An end to an otherwise perfect day

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Geez, Russell,

That really sucks. Pretty little 'priller all torn up, you banged up and Lisa all worried and upset. Not to mention poor Howard huffin' and puffin' from lifting not one but two bikes back on their feets.

 

I feel for you my brother.

 

Various and assorted debris mid corner always tightens my shorts. I figure I can handle most anything else, from decreasing radii to missing apexes and the like since I am always in slow in fast out mode and usually have a good deal of reserve left as well.

 

A point that occurs to me as I reread your excellent review of the situation. Do you think that your experience with agressive riding might have contributed in some way to this? After all, your concept of a gentle tip in might not be the same as a more timid, less experienced rider. I'm not in your league when it comes to track experience, or skill for that matter, but I do notice that I tend to make my turn, when I finally decide to tip it in, in a firm manner. Some, who lack the experience, might have completed the turn in a more gentle manner and missed that cross over the gravel. Not, by any means a criticism, just pointing out that what might be a pretty easy turn-in for you might still be agressive to others.

 

I still don't see where you did anything wrong. Wide and late would have been my choice for that corner as well and a dive for the fog line would have been my choice for entry line. I guess one of these days it'll bite me as well. Hope I'm on the 1100S and not the Blackbird when it happens.

 

Thanks again for the food for thought, as if I needed any more reinforcment to my already scardy kat worries about this very thing.

[Stan Walker]

Having washed out the front end on my F650 this spring at DVD (wild rose), I know how you feel. I got my thumb sprained, road rash on my knee (tore my Darian pants; no pads), and really hurt my pride a lot!!!

 

On loose gravel, never even saw it, it blended so well with the road, in fact it probably was part of the road I think.

 

I was able to ride the bike home, but probably shouldn't have.

 

It really goes down fast.....

 

Get well, and fix the bike.

 

Stan

[russell_bynum]

A point that occurs to me as I reread your excellent review of the situation. Do you think that your experience with agressive riding might have contributed in some way to this? After all, your concept of a gentle tip in might not be the same as a more timid, less experienced rider. I'm not in your league when it comes to track experience, or skill for that matter, but I do notice that I tend to make my turn, when I finally decide to tip it in, in a firm manner. Some, who lack the experience, might have completed the turn in a more gentle manner and missed that cross over the gravel. Not, by any means a criticism, just pointing out that what might be a pretty easy turn-in for you might still be agressive to others.

 

Yeah, I guess everything's relative. I LOVE the quick transitions and the Tuono in particular just eats that stuff up with the wide bars, light weight, agressive geometry, and ultra-stiff frame. I had definitely been doing some quick turns that day...Howard had even commented on it.

 

I dunno. I don't remember the magnitude of the turn-in, but I don't THINK it was very quick. It was definitely pronounced and finite...i.e. My turn-in is HERE vs just oozing across the lane.

 

I suppose that might have contributed. A lazy turn might have had me crossing the gravel at a shallower lean angle, and easing across it instead of cutting sharply across it. Of course, a lazy turn-in at the same turn point would have had me crossing the center of the lane after the patch of gravel...and an agressive turn-in would have had me crossing it before the patch of gravel.

 

The other side of that is the downsides of a lazy turn in...suspension doesn't settle, even slower speed is required to maintain the same line, etc.

 

I dunno. My experience so far (meager such that it is) says that a quick-turn is generally the better choice since it makes a bunch of other problems easier to deal with. But you may be onto something about the contributing factors in this particular case.

[dhb]

Russell,

I just happened to stumble on this report and was impressed at your analysis and thankful that you were not hurt badly. Gravel on blacktop or black ice--take your pick for my favorite nightmare (no deer to worry about on the highways up here). I like your explanation of how the gravel got where it was and it seems clear from your pix that crossing it at a shallow angle leaned over and/or on the gas/brake could easily have resulted in a dump.

In looking at the images of the problem right hand curve, I noticed that the center line paint, and to some degree the fog line paint is obscured in patches. Whenever I see this I'm concerned about stuff lying on the paint (sand/gravel) or recent road repairs which often have the effect of leaving loose gravel around. In either case, I reduce my lean and try to stay in wheel tracks, as they tend to be more free of gravel if present. I really can't say if this constitutes valid clues to problems with this particular corner though.

Take care,

Dave

[USAF1]

Bike

 

You

 

You need to move up here man.....

 

Pat

[KDeline]

My aggressive is a walk in the park for you. So yea to you it was a very easy curve, and you still got it. Maybe I'll just start walking mine.

[voyageurs]

russell,

i'm so sorry to hear of your accident. i hope the shoulder responds to Pt so you don't have to go near the knife. the bike got off lightly it seems. i hope as you get into it that remains the case.

again, i'm very glad your ok.

sincerely,

bob

[sgendler]

Unfortunately, "sweet Lisa" started a good finger-pointing lecture to hubby (when she found out he was not seriously injured). Something about "You should slow down, you always ride too fast" or something like that!

 

But if he'd been going faster, he would have been through the gravel and back into traction before the bars got fully sideways, right Russell?

 

--sam

[russell_bynum]

But if he'd been going faster, he would have been through the gravel and back into traction before the bars got fully sideways, right Russell?

 

--sam

 

[DouglasR]

Same exact thing as happened to my buddy Wayne when he went down on Red Mountain Pass. It took a really close look to even see the gravel. It had apparently been thrown up by cars accelerating out of the gravel turnout. Wayne was only travelling about 25 - 30 mph, but the front end washed out, the left jug hit the asphalt and he was ejected onto his left shoulder and left side of his head. I'd be tending a little white cross if he hadn't been in his proper gear. We didn't get any photos of the crash scene at the time (for obvious reasons ).

 

 

Stopped to put in a new IV line, headed for Mercy Medical Center in Durango:

 

 

I did a post-mortem the next day:

 

My GS is parked about where Wayne's bike stopped, facing the direction he was riding.

 

 

Closer, you can see where his front tire skidded out and the jug hit the asphalt. The skid marks in the gravel are the bike and Wayne's trail.

 

 

 

Looking the other way; it was NOT a nasty turn, he was not riding too fast for conditions, he's an experienced rider with >30 years of experience. He just hit a bad patch of invisible gravel and BOOM!

 

 

 

Here's another view of Bounce-Bounce's bike, ready to head home. Glad you weren't hurt worse, Russell! Wayne's collar bone is broken in two places but will heal just fine. He's in good spirits and tells me that the damage to his bike was primarily cosmetic (unlike yours! ).

 

 

I didn't get any photos because there was no place to stop, but on my way to Silverton to retrieve his luggage the evening of Wayne's crash I rode through the slickest stuff I've ever experienced just below Coal Bank Pass summit. The highway department had resurfaced the road very recently, then that afternoon the striping crew came around to paint the lines on the new asphalt. Apparently they had a malfunction in their machinery because for about 1/4 mile there was a very thin layer of glass beads all across the roadway!!!!!! They blow the beads into the paint to make the lines somewhat reflective. There was a pretty good pile in one spot too. It was like riding on ice. When I came back through less than an hour later the traffic had blown the beads off the road and it was fine.

 

Jeeezzz!!! Be careful, people, there is literally no end of hazards out there for us to discover.

 

Doug