Monday, June 4, 2012

One of those Moments.





The weekend just gone was a long weekend here in NZ, and I went away for the weekend with the Gravel riders club.  I will post up a blog about the weekend in the next few days, but first I will share one the most scariest moment I have ever had on a motorbike.

Because we are coming into winter I wanted to replace the Tourence tyre on the back of the GS with a knobbly.  With the prospect of dealing with more mud and slush in the coming months I thought it would be a good move.  I realise of course that I will sacrifice some on road performance.

So a couple of weeks ago I did just that.  My first experience with riding on knobblies was the last weekend with Andy where we did some exploring around Tuakau and on the beach at port Waikato.  I certainly enjoyed having the knobbly on the back as well a the front as the back of the bike did not move around as much and I seemed to get more drive through in the soft stuff.

Anyway, enough waffle and fast forward to Sunday.  We pulled out of Awakino where we had been staying for the night and headed south where we would explore some of the gravel roads around New Plymouth etc.  

As we pulled out it had began to rain quite heavy, we had only travelled about ten kms when I rode over some shiny and very wet seal, I was doing about 110kms and was feeling more than comfortable.  Suddenly the bike began to rev and before I knew it the back of the bike lost traction and began to fish tail violently to the left and right.  The back end slide continued for what felt forever.   In that brief moment where time stands still I wondered how hard the tarseal was going to be when I hit it.......I was sure I was about to be high sided, in fact that was exactly what was happening.  There was really nothing I could do but hang on and wait for the inevitable dumping......and then as quickly as it happened the bike caught traction again and straightened.  

I have had moments before on a bike but this one would of been the scariest, it was not a tank slapper but a complete loss of traction.  I seriously thought my biking days were over.....

Steve who was following me said he was sure I was a gonnna and couldn't believe how I never got thrown off,  in his words "one of the scariest things I have ever seen on a bike in front of me".

My confidence took a huge hit for the rest of the day, and later after lunch I pulled away from the group with another person and rode a slow and steady ride for the rest of the day.  Conditions in the afternoon improved but the conditions in the morning as well as the roads we were riding was some of the most unnerving I had ever ridden.   Ironically the knobbly was worth its weight in gold on the gravel and mud we later rode...but I have learnt a very harsh lesson and introduction to the difference from road tyres to dirt.....


In the dry the TKC 80s are not bad, but I in the wet caution is a must....

I am off to wash my underware now.



27 comments:

  1. Well the important thing is you kept it upright!

    Don't worry, the TKC80 in the perfect dry isn't that fantastic on seal when you have the grunt of a 1200. Powerslide accelerating through an intersection.... hmmm

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    1. Thanks. Powersliding........I might work on that later!

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  2. Nasty! I've had a couple like that - once on diesel (scary) and another time just in very wet conditions (good tyres saved me that time).

    Putting more aggressive tyres on the DL this week - not full knobblies but I'll be taking it easy in the wet on them.

    Glad the story had a happy ending!

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    1. Mate, I am in no rush to repeat the exercise. My lack of experince on this type of tyre is perhaps the main reason, They do feel all right in the dry though, very different story in the wet. I cannot blame the tyres, the raod was crap.

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  3. Cripes mate sure sounds pretty scary. Those trouser filing moments tend to really slow you down. Glad that you made it through ok.

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    1. They sure do mate....the rest of the seemed to go slow as well.

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  4. As someone else said, glad this story had a happy ending. Isn't it amazing how quickly things can happen?
    ~Keith

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    1. Very very quick..yet at the same time slow motion,

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  5. Yikes. Pucker moment for sure.

    Sure glad it straightened out. I can only imagine the fear you felt at that point. I am sure glad you are okay and managed to finish your ride. I think I would have had to pull over form hyperventilating.

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    1. I did contemplate ending the day there and then, I am glad I continued though. Fear, that word would be an understatement!

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  6. eeek ... as everyone else has said I'm glad you made it through OK .. how you kept going for the rest of the day I have no idea. Sounds like you were incredibly lucky!!

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    1. Luck may have played it's part Brenda, but I have also learnt from the experience. An important part of biking is learning from these situations.

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  7. Oh, man. Glad you managed to stay upright. You must have had some good instincts kicking in, or just used up your whole bowl of good karma...

    Not sure I could have gone continue riding after that... unless I would have packed a change of underwear.

    Looking forward to your riding report.

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  8. HOLY CRAP!!!! Just reading this made me think twice about riding....Glad it turned out ok though. The moto guardian angel was looking after you mate.

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    1. Thanks hon, it should not put you off riding though. I did make a couple of mistakes which were the cause. I was riding to fast for the conditions even though I was only just above the limit and I underestimated the road conditions and grip available to me.

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  9. Rog,
    It was fishtailing, not a tankslapper? Wet, shiny seal. Did you have a top box on?

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    1. BAck end slide Geoff rather than tank slapper, a bit of aqua plaining. I did hav ethe top box and panniers on, I actually thought this may of helped with traction.

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  10. Now I have to point out...think of the vast improvement of your riding skills between a year ago, before IAM, and now. I'm sure this may have freaked you out, but think of how you would have responded a year ago...you would have been down for sure.

    Glad you kept it up and only have some stained shorts to show for it. ;)

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    1. Hard to know how I would of responded if it had been the year before, The time i really thought about it it was over, I tell you what though, I have never been so scared in my life!

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    2. Muscle memory...

      And that is what all of the training, practice and observations were for.

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  11. Rog

    You performed brilliantly!

    This happened to me in Greece on the 1150GS and also in France pulling out of a motorway toll booth - my new 1200 has traction control!

    P.S.

    I have just spent the weekend doing a BMW off road skills course riding a Sertao....in the rain.....in Wales

    (and yes I fell off once, but only once, doing my interpretation of a momentum exercise).

    N

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    1. Not pleasant feeling is it mate? So how did you find the SEARTO, vert similar to mine, I probably should of waited actually....but I am an impatent bastard! I would be interested in thoughts though, such dont post any pics of food.........

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    2. Note to self........use spell check after a couple of wines!

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    3. The Sertao is fun, but for riding the fire roads where we were, the R1200GS is so much better! I'll post a report shortly....

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  12. Yea, knobbies can be very scary on tar when the road is wet. During a turn it's even worse, think about it, you might just have one knob on the road during a lean.

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