Taking your eyes off the road!

[horizonchaser]

Glad your friend was OK. Mind was not. Last w/e 3 of my friends went to pick up her new hd trike. Onthe way back the new owner of the trike wanted her friend to ride it home which is another lady very good rider. She took her eyes off the road for a second, ran off road, was headed for some trees and jumped off the bike, broke ankles and will not be able to ride for at least a year

The owner or the bike is the wife of the the biker that was killed last month that I posted on here. Needless to say this is bad for both parties.

I am truly sorry for their unfortunate mishap. May she heal well and quickly.

 

[Trek]

I'm glad your buddy is ok. Another to think about as I was reminded yesterday is that when riding in the rain your braking distance is greatly increased. This is something I know but I do not ride very often in the rain and got caught yesterday coming home. Coming to an intersection to stop almost went into it a little bit. That was a quick reminder to allow more stopping distance.

 

[gator508]

Good to hear your buddy came out ok, hopefully he will learn from the experience. DMBG posted a good link about fixation, it touches on horizon focus as well. IMO it is important to constantly scan ahead of your intended direction for road changes, hazards, etc...

 

[HDSickness]

Same thing happened to a buddy of mine up in Tahoe watching the river to the left ran off the rode to the right broken ribs and bruises and totalled the Heritage, not pretty!:newsmile08:

 

[horizonchaser]

Glad to hear things worked out for the best in a bad situation. One thing to add is to LOOK where you want to go. Sometimes when out of shape riding, you enviably look where you do not want go and end up there. This is a very hard thing to beat. I will say with continued practice it can be done. Can not tell you how many times over the years the end result would have been very unfavorable had I not learn this.
Click On link: Target fixation, motorcycle advice.

How true! When I had a short stint as a driver for U.P.S. for three years one of their rules for safe driving was: "Aim high, get the Big Picture". They meant to look way down the road. Not six feet in front of the vehicle.

 

[mrtn681]

I had this happen once but didn't go down.I somehow got back up on the pavement. Just lucky. My lesson was" Don't try to check your blinkers going down the road."

 

[NEWHD74FAN]

Speaking about losing control in the *blink of an eye* your foward eye concentration can be diverted by so many distractions sometimes self inflected...do you use earbuds in both ears, if your cell phone is on, take the time to pull over when safe. When riding in a group, just turn as many distractions off as possible...you are riding in a restricted environ and there are riders around you who are also reliant on your behavior.

Be careful out there...I had a truck backfire while passing me...startled me but fortunate that my "bobble" from my instinctive jump did not get me into trouble...riding a motorcycle is very fluid given the live traffic situations we ride in. :s

 

[Jack Klarich]

Wow, glad this turned out as good as it did. We can not be too careful in a blink of an eye is all it takes

 

[09RKC]

I had to go pickup a friend's bike last week that went down. He wasn't hurt bad. It was a slight curve and loose gravel on edge of the road. He wasn't going real fast and doesn't know what happened.
Very likely went over to far while looking at the scenery.

 

[quiqueCR]

WOW.............first than all,thanks God your bud is well................bike riding needs lot of concentration............but sometimes we are guilty.............so take our eyes from the road for instinct, for many reasons............here in CR one of the first reasons to take the eyes from the road, is when you see a gorgeuos lady........................and ZAS!!!..........you hit the back part of a car or another bike............when lucky!!!
stay focus brothers!!!no matter how beautiful the lady in the car looks!!!!