Riding at night....

[Mr Bogus]

Busa159 "Nothing good happens riding at night"

Well I have been working longer hours than usual and part of this is at a race track.. Heading home after a long night (2AM) and a full day of racing activity, I am cruising my usual route home down HWY1 daydreaming as it were... State route 1 is deserted at this hour and so it is pretty easy to get lost in thought... I enter this corner at around 85mph going northbound...

 

[Mr Bogus]

thinking it was this corner (driven this a hundred times ya know)

 

[Mr Bogus]

as it was pitch black, not much to realize the mistake I had just made , my casual sweeper was actually a peg dragging right hander at this speed.... and the price of "fail" here could be fatal.....

X marks the spot where I cross the double yellow at 80+ (and I am realizing my mistake)

X1 is where the solid white line appears under tires and I am fully committed and things are scrapping blacktop (doing my best Rossi imitation with nose over right handlebar and hung over seat)

X3 is where I recross the double yellow....

This run off would likely have been really bad due to fencing and poles....

Saviour was the fact that I managed to stay focused, have spent a good amount of time tipped sideways down south on the twisties and finally and most important.... keeping my eyes forward at where I would rather be...

one of maybe 3 occasions where I "HAD" to use "trail braking" to get the bike turned and at X3 I was probably around 55mph....

KEEP ALERT GUYS.... night riding is not a good time for an "ooops"... (palms are sweaty again thinking about this most monumental of screw ups)

 

[runeight]

Glad to see this post Randy.

r8

 

[rockadaous]

glad to hear no one was out

 

[SpeedAdict]

glad it worked out on the positive side for ya. I have had that kinda moment before

 

[proud dad]

way to go buddy you rode it out

 

[Lurch]

Glad to hear your rode this one out and are here to post about it. Good point about night riding at the weeeee hours of the morning.

 

[HillbillyTom]

I'm not real fond of riding at night either. I do but caution is called for from the get-go in this neck of the woods. Corners are'nt so much of a problem but deer, possums, racoons, drunk rednecks in pickups, etc.. are.
Glad it came out well (the crash avoidance that is

) and you can tell the tale.

 

[Shanling]

Dang Randy! Man enough to admit that too. I respect you for that.

 

[twotonevert]

Glad you are ok Randy. Now I understand why you had a set of leather pants in the "pay if forward" thread. But seriously, very very glad you are ok.

 

[PaceMaster]

A big WHEW for you.. glad you made it and thnx for the night riding heads up..

 

[JR'S BUSA]

Glad to be able to read this post, another good PSA

 

[Over_Easy]

Daydreamer..oops, nightdreamer!

Glad ur ok.

 

[SAMBUSA]

Glad you got it under control. Night riding is not all that fun. That's all the riding that I've been doing though since I work nights.

 

[Mr Bogus]

Glad you are ok Randy. Now I understand why you had a set of leather pants in the "pay if forward" thread. But seriously, very very glad you are ok.

yes I was riding way beyond the prevailing conditions, speed limits and probably my ability at that point.... I was "sure" I knew what the road was going to do next... ooops

was sure thinking about a lighter bike about the "apex" of that turn...

I suppose I could call this a "crash post mortem" sans the "crash" part...

 

[Busa Jules]

Randy glad to see your guardian Angel can fly at least 80mph!

I like how you said "keeping my eyes forward at where I would rather be"... never quite heard it put THAT way..

Keep it safe out there y'all!!

 

[Mr Bogus]

Randy glad to see your guardian Angel can fly at least 80mph!

I like how you said "keeping my eyes forward at where I would rather be"... never quite heard it put THAT way..

Keep it safe out there y'all!!

To be quite honest, I was so stunned that the road kept turning and I am looking up the road trying to find the exit that I was afraid to look down at "where i was" Seeing the lines go under my peripheral vision was plenty enough to tell me I was in deep trouble...

I was thinking, "hmm I bet this is where they stand the bike straight up and crash, eyes forward, eyes forward" weird time lapse that happened at that moment where you can process twice as much thought...

Angel in my ear I guess

 

[GSXcite]

Glad you were able to ride it out Randy. I do alot of riding at night, and it takes some extra care for sure. Do you run HID headlight?

 

[Mr Bogus]

absolutely HID... without that I likely would have been a second or 2 later on the realization that I was in so much trouble.... and I am sure I did not have that much extra room to play with... When the road disappeared from where it was supposed to be was when I came out of my little coma...

It is possible I would have been running slower on less light too, hard to say...