Please help me understand the street mentality

[Evil_Ductator]

Just because someone is fast, even if they are dragging a knee, doesn't mean the person is riding "over their head". Read this (stolen from Sport Rider magazine).....

There is also the matter of riding style. My wife cannot slide off the seat so she cannot drag a knee, I can drag a knee on occasion, and a buddy of ours gets way off the seat and can drag a knee in nearly every curve. We can ride through the same curve, at the exact same speed, and it'll be just that.......she is sitting upright, I may drag a knee on occasion, and he's dragging a knee in every curve.....which one is riding over his/her head?

We routinely ride in the mountains of SC, NC, GA, TN, and VA and ride at an elevated pace. It is not uncommon to be doing 20+ over through the mountains. We just got speeding tickets, last year, for doing 67 in a 40, and we usually come out of that curve at 80+. There are some 35 mph curves that we can sing through at 60 mph or more, and I can tell you of one road with 45 mph curves that I've taken at over 115 mph before.......and there are some marked 15 mph, that if you can go through it at 20 mph, you're FAST. 


My wife and I have taken the riding buddy of ours I mentioned before on several roads he has never been on before, probably another 100+ miles of mountains roads this past weekend, and while riding behind one or both of us, I watch him dragging a knee in a lot of the curves where it was his very first time being on them.

Desmo Demon, do you know who the author was for that SportRider piece?

Edit: found it

Jeff Hughes, Sport Rider, October 2003

[Clickjack]

In fact, I dare say, I am completely 100% confident in my abilities in the situations I encounter, and after 30 years know I will come home from such a ride intact.

Back in July I had my first crash in like 12 years.  And my first one ever on the street.  I didn't really do anything wrong.  Someone hung a chain up in a parking lot.  It wasn't painted a bright color (in Texas they have to be marked)  and it was hung very low.  it was night, and the street lights were far enough apart that I couldn't see it.  all I was doing was turning around... my bike goes crazy, the handle bars are yanked out of my hands and the first I see of the chain is when it breaks my mirror and flys at my throat.  Jesus, and some muscle memory left over from years of Martial arts, saved my life.  Somehow I got my arm between part of my neck and the chain.  I was yanked off of the bike by my throat, up into the air and slammed on the ground.   

On several occasions i have barely missed cars/old people in RV's behaving stupidly...   stuff happens. don't get over confident, you stop looking for those accidents about to happen.

That being said, I drive like a granny.  I like going fast, but I really like being safe and confident. 

[MTBryan]

I certainly haven't avoided a crash all these years by having too much confidence. Obviously, I am very cautious, no matter what speed I am going, and am very good at riding defensively. And, I don't pretend for a second that a crash isn't possibly around the corner for me.

My first motorcycle accident ever was similar to yours. I was 17 and just started riding. I grew up in the Colorado Mountains, and they didn't care if I had a license or not. I borrowed my friends dirt bike for the summer since he had moved away. So, I rode it on the street, and had some off road fun occasionally.

I had an off road single track trail I would ride right next to a fence, owned by a local grumpy farmer. I had been riding it for a few months on my lunch break when one day I was ripping along, maybe 50 mph, and suddenly I saw he had taken one strand of barbed wire, and strung it across the trail. It was way too late to stop. Luckily the wire hit towards the top of the bars, and was held in place by the controls. It stretched out, and brought me to almost a complete stop before going CRACK, and breaking. All that happened to me was right when it broke, it let go of the bike, and it shot out of my legs, I fell on my butt, and the bike went ahead about 20 feet and fell over in some bushes.

If that wire had hit me in the chest (I was wearing a t-shirt), it possibly would have cut me in half, or at least dug in deep. And, if that happened today, I'm sure his ass would have been thrown in jail!

Over the years, I've had 8 or 10 flaming off-road crashes. Nothing broken, luckily. Although, any off road crash can be serious. It totally depends on where you land. I've had some great landing spots with luck on my side.

Like the time I was racing the Montrose Enduro and hit a HUGE rock while trying to avoid another rider, then doing the superman at about 40mph through the air, and landing on the only grassy spot in the area, instead of on the numerous rock fields surrounding that grassy spot.

Or the time...

Nevermind, too many stories, and too boring for all!