Sosu2211
Super Furry Animal
Well, as I posted recently, I'm 6 days in with my New FZ6n s2... after a break of a 3 or 4 years without a bike. Had great fun so far and been building up my confidence with longer and longer rides over the last few days... I have done 500 miles or so in under a week so far, and was feeling great with the bike.
Last night I thought I'd ride a 250km round trip to see my girlfriend, and thought I'd take the bike rather than the car for once. I figured, it's motorway most of the way, so no issues... err.
Well, got geared up, lid, boots, armored jacket, carbon gloves, all my gear apart from the fact I was wearing a pair of thick jeans as it was a hot(ish) day. Well, all was fine on the journey, couldn't speed as I'm still running the bike in, but stuck to a steady 130km/h, 6.5k revs all the way... no incident. In fact, it was a great ride, even on the motorway, and as usual I thought nothing of it, other than realised how much more concentration was needed on a bike than in a car in terms of observation! I was looking in mirrors, over my shoulders, checking distances all the while, while dealing with much more wind buffeting than I was used to on my old fair GSX-R.
Had a great day, but left it way later than planned coming home. I set off on the 1 hour trip at around midnight... the temp has dropped to about 10c. Not so cold, but with wind and fog, it was not ideal... which is where my problems started.
First off,the jeans that were ok on the way down were bloody freezing, and I realised I should have worn my Alpinestars Cargo pants, not an ideal situation, but the cold is usually not an issue...
20kms into the journey I thought hmm, ok, the wind is picking up. 50km headwind... joy. At which point I found out my single skin leather race gloves were *really* not the thing to be wearing!! I was *freezing*!! single layer leather and carbon+wind=not recommended. Couldn't feel my fingers by 50kms into the journey!
Ok, no big deal, I've had worse! I pressed onwards.
Not a *thing* on the motorway, but it being rural France, there was no one about, and no lighting on the road... again the need to concentrate increased... but in some way it was a beautiful ride.
1am. It starts to rain!! Not heavy, but my already ice cold fingers were now literally alien to me, and jeans became drenched! Bugger.
I decided to stop, grab a coffee, dry off, and wait for the rain to stop... only 40kms to go. Back on the motorway, and I again lacked concentration and missed my junction!! GAH! I decided to turn off and take the 'twisty' route home. Ordinarily, in dry weather it would have been a great ride, but in the middle of the night, freezing, soaking wet, it wasn't so great, and again, my mind began to wander
20kms from home, the raid dried, the wind died down, I could feel my hands, and I decided to up the gas a little and speed things up... I mean, heck what is 20kms? BAD mistake. I took a turning off a larger dual carriage way, onto what seemed to be marked as a smooth perhaps 30 degree sweeping bend... I pitched the bike in as I thought the road was, my mind drifted to a nice cup of coffee 15 mins away... and OMFGWTF. The corner was an unmarked 90degree hairpin!!
Well, I got the bike upright, and tried to do an emergency stop, from albeit too high a speed and revs... I wasn't quick enough on using both brakes and hit the front too hard >< Felt the back of the bike go light, stupid changed down gears, locked up, and then skidded... all the while, the metal road barrier coming closer in front of me...
I remember thinking, OMG this is going to hurt, and wished I had proper bike trousers on... I seriously prepared for the worst...
At the last moment, everything came good, I straightened up, stopped skidding, both brakes did their job *very* well, and I found myself able to stop about 2 meters from the barrier, all upright, on the road, and for all intents and purposes ready to ride on. OMGOMG.
I rode home like I was on pure adrenaline. Listening to everything, 150% concentrated, and it was like chalk and cheese... I realised how little I was *actually* concentrating before and for the early part of the journey! The incident wasn't down to lack of skill, lack of gear, bad bike... it was all due to rider concentration, and taking the trip for granted. HUGE lesson learnt.
Makes me realise just how much more we as bikers do per mile in terms of actually 'riding', observing, using skill and focusing than car drivers...
