Scariest Motorcycle Moment

[ridingAK]

We talk a lot about how much fun motorcycle riding is, and we talk about the danger from unobservant drivers. But what is the scariest moment you've had riding?

Mine happened when I was about 13 years old. I was racing on a dirt track. I went over a jump I had a 1000 times but as I crested the jump, I knocked loose a rock that somehow caused the bike to flip. I have no memory of how it happened. I remember looking at the ground flying by inches from my face and wondering if I would have a face when I woke up. (I never wore a helmet back then).

As it turned out, I was unhurt except for a pretty good concussion. The next thing I remember is my friend and racing buddy sitting on my chest slapping me in the face. He helped me get my bike home. I told my parents I was tired and going to bed early, and he climbed in my bedroom window and sat with me most of the night. I would have gotten away without telling except for passing out cold the next day at school...

[KCDakar]

I will have to think on this as I have had so many close calls...:chin:

[jfike]

definitely when i dumped it last year. i remember thinking that we were going too fast..... and then came into a corner....tire slipped, caught and slipped again..... i thought "oh s--t" and bailed off(i think) next thing i knew i was picking myself up off the road going" where's my bike?? how's my bike?"

[ridingAK]

It's funny how most of the time after we dump it is not ourselves we worry about, but the bike.

[TylerR]

When I was a new rider, I joined a group ride to Hearst Castle. We were riding down 25 when I came around a turn and one of our riders was signaling everyone to slow down and fast... we did and pulled off... there was a line of traffic in front of us... I walked around the turn... two bikes in our group had taken off out in front... one of them went down throwing both the rider and his passenger into a cement culvert... the passenger died at the scene. The rider, a friend of mine, was airlifted out - concussion, broken ankle/clavicle/ribs.

I will never, ever forget that day or moment. It forever reminded me that this pursuit of something that I love also has its dangers and I have always respected that every time I throw a leg over the bike. Thus far, I have been extremely fortunate myself... I don't know if it's skill, luck, awareness, or a combination of the above but I thank the gods (any and all of them that are out there!).

One thing I think is important is took always try to see into the future... anticipate what another vehicle might do... plan for them to do the wrong thing and how you would avoid it or what path/s you could take... try to not get yourself into the situation that you would have to use emergency measures to get out of.

Everyone stay safe out there. :cool:

[ridingAK]

I agree with you Tyler, trying to predict everyone else's actions on the road absolutely keeps us safer, on bikes and in the cage.

[Luna Tique]

Closest call for me would be the summer of 71

I was in site of his mirror when at the stop light . (The old if I see him he sees me thinking) When the traffic light turned green The guy in the left lane mde a left turn I signaled and came out and started to pass the tractor trailer.
I was moving my way up. He did not see me make my move to the left lane. Apparently there was a bicycist sharing the lane and there was not enough room for both of them so he moved into the left lane forcing me to do something

I could not cross in to the on coming lanes even if I was so inclined since there was a lot of traffic moving towards me.
I could not get in front of him he was moving over too quickly I could only hope to slow down enough to either fall behind or find a spot in between the oncoming traffic to squeeze through so I grabbed a bunch of brake, the front end began to shake and I started to get a wobble going . I let off the front brake maintaining lots of rear brake and then started to go into a slide. The rear end was catching up to the front pointing me into the on coming traffic.

At that moment when I thought I was going down I guess my Guardian Angel stepped in.

I think I released the back brake and the bike returned to an upright position. I gave it lots of throttle and some how was able to squeeze by the truck and on coming traffic on the double yellow line. :eek:

I made a left into the diner sat and shook.

The driver of the truck stopped across the street and ran over to apologize He was a rider as well and was freaked out that he missed my move The last thing he remembered was a car in the left lane with a directional on to make a left.

As it turned out he was a over the road hauler and was on his way home. He was exhausted pushing it to get home. He lived about an hours drive away from where we were

I was shaken to say the least .

We went inside the diner and and talked over a cup of coffee. We both learned a valuable lesson that day. I know I did.

