i crashed.

[JIBTEXHNKA]

i got caught in the rain in downtown tacoma; i knew i had to go down some epic hills to get home and i tried my best to avoid them but didn't think it was really going to be a problem. so i'm going super slow down a hill with a red light at the bottom, braking just barely hard enough to stop before hitting the car in front of me when my back wheel locks up and the next thing i know i'm at a 45 degree angle facing the cars on my left. in a panic i jerked hard to the right trying to straighten out... i don't know if it was even possible at that point but somehow i ended up facing the OTHER direction while sliding practically sideways. how i stayed upright is a mystery. i regained some kind of control and ended up on the sidewalk (there was an extremely conveniently-placed ramp right there so i didn't hit the curb), still sliding, and slid right into a similiarly conveniently-placed pile of dirt. i lifted the bike off my leg and jumped up to survey the damage - there was none, to me or the bike. quite a bit to my ego, but that's easily repaired. i picked the bike up, wiped the bark/dirt/mud off of the important parts, fixed my right mirror, and rode off into the sunset (after i stopped shaking uncontrollably, that is).

if that wasn't a miracle, i don't know what is.



on the way home, an old black guy pulled up next to me at a red light in his cadillac and looked over and said "heeeey, how'd you get all that dirt up on your bike? that's just the oddest thing!" i said i didn't want to talk about it.

[Sarris]

Yo dude, glad you and your bike OK, but I bet you "crapped your pants" eh?? Sometimes good luck and good conditions out weigh superior skills! It does take a little while to overcome the shakes though. Just really glad all is OK. Another very valuable life lesson.

:oops:

[LilNinja77]

Not sure specifically about these bikes, but I'd say the lesson here is to use less rear brake.........especially in the rain. Glad you made it out safely and with no damage done to either of you.
Ride safe

[Magnar Infectus]

Wow. Glad you made it out ok.

I'm also glad we Floridians don't have these "hills" you speak of. They sound dangerous ;)

[Easy Rider]

so i'm going super slow down a hill with a red light at the bottom, braking just barely hard enough to stop before hitting the car in front of me when my back wheel locks up and the next thing i know i'm at a 45 degree angle facing the cars on my left.

Glad you and the bike are OK.

With that said, this is probably a good thing.

What did you learn from that experience?
(Hopefully a different perspective on how fast is TOO fast on a rain slicked road?) ;)

[Easy Rider]

but I'd say the lesson here is to use less rear brake.........especially in the rain.

Maybe. Any time you fish-tail the bike from one side to the other and then run up on the curb..........you were going too fast.
An asphalt road surface can be slick as ICE under some conditions when it rains. Sounds like he found one of those times.

[Comike14]

Miraculous, yes. I'm glad there was no damage to you or the bike. You most importantly.

Make sure you walk away with something learned that you won't repeat. ;)

[music man]

Hey JIBTEXHNKA glad to hear that you and your GZ made it out unscathed for the most part, are you sure you weren't text messenging someone and just left that part out. LOL! No seriously glad to hear you are alright.



Later

[alanmcorcoran]

...you unconsciously applied superior bike handling skills to avoid a collision. Maybe. In any event, have a beer, or whatever your preferred libation, and toast your good fortune. You got away with one and there's nothing wrong with that.

The whole wetness, slippery thing is a strange beast. Sometimes you can go 80% regular speed with really decent traction. Other times, you can't corner at ten without the front slipping out. A lot of it is road conditions (in addition to the water.) Dirt, slime, paint, leaves, camber, oil, you name it, all can affect traction. I mostly try to avoid riding in the stuff, but I know that's not practical outside of California.

[5th_bike]

how i stayed upright is a mystery

Adrenalin. Very good for your balance.

Great that you and your bike came out OK.

One question, what part of the lane were you in? In the middle, or in the right or left "car wheel track"? (Not the middle, I hope, that's the slippiest when wet...)

[Water Warrior 2]

WOW, that must have got your heart pumping. Glad there was no serious damage to you or the bike. Just a thought here. We all know that we should wait for the rain to wash the roads clean of oil and other slippery stuff before rain riding. However in this case I think you got caught out by all the stuff collecting near the bottom of the hill. Traction would have gotten progressively worse closer to the bottom of the hill. Is it possible this happened ?

[Moedad]

Wooo, glad you're okay, Jib. Is Tacoma less rainy than other parts of the Seattle area? I guess it rains less in the summer. We don't get rain here. We get unmeasurable drizzle. Sometimes.

[Jer]

Yikes!

Glad you're alright!!!!

[JIBTEXHNKA]

holy crap let's take this one step at a time

magnar: you're just jealous. hills mean windy roads going up and down them and that means fun. when it's not raining, that is.

easy: i was going so slow it's ridiculous, but maybe that was still too fast. these aren't your grandma's hills we're talking about.

music man: how dare you remember my unsafe driving habits and bring them up at a time like this! you know i wear my gloves when it's cold and i can't text well with gloves on. lollerblades

alan: thank you for recognizing my superior skills, it's about time i got some respect around here. yeah riiiiiiiiight. although i must admit i was pretty excited about it. and as a matter of fact i have a beer or three right here so hang on a sec... ok i just toasted myself. and you're right about wet roads. sometimes it feels great and you can ride like normal and other times you feel like some big dude is gonna jump out of the bushes and knock you over. maybe not that exactly, but you know what i mean

5th bike: adrenalin(e) rocks. it pretty much makes you better at everything. as for lane position, i honestly can't say, and that makes me think it was probably the middle. which makes sense. i'll try extra hard to avoid that next time.

squirtle: i know what you mean, but i was right near the top of the hill and it had been raining for at least an hour so i don't think that's what happened

moedad: no. i think we actually get more rain than seattle. i remember reading somewhere that seattle actually gets less rain than most of the surrounding areas, but that could be a lie.

everyone else: thanks for caring!

[alanmcorcoran]

...Best Post Crash Attitude award.

Okay, so perhaps it wasn't the most gruesome of the last ten reported here, and you didn't snap, fracture, hyperextend or crush anything, but you seem positively unfazed, which I hope I can be after I experience what everyone is calling an inevitability. (Plus I'd like to skip the snap, crackle, pop part, too...)