I saw Jesus, Mary, and Elvis yesterday!

[CycleCam303]

I made an honest super bad decision while lane sharing yesterday while crossing the bay bridge going towards San Francisco.

I'm splitting about 35ish mph on the far left side between lanes 5 and 4. On Sunday around noon traffic is never super bad but it isn't great either. Fifth street exit is first and exits to the left. Knowing that I chill on the left side. Call it lack of attention but traffic goes to almost a standstill in all the lanes except the last lane on the right.

This sequence happened in less than 10 seconds I assume.

I'm watching carefully as the brake lights go on and right when I'm about to pass a big f 150 I see his front wheel turn hard towards me. I get it wide open and duck my head and shoulder and barely miss his mirror. That forced me into the edge of no 4 lane and that lane is stopped full of cars with no gaps. As soon as I clear the truck's front end a Mercedes sedan does the same thing but a bit faster completely blocking me so I swerve hard to the left and barely miss the rear bumper.

Now why would everyone be trying to force their way into the lanes that aren't moving? O that's right, because someone is in the way. In avoiding those two cars I didn't realize that there was a stalled BMW on the bridge. There's no shoulder on the bridge so what did I do? I got on the front brake super hard and as soon as the forks compressed that's when the adrenaline hit me. I was going to plow hard into this parked car @Jiggles style. The car in the no 4 lane didn't leave enough room for me to comfortably slide by.

I kid you not, I shoved myself in between traffic after swerving around the stalled BMW so close that I felt my left knee brush along the rear door of the car. I bought myself room by leaning my right side/upper body up against the moving passat in the no 4 lane. I kept weight and pressure on the car to my right and put my left hand in the air to avoid the bmw's mirror. I steered away before the lady in the passat even realized that I just pin balled off her door.

****! I was so juiced that my throttle hand was shaking like a had Parkinson's the rest of the ride. And yes, king dorkulous over here did keep going and just shook his head at himself.

I got lucky. If that car had a different positioned mirror or that lady in the passat wasn't moving I don't know if I could've uhh "wall rided" her without going down.

**** street riding and be careful when commuting

[rasta]

I like SF, but I absolutely hate going there

[JohnnyBravo]

Glad ya saved it!!!

[dave42]

Did you not look far enough ahead or would slowing down a bit prevent those close calls?

Be careful out there, lane splitting takes a lot of concentration and you can't count on cars to stay in their position. Keep your head up and your fingers on those controls. When cars are at a stand still I'm always going slow enough so if a driver even twitches the wrong way I'm ready to do the appropriate counter action. Watch those gaps too; sounds like there's a gap next to that mercedes and you can always count on impatient people squeezing over without looking back.

[choneofakind]

How's Elvis doing?

[Snake]

Glad to see your ok.

[JELY1990]

Good job saving yourself from a crash.
Getting complacent maybe? I lane split so much in the bay area that I've had to start metaphorically slapping myself awake to pay as much attention as I should be lol.

[parox91]

is it true that Jesus is black?

[Toly]

Good job! Ride safe...

[rojoracing53]

Getting closer to picking up that new R6 I see.

[CycleCam303]

Originally Posted by dave42

Did you not look far enough ahead or would slowing down a bit prevent those close calls?

Be careful out there, lane splitting takes a lot of concentration and you can't count on cars to stay in their position. Keep your head up and your fingers on those controls. When cars are at a stand still I'm always going slow enough so if a driver even twitches the wrong way I'm ready to do the appropriate counter action. Watch those gaps too; sounds like there's a gap next to that mercedes and you can always count on impatient people squeezing over without looking back.

I was splitting too fast. I passed a few other motorcyclists who were splitting too. I would've realized that there was a stalled car on the bridge and just accepted the fact that I should've slowed to a crawl and have a little buffer room.

That's my first super close call in traffic. Nothing has truly gotten me that off guard. If anything I've been humbled. A reminder how easily things can go wrong. I would've been okay with crashing too. Except I had a leather jacket, jeans, and converse low tops. That could've been a lot of broken bones.

[CycleCam303]

Jesus looks like philosoraptor and Elvis is black and was eating a sandwich on the pot.

[dave42]

Ah I see. You were being THAT guy. Good that you've learned from it

And yeah might wanna reconsider not being completely geared up; my standard go-to answer to people asking me why I'm in my race leathers when I'm going to work is always "because I'm old enough to know I don't wanna break anything"

[crazymadbastard]

Good job on dry humping some cars. .
Glad you are ok.

[teh]

Originally Posted by rasta

I like SF, but I absolutely hate going there

Yes, rasta. It is a nice city where people all over the world come to visit. Unfortunately, I have to commute to SF every morning to work.

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by CycleCam303

I made an honest super bad decision while lane sharing yesterday while crossing the bay bridge going towards San Francisco............
**** street riding and be careful when commuting

I thought that you had read my signature by now !!!