[KCDakar]

Great story LT!!:eek:
Glad you made it.:worthy:
It is easy to see how it could have turned out sooo much worse for sure!

[Luna Tique]

Funny how those kinds of moment are burned into our memories. Cause I can't remember Sh*t on a day to day basis any more:lol:

[KCDakar]

Funny how those kinds of moment are burned into our memories. Cause I can't remember Sh*t on a day to day basis any more:lol:
:rofl::rofl::rofl:...

:wtf:

:patch:

What are we laughing about? :shrug:

[Lady of the NightHawk]

You have to laugh or you would not be able to go day to day. Just my 2 cents! ;):

[KCDakar]

You have to laugh or you would not be able to go day to day. Just my 2 cents! ;):

Very true, at least for me!:thumbup:

[GinaMcD]

Mine would have to be the day I got half my foot run over by a Ford station wagon!

The Ford had been behind me for a couple of miles, and I was following a pick-up. All three of us turned up an on ramp onto a two laner, which is incredibly short and has no merging lane at the end of it. In heavy traffic, you're often forced to stop at the top of the ramp and wait for a break in order to pull out. The truck in front of me stopped in the center of the ramp lane, I stopped behind him towards the left side of the lane, and the Ford stopped waaay over to the left side of the lane.

I was looking back and forth between the truck in front and the traffic coming up on the highway, watching for a break, when all of a sudden I cought a flash of movement in my left mirror. Next thing I know, I feel a tire pass over the outside edge of my foot and my thigh is cleaning the dirt off the car's rear quarter panel as the driver shoots out past me and the truck, and takes off down the right lane of the highway.

With the help of the pickup driver, we managed to chase the girl down and get her to pull over. She had no idea what my problem was, all she knew was that she had just had a fight with mom, was late for work, and I was making her even more late. She claimed she never saw me in front of her, that she never saw the pick up in front of me, and that she didn't see anyone or anything stopped in front of her at the top of the on ramp!

In the end, I was uninjured, the bike was not damaged, we exchanged information, I left her in tears on the side of the road (I gave her quite an earful about how easily she could have killed me), I got a sobbing voicemail from her later that evening appologizing again (hopefully she learned something that day), and I since then I'm hyper aware of what's going on behind me everytime I stop in traffic. It's been about five years, but I can still feel the sensation of that tire passing over my foot everytime I think about it.

[KCDakar]

:eek: Having your foot run over!

All I can say is WOW I am so glad you were not hurt! I am still processing that...

[Luna Tique]

:eek: YIKES ......I am also very glad to hear you were not hurt.

[ridingAK]

That is incredibly scary. WAY too close!

[TylerR]

Okay, GinaD's experience brought back a memory... I was a new-ish rider taking a solo jaunt along the back roads in my area... toodling along, minding my own business and was just getting ready to set my line into a left handed turn... around the other side comes an idjit across the DY in my lane... it all happened so quickly... I looked around at my possible escapes... not many choices as on my right was a ditch/tree... so I braked hard, the bike came up, and I stopped just short of the ditch... and then fell over when I lost my balance.

Bike fell over, I rolled into the road cussing a mean streak (and yelling inside your own helmet is really f'ing loud!!) to see the car continue on down the road... I got up, adrenalin pumpin, picked the bike up (a GZ250 so not that much of a problem), when the car came back up the road to check on me. It was a 17-year old male with two girlfriends in the car with him...

"Golly gee, sir, I'm so sorry..." To which I verbated him a response that would have made a porn star blush... okay, maybe not that bad but I read him the riot act how he could have killed me, etc. and then I demanded his drivers license which he handed over... I noted his info and told him that if he EVER drove like that again (and that I'd be looking for him), I'd call his parents, the cops, and the newspapers.

I think he wet his pants... rightfully so.