I feel so lucky to have got away with things so lightly, and have taken it as a huge warning to be more focused on my riding and plan ahead...
On a better note though, the bike was *awesome*, it was the human component that was the weak link
Last night I thought I'd ride a 250km round trip to see my girlfriend, and thought I'd take the bike rather than the car for once. I figured, it's motorway most of the way, so no issues... err.
Well, got geared up, lid, boots, armored jacket, carbon gloves, all my gear apart from the fact I was wearing a pair of thick jeans as it was a hot(ish) day. Well, all was fine on the journey, couldn't speed as I'm still running the bike in, but stuck to a steady 130km/h, 6.5k revs all the way... no incident. In fact, it was a great ride, even on the motorway, and as usual I thought nothing of it, other than realised how much more concentration was needed on a bike than in a car in terms of observation! I was looking in mirrors, over my shoulders, checking distances all the while, while dealing with much more wind buffeting than I was used to on my old fair GSX-R.
Had a great day, but left it way later than planned coming home. I set off on the 1 hour trip at around midnight... the temp has dropped to about 10c. Not so cold, but with wind and fog, it was not ideal... which is where my problems started.
First off,the jeans that were ok on the way down were bloody freezing, and I realised I should have worn my Alpinestars Cargo pants, not an ideal situation, but the cold is usually not an issue...
20kms into the journey I thought hmm, ok, the wind is picking up. 50km headwind... joy. At which point I found out my single skin leather race gloves were *really* not the thing to be wearing!! I was *freezing*!! single layer leather and carbon+wind=not recommended. Couldn't feel my fingers by 50kms into the journey!
Ok, no big deal, I've had worse! I pressed onwards.
Not a *thing* on the motorway, but it being rural France, there was no one about, and no lighting on the road... again the need to concentrate increased... but in some way it was a beautiful ride.
1am. It starts to rain!! Not heavy, but my already ice cold fingers were now literally alien to me, and jeans became drenched! Bugger.
I decided to stop, grab a coffee, dry off, and wait for the rain to stop... only 40kms to go. Back on the motorway, and I again lacked concentration and missed my junction!! GAH! I decided to turn off and take the 'twisty' route home. Ordinarily, in dry weather it would have been a great ride, but in the middle of the night, freezing, soaking wet, it wasn't so great, and again, my mind began to wander
20kms from home, the raid dried, the wind died down, I could feel my hands, and I decided to up the gas a little and speed things up... I mean, heck what is 20kms? BAD mistake. I took a turning off a larger dual carriage way, onto what seemed to be marked as a smooth perhaps 30 degree sweeping bend... I pitched the bike in as I thought the road was, my mind drifted to a nice cup of coffee 15 mins away... and OMFGWTF. The corner was an unmarked 90degree hairpin!!
Well, I got the bike upright, and tried to do an emergency stop, from albeit too high a speed and revs... I wasn't quick enough on using both brakes and hit the front too hard >< Felt the back of the bike go light, stupid changed down gears, locked up, and then skidded... all the while, the metal road barrier coming closer in front of me...
I remember thinking, OMG this is going to hurt, and wished I had proper bike trousers on... I seriously prepared for the worst...
At the last moment, everything came good, I straightened up, stopped skidding, both brakes did their job *very* well, and I found myself able to stop about 2 meters from the barrier, all upright, on the road, and for all intents and purposes ready to ride on. OMGOMG.
I rode home like I was on pure adrenaline. Listening to everything, 150% concentrated, and it was like chalk and cheese... I realised how little I was *actually* concentrating before and for the early part of the journey! The incident wasn't down to lack of skill, lack of gear, bad bike... it was all due to rider concentration, and taking the trip for granted. HUGE lesson learnt.
Makes me realise just how much more we as bikers do per mile in terms of actually 'riding', observing, using skill and focusing than car drivers...
I feel so lucky to have got away with things so lightly, and have taken it as a huge warning to be more focused on my riding and plan ahead...
On a better note though, the bike was *awesome*, it was the human component that was the weak link
