One of my worst fears when riding

[Fritz The Cat]

This has never happened to me but for some reason I'm paranoid about it. How common is it? In the twisties I spend way too much time looking for gravel in the turns rather than enjoying the scenery.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=759_1417725428

[Valker]

Looked like rider error to me. Too much throttle breaking the rear tire loose. The pavement looks pretty clean, but there sure could have been something like spilled diesel.

[hubcapsc]

I look hard for gravel, but still have fun... if you're "enjoying the scenery" in turns, you
should be fearful...



Fear comes in for me when I have to expose myself to being rear-ended
by an inattentive car going 60 mph...

-Mike

[cookiedough]

Yah,  if into a corner, you shouldn't be watching the scenery anyways.  Gravel doesn't bother me too much although does toss my front wheel slipping some sort of spooky for a split second that's for sure. 

My worst fear, besides hitting a deer at night,  is even during the day oncoming cars in front of me coming right at me.  Had 2 close calls last year, one with an oncoming car 2-lane country road OVER the centerline almost 1/2 into MY lane going 60 mph, the other in a parking lot coming right at me the old lady NEVER saw me at all even though right in front of me in plain sight. 

[dreamaker]

I have legally been riding since '69, through experience I learned to read the signs of a possible issues. For me its like a riding game, that keeps me sharp, I can determine how an accidents can be avoidable. Well ,this one time, I didn't see it coming, I was stopped at a light with a car in front of me, I was going to make a left turn.  I didn't know the the car in front of me was leaking antifreeze, the light changed they went straight. I made the turn and the back end of my GoldWing kept going around and I laid the bike down, bike got a couple scratched and so did I, no big deal. I learned then that not all situations can be determined, there are surprises out there.

[big poppa pump]

This one has nothing to do with gravel. Rider error...slow speed with too much lean!

[BobB]

In my 35+ years of riding, I have dropped a road bike in gravel twice.  I am not including those times I dropped it while riding in the dirt, that might be in three digits.  The two times were also in my inexperienced years, the first five years of riding. 

That said, one must always be aware of gravel thrown on the blacktop by drivers that put a right wheel on a gravel apron or at intersections of gravel roads.  That happens frequently on the country roads that I ride, but it is common at particular curves and intersections that I am aware of.  It's the unfamiliar roads with blind curves that I'm concerned about.  My only advice is to approach curves at a speed where course corrections can be made within your sight distance. 

The video only demonstrates a rider who exceeded his traction limit accelerating in a turn. 

[..]

Cold tires?

Coulda twisted his wrist just as the rear tire came into contact with a painted white line?

[0leman]

The country roads (county two lanes) that I ride on this time of year tend to have gravel on the right hand curves.  I just slow down and enjoy the country side instead of trying to scrape pegs.  After all this time of year its getting rid of PMS not seeing how fast I can go.

I did have one really bad right had curve/gravel experience a year or two after getting Valk.  I was following a truck pulling a boat up a winding hill on a two lane road.   I hit the gravel in the middle of the curve.  The front wheel slide out and I was looking at going straight off the road (about a 100' drop off with not guard rails).  To this day, I am not sure how I got straighten out and head up the road.  It sure wasn't skill.

[mrtappan]

I can see that.

One of my worst fears when riding is to jump on something fast, lay into it with all I've got, having the time of my life then......

BAMM! I'm a dad.

Also, I'm afraid of bald motorcycle tires.  Two crashes both off bald tires, seven stitches in my chin off one, half the skin off my left arm off the other.

[Jess from VA]

Road looks clean.  Too much throttle in a hard lean.

Tire could be brand new with release agent, or he rode thru some oil/gas recently, or cold tire/road, or 20 psi over-pressure.  But I think it's just the throttle in a quick lean.  (some of those sporty bikes rev to a million RPMs and will easily break loose in a straight line, let alone a lean)

One should never forget that Harley's and other leaking machines have routinely sat at all intersections for many years.... and ride accordingly  )

Gravel (with or without sand/dirt) really sucks when it sneaks up on you on a twisty road you are enjoying where there hasn't been any before.  It makes me slow down looking for more.  I've gotten sideways on one or both tires several times, and not fallen down (but soiled myself).  It's not that much fun.

My longest lowside slide ever was in a gas spill all over a big intersection. I intended to make a fast right turn but as soon as I pitched over, I went down and slid straight (sort of) thru a 60 foot intersection (360 Yami enduro street legal with a 450 Metzler knobby).  Got up and rode home with a hip bruise.  Heavy winter clothes. (1971) 

[Fritz The Cat]

Doesn't matter whether it's rider error or not. The results are the same. And it does happen with regularity.

[FryeVRCCDS0067]

Could'a been rider error, could'a been spilled fuel, might as well ride on ice as spilled fuel. At least you usually expect ice, spilled fuel is usually invisible, it bit me once coming into a 4 way stop. Might have hit the road except I was wondering why a guy was standing in a parking lot by the road, watching. He probably saved my rear even though he never raised a finger to do so. I let off the brakes and blew the 4 way as soon as I felt my wheels slip on an evil handling V65. Nothing saved me but pure luck and that guy standing by the road raising my awareness.

Then I broke my leg sliding in crushed acorns in a corner twenty years later.

Don't watch the scenery in corners. Don't wear dark glasses when riding in and out of shadows, wear clear or yellow. Don't let fear ruin your ride, you're dying anyway. Live while you can but try to avoid falling into the clutches of the medical prefession. Ah, just try to avoid falling at all. 

By the way, spilled corn and crushed mulberries and acorns are just as bad as gravel and sand.

[john]

       ???                 