Hopefully, it put the fear of god into him and he started driving more accordingly. I have yet to hear of an accident in that area since. :D:

[jfike]

i had a memory recall too. about 3 weeks after i started riding, we went out for a father's day ride. coming back from a nice twisty back road we got onto a small secondary highway. unfortunately for me traffic was very heavy (father's day show and shine had just let out) and i was a little nervous. i was determined to ride the speed limit until i got my full license (still on learner's permit) and was doing about 75 km/h. i couldn't remember if the speed limit was 70 or 80. my hubbie was behind me and a truck came up on his rear, rode up close....backed off...rode up close.... you get the picture, so hubbie touched his brakes to flash his lights, and idjit decides to pass him on the left and try to edge him off the road!! :eek: gets in between us and hubbie freaks (me being a new rider and all) pulls out to pass him and then truck-retard passes me on the shoulder!!! hubbie just about lost it! passes me on the left about 2 seconds after retard passes me on the right, i am screaming in my helmet at BOTH of them......they zoom off into town and i just pulled into the first place i could to calm down. i had no idea where they went but hubbie came back in about 5 minutes, the guy had tried to entice him into a cul-de-sac but hubbie had grabbed his brain somewhere in there and turned and left. we had gotten a pretty decent description of the truck, so when we went to the cops, they pretty much knew who it was!


jerk!!

[ridingAK]

Scary!

[KansasKawboy]

This wasn't real scary when it happened but before it happened. Shortly after I started riding I started having dreams that I had to make a panic stop and instead of braking I put my feet down. I was almost afraid to ride. Then one night coming home from work as I aproached an intersection I saw a police car signal a left turn and move to the left turn lane and start to turn in front of me, I did what they taught us in the BRC. The police officer saw me and stopped before he entered my lane and looked embrarassed when I went by. After that I didn't have anymore dreams and was glad it happened so I knew I would react properly.

[Astir]

My scariest motorcycle incident involved poor inspection on my part. That CB550 I bought for $80 needed a lot of work, mostly electrical but some mechanical. I had gotten it running after several months of working on it and was in the first month of riding. It was so exciting to finally get it going. I was riding a back road on the way to school, turned left, went under an overpass was speeding up to 45 and all the sudden the front wheel started skidding. Steering did nothing - and I mean nothing. I hit the brakes, and the only brake that worked was the back. The front of the bike slowly skidded sideways, and I can vividly see the lady driving the car headed towards me with her eyes bugging out and her car skidding to a stop. I bailed off the bike and rolled to the side of the road, the bike came to a rest a few feet in front of the ladies car. So what happened? Remember those nice pretty chrome fenders on the 70's bikes? Well the screws holding the fender to the arch came out and the thing rolled UNDER the tire! I wasn't hurt, thanks to all the right gear, being young, and two years of Kung Fu that made rolling an instinct. The bike wasn't hurt, but oh man was I shaking. Some guys who stopped behind me helped me pick up the bike and waiting until I could stop shaking to help me fix the fender and get me on my way. Surprisingly the fender didn't look any worse, I expected deep gouges. The next day I headed to the farm and tack welded that beautiful chrome fender so that could NEVER happen again. It took a while for me to trust the bike after that.

[Lion_Lady]

Hmmm. Commuting to work at Oh, dark thirty in the morning... (still dark).

There was major construction on part of my route to work, interstate 95. They're repaving lanes two at a time. I'd been dealing with the 'issues' surrounding the project for a couple weeks, so learned to expect some surprises.

Nothing prepared me for what I encountered one early morning. I was takinig a connecting expressway (Rt100) to 95, and there were caution signs about the construction, but they weren't terribly specific.

As I take the ramp to I95, I slow a bit and look to my left for traffic merging into me from the other expy direction on the ramp (this is a complex interchange). When I turn my head back to my direction of travel toward 95, I see that construction has eliminated the merge lane. Instead, the ramp ends awkwardly at the edge of the remaining 2 lanes of 95 with a STOP sign.

I just have time to brake HARD!!! Thank heavens for ABS (and no one following me closely). I get the bike stopped with my front tire in line with the edge of the travel lanes just as an 18 wheeler whizzes by (I should mention that the average speed on 95 is 70+mph, especially in the wee hours).