Copied from previous thread:

Originally Posted by CycleCam303

........What I hate about these videos is that it makes motorcycles look like they bite. Most of the crashes are like wtf how does that happen? Hernan what do you think that...........

I am very happy that you escaped that one OK and shaking, Cameron, because that was the sign of a bad experience leaving a healthy mark in your brain.

Some call it the hard way to learn, but, regardless the method, learning is priceless for us.

[ally99]

DAMN! I was riveted by your story. Glad you were ok! Holy hell, someone was on your side!

[rojoracing53]

Originally Posted by ally99

DAMN! I was riveted by your story. Glad you were ok! Holy hell, someone was on your side!

Well duh it was the passat

[JohnnyBravo]

[ChaoSS]

Originally Posted by CycleCam303

I was splitting too fast.

That may very well be the case, but work on your emergency stopping. It is amazing how quickly you can bring a vehicle to a stop from 35 mph.

[JohnnyBravo]

Originally Posted by ChaoSS

That may very well be the case, but work on your emergency stopping. It is amazing how quickly you can bring a vehicle to a stop from 35 mph.

Not always easy if you panic.

[CycleCam303]

Originally Posted by ChaoSS

That may very well be the case, but work on your emergency stopping. It is amazing how quickly you can bring a vehicle to a stop from 35 mph.

I appreciate the advice. Although I'll argue that my ability to get anything whether it be car or motorcycle slowed down is quite a bit better than some average joe. Go ask all the people I've passed on the brakes...

I don't believe in being passive. A motorcycle has a lot more placement options in traffic, as I showed with my "fine" example. So my response is usually to gas it out of situations. It takes the guess work out of the equation. The msf teaches braking in sticky situations because it promotes the safest element for the average new rider. Simply having a potential threat behind you puts you in the safest place possible.

When I had the f150 turn into me, that didnt phase me much. It was a bit close as I almost faced planted into his mirror. I still had enough think to set up for the Mercedes that turned and stopped in front of me. I don't want to get squished by the f150 behind me, or hit the Mercedes so I shot to the left. That sealed my fate.

As much as I hate to quote crazy Keith code I spent $10.50 avoiding the other two cars. I really wasnt expecting the stopped BMW. I came up on the car fast too. I thought I could stop in time. I had that front brake lever clamped hard. I knew that I wasn't going to make it. You can't stop from whatever speed I was going in barely two car lengths.

My natural talent and my odd ball experiences took over but I've thought about it and I have an idea what I did. So to get the bike to flick hard to the right to avoid the BMW I most likely did a crude form of trail braking. I kept hard on the brakes and steered. Letting off and steering would've resulted in a slower all around response.

I have to thank my bicycle racing days for doing the bounce off the passat trick. My coach was always impressed that I never crashed racing criteriums. A crit is usually a 1 mile course going through urban streets packed with 40 to 60 bicycle racers for 30 minutes to an hour, finish first. A vast majority of bicyclists like motorcyclists suck at being on two wheels. Plus it's hard to concentrate on corners when guys are leaning on you and crashing while stacking dudes 5 to 10 deep. Think NASCAR with cyclists. I learned a lot about how to hold your ground when people hit you at 25 mph whether I'm straight up of down or cornering.

I shifted my body to the right before I splatted off the passat. If you make contact with someone and actually turn into them you won't flop off in the opposite direction. It's weird but the bicycles will stay up asking as two forces are pushing against each other. A car has a lot more mass than me so I figure I would shove it out of the way and used that for support.

Then I guess from years of racing in general I kept looking ahead and moved my left arm out of the way because my forearm would taken off the mirror of the BMW. I was already supported by the passat so taking a hand off the bars wasnt an issue.

There so that's my analysis. Bicycle experience crosses right over to moto riding.

But when it all boils down to it if I was doing 25 or 20 I could've just stopped for the ford truck or split over to the right side and find a traffic gap.

[rojoracing53]

Dude I just had a funny thought. Take a bunch of ninja 250 riders and give them the ability to hold 25mph on a bicycle and send them out to do a crit. The carnage would be epic by even YouTube standards

[Panda]

We all make mistakes. You were probably thinking about your trip out of the country to visit your aging parents.

[CycleCam303]

Originally Posted by rojoracing53

Dude I just had a funny thought. Take a bunch of ninja 250 riders and give them the ability to hold 25mph on a bicycle and send them out to do a crit. The carnage would be epic by even YouTube standards

Lol! I wouldn't want to be in that race. Unless I was in full gear.

[CycleCam303]

Originally Posted by Panda

We all make mistakes. You were probably thinking about your trip out of the country to visit your aging parents.

Haha ZING! That's going to be the ninjette alibi of the month

[choneofakind]

Originally Posted by rojoracing53

Dude I just had a funny thought. Take a bunch of ninja 250 riders and give them the ability to hold 25mph on a bicycle and send them out to do a crit. The carnage would be epic by even YouTube standards

I'd be in for that. I can almost hold 25 as it is.