Let me ramble about something...

[sclay115]

...Let me first give you guys a little bit of back story. Recently(last December, 5th actually) I was riding my bicycle and I was hit by a car, t-boned in fact, no broken bones, superficial cuts and road rash, but my leg was severely bruised and I was off of it for a month, and couldn't do much driving, couldn't really work in the garage, and was out of work. During this time I was working on finishing the motorcycle, and it was nearly done. Fast forward to the present.

Bike is done, bicycle is fixed(it faired pretty decent actually), and I was ridiculously excited to get the Cafe bike done, I ride it, occasionally. But not to work(traffic, Orlando, if you lived here you'd understand), and only once in a while on the weekends. I take plenty of short trips, trips that I could use the bike for, but I just don't ride it as much as I 'should'. So I really thought about it, I built it for myself, I spent forever on it, but whenever I ride now, all I can think about is the incident I had on my bicycle. The woman in the van hit me at maybe 10mph. I can't stop thinking about a 'real' accident on the motorcycle. I've even had some thoughts of selling it, and not riding at all in this city, maybe somewhere more rural, but Orlando is just filled with people not paying attention, East Orlando, college town, mostly younger adults on their phones driving aimlessly. This NEVER bothered me with the other bikes I had. Not once, I learned to ride defensively, and was very good at it, had to be in this city.

So let me ask you guys this, you guys ever feel this way? Don't get me wrong, I love riding, but I think it was something relating to my bicycle incident that has triggered these thoughts in my head. Hell, I don't even feel safe riding my bicycle around now, I suppose there is a time after something like that happens where one feels nervous, but I would have thought that would be gone by now. Any thoughts?

Steve

 

[anarki650]

It's only natural to feel less immortal after an accident like that. Don't worry yourself over the feelings, that'll only lead to more self doubt and make the "healing process" that much longer. I've had a couple close calls on motorcycles (like a throttle sticking wide open on a GSXR1100 and propelling me at somewhere in the ballpark of 90 mph through a red light across four lanes of traffic ) and felt similar afterwards. My advice is roll with it and don't sell your bike!!!! You've invested a lot of your time, money, probably some blood and sweat, and a big piece of yourself in building it and you'll kick yourself if you do opt to get rid of it. If you don't feel like riding it as much as you think you should don't worry about it man. The day will come when you're ready to hit it all out again. Wait for that and make sure you're comfortable in the saddle before trying to force it. I didn't even LOOK at the GSXR for over a month after that incident, let alone feel like riding it, and that was only a scare. Hang in there bro!!

 

[guitargeek]

What you have is Posttraumatic stress disorder. Sadly, some people never do get back on that horse after it's thrown them. Hopefully, you're not one of those people!

I've been riding for 32 of my 39 years and I've had plenty of close calls, some of them scared me so badly that I was reluctant to get back on, but get back on I did. I've had lots of bruises and sprains, some broken bones, and seemingly acres of road rash.

It's like this: Ya gotta go sometime, right? Something will eventually kill you, there's no way around that fact.

Check out this table, a look at the statistics might appeal to the rational part of your brain.

Cardiovascular diseases cause about 30% of all deaths. There are a lot of other diseases out there, including cancer, and then there's Road traffic accidents, which accounts for about 2% of deaths.

Odds are greater that you'll drop dead of a heart attack or have a stroke or cancer, but try telling that to the back part of your brain! That portion of your brain is what's causing the problem, telling you that you're going to die if you try to ride through Orlando traffic. That portion of your brain will also tell you that you'll live forever if you don't ride through Orlando traffic, so don't believe everything it tells you!

Riding, like a lot of other things in life, involves tricking yourself. Consider counter steering, for example. It's counter intuitive! The back part of your brain doesn't understand it, and some people are never able to defeat that part. Those people are never able to become riders, sadly. My stepmom was one of them. She bought a little Yamaha Razz scooter but absolutely refused to countersteer. She was astonished to find herself unable to bully the laws of physics into doing things the way she wanted, so she quit trying to ride the thing, just gave up and eventually sold that scooter after it'd sat for quite a while.