Yup, the biker angels were watching over me that morning. In retrospect, I should have slowed a LOT more to figure out what was going on on that ramp, before approaching 95. I'm more cautious about 'indistinct' caution signage now.

P

[demenshea]

I crashed a few years ago as a fairly new rider. I truly only remember the cause and my reaction and luckily being ATGATT, I did little damage to myself...an injured shoulder and broken toe! But that was not my scariest moment. That came later.

I was riding on Hwy 36 a notoriously twisty road in NorCal. I was doing some of what i considered my best riding at the time. The road gods allowed me to really ride these twisties. Being very aware of the blind corners on the road I really took care with my entry on the curves and my apexing but it didn't matter. A lone rider going too fast, hit his brakes and straightened up his sportster and headed straight for me. I did the MSF swerve and cleared him, barely. He continued his path right off the road. I saw the dust in my review mirror. I stopped to see him standing over his downed motorbike and continured my journey. I knew if i flipped a u, I would give him way too much of my mind and I was certain his mind was already beating him up enough.

U can't be too careful out there. I always tend to hang to the right side on blind corners...now i know why!!

[Luna Tique]

Hanging to the right side of a blind corner reminds me of an " off topic"
story
Jt & I are driving home after dark had just put in a very long day. We approach the corner ( in the truck ) taking the inside line because we have had on more than one occasion someone cross into our lane on this curve.

Next thing we see is the flashing bubble lights go on behind us

Officer " Where you coming from Sir?"
JT " Work"
Officer " Where you going now?"
JT "Home"
Officer " Been drinking?"
JT "No"
Officer " license, insurance card & registration please"
Officer " do you know why I stopped you?"
JT "No"
Officer " You were driving dangerously close to the guard rails on that corner"
JT " I try to stay as far to the right as I can I have had many a vechicle cross over the double yellow"
Officer "Well keep yourself more centered in your lane. Have a nice night."
JT thanks officer I will .......................NOT that curve is rediulous so we still hang "dangerously close" to the guard rail

Ok now a back to topic :D:

[demenshea]

Wow LT...that is a new one on me!! Drunk guardrail riding?? I thought drunk you would be keeping as far from them as possible. Was this cop bored?? That one hasta go down in the records for odd cop stops!!:confused2::rolleyes:

[Unforgiven]

I think mine is pretty obvious as it just happened 3 days ago.

[Merzidotes]

OMG! I can't believe I just saw this thread. Wonder how I missed it.

Anyhow, I have quite the moment I could share.

I had been riding for just about a year. We were riding locally and I was very familiar with where we were at. As usual I was following Mark. For some reason I was trying to keep up with him or something, but I really don't remember which makes me think I was actually day dreaming. Anyhow, he was a bit ahead of me. I was comiing over the crest of a little hill and the road went to the left. I freaked out, grabbed the front AND the rear brake....locked up both tires....freaked out again, and then the rest is lost.

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb92/merziedotes/Crash5.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb92/merziedotes/Crash6.jpg

From what looks like what happened, I hit the stop sign dead on, ripped if off at the base next to the ground, sent on one tire....which threw me off....then the bike went into a smaller tree. I went flying with the bike. Landed and woke up pretty much instantly. Although I am sure I lost consciousness.

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb92/merziedotes/Crash8.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb92/merziedotes/Crash10.jpg

Mark, had to watch this happen in his rear view mirror. It shook him up pretty bad. Thank god he is an EMT as well, he assessed me. I was up and walking waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Although, my arm was seriously injured......broken bad.

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb92/merziedotes/Crash.jpg
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb92/merziedotes/Crash20.jpg

Was taken from one hospital then sent to Riverside in Columbus. 3 surgeries later, and months of physical therapy and I was back riding in October! (Accident in July 1st). Every time I was in the garage I would try to grab the clutch lever! Finally one day I did it! Mark put me on a 450 dual sport bike, and I have not been able to go back to a street bike even as hard as I have wanted one. I just feel very comfortable with my dual sport.

