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AlanDog · November 7th, 2013, 11:26 PM

So it finally happened. I was daydreaming as I turned in to the freeway onramp on a green light, was not going fast, maybe 20 mph, hit a patch of gravel that was very well hidden, almost invisible, but very deep, and I remember the bike going further and further down on the right side. Next thing I remember I was down. I got up, saw my knee was scratched up, windshield is cracked, mirror destroyed. I rolled my bike to the side of the road. This happened less than a mile from my house, the I-5 onramp in Woodland to get to Davis--I take this onramp every day going to work. The bike was fine and I ended up riding it back home tonight. The shift lever is slightly bent but everything seems fine. Oh, ps. this was on my cx500 but I know where the crash experts are and so explain this...

Here is the weird part. Over an hour later I am driving my car back to work and I realize it was a right hand turn, yet my left knee is skinned up and the left mirror and left side of the windshield was the side that was damaged. So somehow I flipped from leaning over on the right side on a right turn but crashing on my left side.

My theory: I must have tried to countersteer when I was coming close to the ground on the right because the right side is totally untouched (I just looked). It's like there is a blank spot in my memory, I remember the bike sliding down on the right side, and the next thing I remember is being down on the left side of the bike... so weird. Anyways, I didn't have a conscious reaction in the moment when the bike was sliding, there was no thought, it happened too quick. I was daydreaming, completely on autopilot. I think my body just reacted to the bike being leaned over that far with an extreme countersteer and that ended up flopping the bike over on the left. My knee is pretty skinned up, will go to the health center tomorrow for that, just to be safe, but it doesn't hurt and I cleaned it out pretty good.

So to prevent the accident, I think I could have spotted the gravel, but it's funny because it's been there for a week (they repaved the onramp last week), I've been on that corner 5-6 times since then, but never saw it--it is really, really well-hidden--and I want to go verify how deep it is, it felt like it was an inch deep, like they tried to fill in a elevation change with gravel. But once I started sliding the only thing that could have saved me was maybe some dirt bike training, really ingrain in my natural reaction to respond correctly to the bike going sideways like that. Because by first 'thought' during the crash was after I was already down.

It's funny because I think I should feel lucky, but it was a low speed slide and just lucky there wasn't a car behind me. I really didn't slide far, by the time I went down I didn't have much forward momentum. The engine guard has a scrap and I think the line on the asphalt was only about 5-6 feet long.

November 7th, 2013, 11:26 PM	#1
AlanDog ninjette.org guru Name: Alan Location: Woodland, California (Sacramento area) Join Date: Jul 2011 Motorcycle(s): 2019 Ninja 400, 2009 KLX250-SF, 2014 Zero S Posts: 269	Right turn, but fell on left side??? So it finally happened. I was daydreaming as I turned in to the freeway onramp on a green light, was not going fast, maybe 20 mph, hit a patch of gravel that was very well hidden, almost invisible, but very deep, and I remember the bike going further and further down on the right side. Next thing I remember I was down. I got up, saw my knee was scratched up, windshield is cracked, mirror destroyed. I rolled my bike to the side of the road. This happened less than a mile from my house, the I-5 onramp in Woodland to get to Davis--I take this onramp every day going to work. The bike was fine and I ended up riding it back home tonight. The shift lever is slightly bent but everything seems fine. Oh, ps. this was on my cx500 but I know where the crash experts are and so explain this... Here is the weird part. Over an hour later I am driving my car back to work and I realize it was a right hand turn, yet my left knee is skinned up and the left mirror and left side of the windshield was the side that was damaged. So somehow I flipped from leaning over on the right side on a right turn but crashing on my left side. My theory: I must have tried to countersteer when I was coming close to the ground on the right because the right side is totally untouched (I just looked). It's like there is a blank spot in my memory, I remember the bike sliding down on the right side, and the next thing I remember is being down on the left side of the bike... so weird. Anyways, I didn't have a conscious reaction in the moment when the bike was sliding, there was no thought, it happened too quick. I was daydreaming, completely on autopilot. I think my body just reacted to the bike being leaned over that far with an extreme countersteer and that ended up flopping the bike over on the left. My knee is pretty skinned up, will go to the health center tomorrow for that, just to be safe, but it doesn't hurt and I cleaned it out pretty good. So to prevent the accident, I think I could have spotted the gravel, but it's funny because it's been there for a week (they repaved the onramp last week), I've been on that corner 5-6 times since then, but never saw it--it is really, really well-hidden--and I want to go verify how deep it is, it felt like it was an inch deep, like they tried to fill in a elevation change with gravel. But once I started sliding the only thing that could have saved me was maybe some dirt bike training, really ingrain in my natural reaction to respond correctly to the bike going sideways like that. Because by first 'thought' during the crash was after I was already down. It's funny because I think I should feel lucky, but it was a low speed slide and just lucky there wasn't a car behind me. I really didn't slide far, by the time I went down I didn't have much forward momentum. The engine guard has a scrap and I think the line on the asphalt was only about 5-6 feet long.