New found appreciation for "road snakes"

[Icelander]

Well... Alls well that ends well... and it ended well... except for the state of my shorts. 

I wasn't expecting the traffic to come to such an abrupt stop on Hwy 522 this morning. There are places on this road that are more road snake than paving.

Realizing that I was coming in hot, I got on the binders harder than I would like and discovered the rear tire trying to pass me on the right.

I got off the rear brake and it immediately snapped back into line but put me into my first tankslapper (probably more like a headshake in retrospect, but the only thing going through my mind at that point was "Is this it?") I don't remember exactly what I did but suspect that I got back on the rear brake and let her sort the rest out.

I managed to get her pointed toward the shoulder between the grassy center divider and the black Audi in front of me and got her back under control on the rumblestrip. Judging from the big eyes on the Audi driver and the fact that after the incident, he took the first opportunity to get out from in front of me and away, he understood just how lucky we both were.

No need for coffee this morning. 

Kendall

[John Lane]

Front brake is your friend. I hate riding in traffic here and our roads suck. REALLY glad you are OK. 

John

[Whooray]

What John said.......and I too hate tar snakes with a passion.  Happy that it all ended well.

[flcjr]

Roadsnakes are the Devel!! Chief Joeseph Highway in Wy is full of them. Too bad its a great ride other than all the snakes.  I didn't know the Valkyrie had a rear brake  The front is so good I've never had a need for the rear one.

[gordonv]

Coming back from the Oyster Run on Hwy 20 in 2010, light rain, and riding in the RH lane with the ruts, and those tar snakes made my E3 slip out on every one of them in the curve and my wife on the back.

Made her really hate riding in the rain, almost wont even do it anymore with me.

I'm really hoping a CT will make that all go away.

[hubcapsc]

We have a good road, 28... there's so many snakes there you can see them
from outer space...



-Mike

[Rio Wil]

Just out of curiosity why wasn't your first braking reaction the front brake?

[Icelander]

I was on the front brakes and continued to do so till I could get her pointed over to the shoulder. I've since discovered that the E3 on the rear is/has:
1. A tire that is known to be rather slick (Dunlop E3)
2. More worn that I initially thought.
3. slipped out on me more than once in a less drastic fashion.

Combine those disadvantages with my relative inexperience with the bike and I think I got lucky. But just to be clear, I was using the front brakes.