The view from where I landed:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb92/merziedotes/Crash14.jpg

He went back a week or so ago and the only thing left was a piece of my front fender with my deals gap dragon on it:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb92/merziedotes/Crash15.jpg

He even filmed a short video of the road where I crashed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9GLIY7VKSE


I learned a lot that day. Wear your gear....(I was not ATGATt).....slow down.....pay attention to your surroundings.....ride your own ride.....I could go on and on.

[Merzidotes]

Mark actually posted this on his FZ1 forum after it happened.....what a guy!

My girlfriend Meredith was in a one-vehicle motorcycle crash on July 1st. She was riding her Yamaha Seca north on Ohio 206 outside of Walholding, in Coshocton County. She failed to negotiate a left hand curve and went off the right side of the road at about 45 mph, bisecting a street sign, then hitting a tree and a fence. I was a few hundred yards ahead of her and saw the accident in my mirrors.

She was conscious on the scene but had an obvious broken wrist. EMS took her to Knox Community Hospital in Mt. Vernon, and she was shipped from there to Riverside Hospital in Columbus. The transfer was made because the wrist was broken badly enough to require surgery to put it back together.

The surgery was completed July 2 and she has been hospitalized since then. The surgery repaired the broken left wrist with 7 pins and plates. She also received a cast and an external metal rod (screwed into the bone) for a left forearm fracture and a third fracture near the elbow of her left arm. She was released tonight from Riverside and is now home.

She had just started a new job requiring physical labor and as she is unable to work while she is healing, they fired her. She cannot work her part time job as an EMT while she is healing, either. Her nursing school is now on indefinite hold. Her motorcycle was also totalled in the crash. Also, her kids are away visiting family in Illinois for a month; and she has no other family in Ohio. For these reasons she is - understandably - a little bummed out.

She has decided to stop riding. While this sucks, I understand and respect her decision. Just a reminder to everyone; lets be careful out there.

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb92/merziedotes/Crash.jpg

Edit - here's a picture (shown with her permission, HIPPA be damned). Note the external rod which is screwed into her bones.


Mark


__________________
and then the update



She crashed July 1 and broke her left wrist. The external traction "Hoffman device" was removed on Thursday and her prognosis is good. She's got good range of movement in her arm and hand, so hopefully with a little time and physical therapy she'll be good as new.

I took a few pictures of the device being removed. It was screwed into the bone and the doctor just unscrewed it with a standard Craftsman drill. Based on Meredith's screaming, I'd say it hurt a bit.


http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb92/merziedotes/Crash19.jpg
She decided when she's able she is going to keep riding. The first trip she has planned? Riding to the crash site and hammering the Hoffman device into the tree that fubarged her! What a girl!

[ridingAK]

Wow, that was an ugly accident. I admire your courage in going back to the site and reclaiming your confidence to ride again. Good job!

[Luna Tique]

Well said rAK:thumbup:

Like rAK I admire your courage and like your attitude with your first planned trip of riding to the site and hammering the Hoffman device into the tree :wootrock:
:cheers: MeefZhette

[Merzidotes]

Well said rAK:thumbup:

Like rAK I admire your courage and like your attitude with your first planned trip of riding to the site and hammering the Hoffman device into the tree :wootrock:
:cheers: MeefZhette

Thanks for the encouragement. I got the bug when Mark started me riding.

I've been on several rides, even a couple long distance overnight camping trips:wootrock:....I've even been back to the scene of the accident.....I thought about hammering the device into the tree....but I feel so attatched to it! :rofl: It's in my dresser drawer as a reminder of how to be careful.

the tree looks so much smaller than it felt @ the time! Even it has healed well over time!

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb92/merziedotes/MR061307012.jpg

[KansasKawboy]

Dang the look on your face when the doctor was taking that off made me hurt. Glad you healed well. :thumbsup:

[KCDakar]

Ouch Ouch Ouch!:scared:

Good to know you made it through ok and that the bug was bigger than the crash MeefZhette! True spirit. :thumbup: