I should be dead

[EX-HOG]

I should be dead.

I've been riding for 28 years now and I've had a few incidents ... totaled one bike on a curvy road that landed me in the hospital (I was just a kid), drivers have pulled out in front of me, I've been pushed out of my lane on the freeway by a big-rig, I’ve had a blow-out (rear wheel – not so bad), I had to dodge a coyote once in Arizona, and encountered a bull elk in the middle of the road... pretty standard fare for a motorcycle rider. But this week was almost my last ride.

I was entering a two lane highway in Michigan – two lanes going west, two lanes going east separated by a grassy median. Speed limit 70mph. I entered the freeway in moderate traffic and took the left lane; the speed of traffic around me quickly moved up to 70+mph. The freeway has a slight curve to the right and a decline. I have to admit – I was only about two or three car lengths behind the SUV in front of me (mistake). The SUV obscured my vision of traffic ahead and what I couldn’t see was that traffic was at a dead stop.

Everything was moving along nicely and I looked down at my gauges to check my speed, then looked up to see the SUV in front of me in an emergency break – you know the kind where the rear-end of the vehicle is way up in the air. The SUV bailed out into the grass on the left. The two cars in front of the SUV used the left emergency lane and there I was doing 70 headed straight for a stopped car. I touched the front break and realized there was no way possible I could shut it down in time, I took my chances and went to the right and split the lanes between traffic in the right lane and the dead-stop vehicles on the left. Well, I slipped through a crack and live to tell the story. I estimate my speed around 60 when passing the stopped cars on my left. I’m pretty sure rear-ending a stopped car at 60mph is a trip straight to heaven.

It all happened so fast... It’s amazing how that surge of adrenaline slows time. I’m pretty sure a less experienced rider would not have escaped the situation because either you panic or puzzle through it in an instant.

Lessons re-learned… This stretch of freeway is now on my “dangerous” list… Never EVER check my gauges in a curve or if I’m in tight moderate-to-heavy traffic (just keep my head up), and most importantly if I cannot see traffic ahead of the vehicle in front of me I need to stay way-way back.

Keep the shiny side up.

[Sunbeemer]

Whew! That was scary. Glad you had the presence of mind to take evasive action that saved your bacon!

I'm sure we've all had a few puckering moments, but yours sounded eerily familiar;
Soon after I bought my '02 R1150R I got on an urban interstate via a right entrance ramp and needed to take a left exit about a mile ahead across 4 lanes of heavy, fast-moving traffic. After getting up to ~80mph to match traffic speed I made three lane changes and quickly glanced over my left shoulder to find a hole to squeeze into the fourth lane and when I looked back ahead the car I'd merged in behind (two car-lengths ahead of me) was braking hard at about 45mph . I hit the binders, not with a death grip because I knew there was no way I wasn't going to rear-end him, so I thought if I jumped up just before I hit him I could land safer on his trunk (or roof), and I was picking out the spot on the back of his green Corolla and getting ready to spring when the incredible bike slowed to match his speed a foot from his bumper! . What I didn't realize then was how great the brakes are on this bike, which I now call "Think-Stops" because it'll stop just about as soon as I think about it.

In that instance, I there wasn't enough room to lane-split to his right and nothing but a New Jersey construction barricade on the left, so I am really glad the bike's brakes worked a lot better than I could have ever imagined. But I was accustomed to my old Honda Nighthawk brakes that I knew could never have scrubbed off so much speed so quick. Since then my R1150R has surprised me with other abilities that leads me to believe it's more capable than I am. While this is good, I still try not to rely on it saving my ass.

It's true, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger", and smarter...

[lcarlson]

Sunbeemer: do you have ABS?

[Sunbeemer]

Sunbeemer: do you have ABS?

No ABS on my 2002, so it's a good thing I didn't get a death grip on the brakes because that's likely exactly what it would have been...

[sstein]

Thanks for your post Ex-hog. Went for a ride today and made sure at all times I could see the car in front of me AND the car in FRONT of the car in front of me...
Way too easy to become lax and let the guard down. Your post was a great reminder to stay alert and focused. Safety first, at all times.
Steven

[riceburner]

Glad you made it!

[peels]

excellent. you've Lived to Learn man!

been close to that situation before. but never THAT close.

[EX-HOG]

Thanks for your post Ex-hog. Went for a ride today and made sure at all times I could see the car in front of me AND the car in FRONT of the car in front of me...
Way too easy to become lax and let the guard down. Your post was a great reminder to stay alert and focused. Safety first, at all times.
Steven

Amen brother... arrive alive!