Sir,-
I am one of the emergency workers who responded expecting to pick up your pieces at 1:30 am this morning, and as a fellow rider, what I saw has been bugging me ever since. You may have heard that "new riders start with a bucketful of luck and an empty bucket of experience"? The trick being to fill the bucket of experience before emptying the bucket of luck? You pretty much emptied your luck bucket this morning. I've been riding almost 40 years and average more miles per year than showed on your odometer. I've scraped up the remains of too many other riders over my career and I've bumped into a few objects along the way myself. I'd like to share a bit of that experience with you.
First of all, you could have stopped before hitting that jeep. Your bike can pretty much out-brake anything with four wheels IF you leave enough reaction space between you and IF you are paying attention. Forget any nonsense you may have heard about "slide for life". In general, if you have enough room to slide, then you have enough room to stop, and even if you don't have room for a complete stop, the coefficient of friction of rubber against pavement is much higher than that of metal against pavement, so the impact will be at a significantly lower speed. Please, PLEASE, learn how to use those brakes. Take a course, read a book, get some practice in.
Then start paying close attention to your following distance AND the following distance of the car behind you (because he CAN'T stop as fast as you). Keep your head on a swivel, making sure you are aware of ALL traffic at ALL times, and actively plan at least 2 escape routes at all times so you don't have to think about it when things go pear-shaped.
Next, get some proper riding gear. T-shirt, shorts, running shoes and a silly plastic chest protector just don't count. Modern riding gear comes with all sorts of nice zippered vents, is tailored to fit properly when seated in a riding position and incorporates all the armour you need, so forget any excuses about metabolic heat buildup. If you had been wearing such a jacket, you wouldn't have those painful scrapes on your arm right now. Riding pants are similarly vented and armoured. Riding boots not only provide impact protection, but also support for fragile ankle bones. Finger bones are also fragile, so gloves are in order. Maybe you have some of this stuff in the closet at home already, but good gear is only useful if it is worn, and that means wearing it at all times.
I sincerely wish you many years of happy riding and hope that the next time we meet, it will be with a friendly wave or nod and not a trauma kit.
I am one of the emergency workers who responded expecting to pick up your pieces at 1:30 am this morning, and as a fellow rider, what I saw has been bugging me ever since. You may have heard that "new riders start with a bucketful of luck and an empty bucket of experience"? The trick being to fill the bucket of experience before emptying the bucket of luck? You pretty much emptied your luck bucket this morning. I've been riding almost 40 years and average more miles per year than showed on your odometer. I've scraped up the remains of too many other riders over my career and I've bumped into a few objects along the way myself. I'd like to share a bit of that experience with you.
First of all, you could have stopped before hitting that jeep. Your bike can pretty much out-brake anything with four wheels IF you leave enough reaction space between you and IF you are paying attention. Forget any nonsense you may have heard about "slide for life". In general, if you have enough room to slide, then you have enough room to stop, and even if you don't have room for a complete stop, the coefficient of friction of rubber against pavement is much higher than that of metal against pavement, so the impact will be at a significantly lower speed. Please, PLEASE, learn how to use those brakes. Take a course, read a book, get some practice in.
Then start paying close attention to your following distance AND the following distance of the car behind you (because he CAN'T stop as fast as you). Keep your head on a swivel, making sure you are aware of ALL traffic at ALL times, and actively plan at least 2 escape routes at all times so you don't have to think about it when things go pear-shaped.
Next, get some proper riding gear. T-shirt, shorts, running shoes and a silly plastic chest protector just don't count. Modern riding gear comes with all sorts of nice zippered vents, is tailored to fit properly when seated in a riding position and incorporates all the armour you need, so forget any excuses about metabolic heat buildup. If you had been wearing such a jacket, you wouldn't have those painful scrapes on your arm right now. Riding pants are similarly vented and armoured. Riding boots not only provide impact protection, but also support for fragile ankle bones. Finger bones are also fragile, so gloves are in order. Maybe you have some of this stuff in the closet at home already, but good gear is only useful if it is worn, and that means wearing it at all times.
I sincerely wish you many years of happy riding and hope that the next time we meet, it will be with a friendly wave or nod and not a trauma kit.
