaving back and forth. then it started going harder and harder. about that time i thought, maybe the front locked up, let go of the brake lever. i let go and next thing i know i'm on the ground sliding.
so, i'm sliding along, keeping relaxed and my hands are in front of my face so that way i don't break fingers and the like. i watch my bike slide, "look at the pretty sparks," i think to myself. then i go to look at the sky, because when you crash at the end of the front straight at summit, you have lots of time to think about things. funny, the sky isn't in front of me... instead, i'm face down and sliding on my elbows and knees. now, no matter what racedaydennis4r tells you, i don't spend a lot of time on my hands and knees.
so i think, "i should probably roll onto my back." (mistake 5) so i "roll" onto my back. actually, i more barrel-rolled down the front straight. i did tense up for a second (mistake 6), but the first impact with the ground taught me to loosen up (it hurts when your stiff). i also learned that with enough force, you probably could give yourself oral-pleasure, but i don't think it would be worth it. (mistake 7)
what i did right--i stayed relaxed most of the crash. worked the next day.
what i did wrong--tried to make up too much time on the brakes in the rain. if i was really faster, i had a lot more time to catch up. oh yeah, didn't figure out a more friendly way to get my crotch into my face.
how to avoid, don't race and never have fun.
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