While I'd prefer to die in my sleep at 90, there are no guarantees. Whether I die from a heart attack or if I'm shot during a robbery, in a motorcycle accident or from systemic lupus (which is actually the most likely candidate), I'll still be dead.

If you want to improve your odds, I'd recommend that you invest in safety equipment and training. Get the best helmet and leathers you can afford, enroll in the MSF training course (I've taken it several times, I always manage to learn something new). You might even consider one of the advanced track schools like Freddie Spencer's or Keith Code's courses. Read David Hough's Proficient Motorcycling and Street Strategies.

No matter what you do, though, there are still no guarantees! Norifumi Abe, a highly skilled racer, was killed when an idiot in a truck made an illegal U turn in front of him.

When you're in traffic, expect all those idiots to jump out in front of you, so you're not surprised when it does happen and are prepared to deal with it. Myself, I love riding through crazy urban traffic, so long as it's fast: I hate traffic jams! Just watch your blind spots and the blind spots of those around you. Pass those jerks before they have a chance to pull into your lane. Maintain a high state of situational awareness... this will keep you out of trouble.

My advice to you is to get back on that horse!

Go riding! Learn your bike, what it will and won't do. Put some crash guards on your engine cases and go practice crashing in a parking lot. You don't know where the edge is until you fall off, so go see how tightly you can turn and how quickly you can stop. Do this until you crash a few times. If you don't want to scratch up your bike, get a little beater, something you're not afraid to play around on. It's sorta like removing a bandaid: you can do it slowly, or you can just rip it off and get it over with.

It comes down to confronting your fears, you invariably will find that they're not so terrible as you might have thought.

 

[sclay115]

I didn't realize there was an actual name for it, but it honestly makes good sense now.

As far as gear goes, I'm an all the gear all the time kind of guy, absolutely terrifies me to not wear my gear. And I've been riding for a while, and have taken the MSF, but maybe I'll take it again to perhaps, reinstate some faith and fundamentals in myself. And I know what you're saying with imagining everyone is out to get you in traffic, sad thing is it's almost true down here, I've been run off the road on my old FZR countless times, it's really quite ridiculous if I think about it. I do believe you're right though, I think I just need to get out there and do it, I mean, true, whilst I haven't been riding all that long(4 years), I did the daily grind with no car for about 6 months, and I loved it, that is until the rainy season hit, it's quite apparent that this feeling is all hinged off my accident. I think it might just be some time, I hope that gets me back to where I was before the accident..

Steve

 

[xcaptainxbloodx]

I wouldn't mind dying doing something I love, far better than lingering on with some disease (which with my family medical history is rather certain)

 

[sl8rxlr8r]

I know what you mean... The only thing I can say is that its important for a person to make a clear choice. You're either OK with the fact that you could die doing it, or not. Thinking about the possible outcomes of mistakes while riding can be deadly. Make your decision, and be cool with it. If you decide to ride, ride with clear head and a sharp mind. They say the law of attraction is always working in the universe, and dwelling on it will surely invite it in.

I sold my bike a couple years ago... I was dating a girl and thinking of adopting her baby and getting married, and just didn't feel like I should be riding at the time. But things change, and now I want to ride again. I've told all my friends and family that I'm ok with dying while doing it, I'd much rather go out like that than alot of scenarios I've witnessed.

 

[rudy]

I know what you mean... The only thing I can say is that its important for a person to make a clear choice. You're either OK with the fact that you could die doing it, or not. Thinking about the possible outcomes of mistakes while riding can be deadly. Make your decision, and be cool with it. If you decide to ride, ride with clear head and a sharp mind. They say the law of attraction is always working in the universe, and dwelling on it will surely invite it in.

I sold my bike a couple years ago... I was dating a girl and thinking of adopting her baby and getting married, and just didn't feel like I should be riding at the time. But things change, and now I want to ride again. I've told all my friends and family that I'm ok with dying while doing it, I'd much rather go out like that than alot of scenarios I've witnessed.

I'm with ya on that one man! But you could die doing anything. If it's your time to go, it's your time to go. No two ways about it.