[fubar606]

one of your worst fears because it will hurt you and your fat girl .OR because of the large audience

[BF]

Have you ever been behind a garbage truck? 

Those things will leak, dribble, spew and pour some seriously nasty, greasy liquefied garbage on the road from time to time. 

Makes for some really slippery roads.   

[jimmytee]

He simply had too much throttle and it got away from him.

When I was 17, I had a 1981 Honda Silverwing Interstate. I was riding on Holt road in Indpls. It goes down to two lanes and has a couple of 90 degree  short turns before an intersection a 16th street near the Indpls 500 Motor Speedway. At the last turn before coming to the intersection, the bike suddenly slammed to the ground and slid 15 feet into the oncoming traffic lane. I got up and (had a friend with me ,was taking him to get a part for his bike) you could ice skate across that road. Problem was this was August. The road passed an entrance to a Marathon oil refinery. This was where trucks went in and out. Apparently one of them must have been leaking oil onto the road.  We picked the bike up and no damage. My knee hurt a bit where we had fallen and it took much of the brunt. I rode down to find a police officer and told him what had happened. I explained that someone needs to tell them to get that cleaned up and we were lucky there wasn't a car when we slid into the oncoming traffic lane. Latter on that night, had to cut my jeans off, I ended up in a knee brace for 3 months. Went by there like three days later, and you could not tell there was ever oil on the road. Missed an opportunity on that one.

[hubcapsc]

Have you ever been behind a garbage truck? 

Those things will leak, dribble, spew and pour some seriously nasty, greasy liquefied garbage on the road from time to time. 

Makes for some really slippery roads.   

Chicken truck... bleggh...

-Mike

[..]

I was riding in a National park. Can't remember which.

Going uphill and there was a stinking wide snail trail of diesel and other viscous liquids in the center of my lane. Eventually caught up with a garbage truck with a slogan emblazoned across it's rear.

"Proudly recycling to protect our environment".

[hubcapsc]

I was riding in a National park. Can't remember which.

Going uphill and there was a stinking wide snail trail of diesel and other viscous liquids in the center of my lane. Eventually caught up with a garbage truck with a slogan emblazoned across it's rear.

"Proudly recycling to protect our environment".

Not long after I got the Valkyrie, a chromer around here got arrested for putting his
expensive-to-dispose-of waste into a barrel and drizzling it out the back of his truck
leaving one of those snail trails. It corroded the paint and stuff of people's cars
who drove through it before it dried up or whatever it does.

Now, every time I see a snail trail, I assume it is someone's illegally disposed of
toxic waste...

I'm glad to know that sometimes it is just icky spoo...

-Mike

[Jack]

I've done the loose gravel bit.  My fear is the 18 wheeler coming into my lane or vice versa.  Kind of a Jax Teller scenario.

[Spirited-6]

I hate GRAVEL in the road, in your yard, the parking lot, in the Friggen Truck. Did I say I hate GRAVEL ? Me with a weak leg, Polio in right leg, can not hold up a Bike of any weight when on gravel . The more pressure you put down , the looser it gets.. OH, I don`t like GREEN WALNUTS in a tight  turn on a country road. 

[Oss]

chicken guts in Arkansas near Deer Arkansas (2006?) got my friend Dick setting up his line for a turn while I was riding behind him about a second or 2 back. They both got messed up pretty good. Dick is a great rider and champion snowmobile racer

Only by grace of God that I missed it.  Watching the couple go down changed my riding daring do.

Had 2 oil/fuel related spills, one at highway speed one in 2nd gear.

Dont like gravel but if you respect it and keep your head its no worse than wind

Oss

yeah I hate high wind/sandstorms and tornadoes too.  

[Willow]

Chicken truck... bleggh...

I hope we're not about to induce more chicken crap into the board.   

[old2soon]

Could'a been rider error, could'a been spilled fuel, might as well ride on ice as spilled fuel. At least you usually expect ice, spilled fuel is usually invisible, it bit me once coming into a 4 way stop. Might have hit the road except I was wondering why a guy was standing in a parking lot by the road, watching. He probably saved my rear even though he never raised a finger to do so. I let off the brakes and blew the 4 way as soon as I felt my wheels slip on an evil handling V65. Nothing saved me but pure luck and that guy standing by the road raising my awareness.

Then I broke my leg sliding in crushed acorns in a corner twenty years later.

Don't watch the scenery in corners. Don't wear dark glasses when riding in and out of shadows, wear clear or yellow. Don't let fear ruin your ride, you're dying anyway. Live while you can but try to avoid falling into the clutches of the medical prefession. Ah, just try to avoid falling at all. 

By the way, spilled corn and crushed mulberries and acorns are just as bad as gravel and sand.

     A round hay bale unwinding at an intersection. Loose hay WILL get your attention in one big arsed hurry!  Lets just say my moto cross racing experience has saved the situation a few times!  RIDE SAFE.

[G-Man]

My fear is oncoming traffic on my side of the road in blind turns.  EVERY TIME I ride the goat trail, I greeting around a turn by a car with 2 wheels on my side.  I absolutely hate that! 

[john]

                         " I hope we're not about to induce more chicken crap into the board. "           ...........         

[BF]

Other than someone turning in front of me, or pulling out in front of me, one of my greatest fears is sitting at a light or a stop sign and having some jackass on a cell phone run me over from behind. 

[Tundra]

Glad all those people stopped to help...where is that needed icon?

[ricoman]

maybe rider error
I wonder if he didn't hit the white painted crosswalk line at a pretty good angle?
They are really slippery and most of the time the aggregate that's supposed to be in them isn't there.
I see cars and bikes slipping all over those lines pretty often.
They are slicker than mineral oil on a bald head especially when wet.