To: nedod@linus.mitre.org Subject: in retrospect Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 21:03:59 -0500 From: gayathri This weekend, part of my relaxing was to get on the bike and ride Sunday morning. Due to daylight savings time, we were actually at the infamous shell station (Steve, the original squidboy, and I) at 0830. Since I'd been up all friday nite because of being on site, watching the Deep Space 1 launch), I'm mostly slept all day saturday, hoping no one would page me, so I was wide awake and ready to go on Sunday. I run into a friend, Marc, who rides an 'f3, and I tell him and squidboy both not to bother waiting for me today, just go ahead and meet me at newcomb's ranch. Of course, given the insipid cagers who cannot read the signs that say "slower traffic use turnouts" I kept catching up to them. Then my chin strap came loose - I hate that wappy wappy noise it always makes, so I pulled into a turn out to fix it. Just as I'm about to pull out, a sheriff's car pulls by. Darn. oh well. I wait a few more minutes and pull out after him, figuring I'd just coast the open zone between him and me and the cages behind... Wow, he's zipping that ford explorer around pretty well. So I just follow him at the same pace, until he suddenly stops to pull into a turnout. Thank goodness for good brakes on the t595, the guy didnt even signal, just slammed onhis brakes. aww, feh. I ride by, at the speed limit (50) and glare at the officer. The next section of road is WET?!? wait a second! and I'm getting colder and colder. Its 5000 feet, and parts of this road havent seen sun yet (its only about 9 am), and the wind makes me wonder how close to freezing the road is... Now when I'm sport riding, usually, I keep the revs up in the 8k-9k range on the Triumph, as there is the most hp and pull in that range, but when things feel slippery, I generally upshift, so that I'm in the 5 k range - which still has power, just not enough to spin my tires in the wet - do other folks do this too? Does it make sense? I get up to Newcomb's. There is a straightaway just before the ranch, and as I'm downshifting to slow down - anticipating my turn in, I'm passed at high speed by a red vfr. Who then slams on his brakes and turns into the resturant parking lot. Ok, I'm feeling belligerant today, I walk by him and look at him and then his bike, and say, "Nice pass," He looks confused. Oh well. Remember, I've been thinking about this fact, that I don't seem to have any of those 'OH Sh*T' moments on the bike. Most of my 'errors' are due to being tired or being stuck on the freeway at rushhour, and I seem to compensate for them pretty well, to the point, I think about what happened afterwards. (Oh, I changed lanes because that BDC was about to change lanes into me.) But I worry that I'm getting too cocky, and not paying enough attention. After breakfast, I had another one of those moments, where my heart stopped after the event. I'm coming around a downhill left hand turn, with a partially blocked view on the on-coming traffic side due to a jutting part of the mountain, tho I can see totally thru my turn, in my lane. I'm setting up for the turn, deciding to be lazy and do the classic apex at the apex turn, even tho the late apex would have worked here too, realize there is a bimbo-box (read - tan minivan) coming up the hill, file that away I start to commit to my turn, only to realize that same bimbo box has DRIFTED, all four wheels are now IN MY LANE. (Oh mi god, its coming right for us!) Now, this road has a speed limit of about 50 mph, and I'm doing maybe 60 starting the turn, and this minivan is FLYING... My side of the road has sand and gravel, and a really tiny shoulder. I straighten the bike, slam on the brakes (a reflex I'm not sure was useful) and aim for a deep apex point very close to the side of the road, figuring I can 1. turn the bike at the last minute, as long as the minivan doesnt drift onto the shoulder, pushing me off, and if so, 2. low side the bike past the minivan avoiding a meeting of Gayathri and minivan. Despretely looking past the minivan (oh, I DO NOT want to target fixate on that thing,) I look for my apex, seemingly slide past the minivan and then look down the hill to where I want to be, and stomp on the inside peg as I counter steer for all I'm worth, just as I pass the left rear wheel of the minivan. Damn, that bike sticks. It just flicked right over, and past the minivan, and I make the turn with room to spare in the outside of the turn. The bimbo box driver has already paniced and slid back into their lane, and I fear for the cage driver behind me. I slow down. a lot. The cage behind me slows down. a lot. I can see he's shaking his head, and I'm just shaking. I make it another half mile down the road to our turn off for Aliso Canyon, and find Steve and Marc. I pull over next to then, park the bike and start to feel really sick to my stomach. (recalling a previous neDOD'ers problems with barfing their helmet, I pull mine off). Steve and Marc are just happy I'm ok. I sit for a while and drink some water until I'm not so sick anymore, and we head off. The rest of the ride was.. thoughtful. I had a hard time putting turns together, and would freeze emotionally everytime I saw another vehicle in the on coming lane. I just took it slow and easy the rest of the way home. What did I learn? Late apexing practice is a good thing. Always looking thru the turn and realizing there are more than one way to take it is a good thing. Thinking about that when your riding makes it easier to make those decisions. I've drawn a little picutre here at my desk. My initial line was to easily apex at the natural apex of the turn, but that would have let me meet the grill of the bimbo box before being able to turn left. By aiming past the van, and getting by it, I reduced where it was going to hit me to a brief instant, IF the guy had continued straight off the road, rather then drifting back up the hill. My guess was that the natural instinct of even an idiot is NOT to hit someone, and that he prolly pulled his vehicle hard to his right, so I suppose if his tires had lost traction, he would have slid into me, pushing me off the road... I dunno. I made the right decision by virtue of the fact I'm writing to you all, but I dont know, in retrospect, if it was the correct thing to do. I merely guessed that he would try and get back into his lane when he saw me and the car behind me, but if I'd been wrong, late or natural apex, I would have gotten hit. Gayathri ------------------------------------------------------------------------ gayathri@world.std.com Calamari Club #002, SquidWannaBe '98 T595, Huckleberry Hound