Stupid rookie mistake

Bit of a freakout moment last week, and frankly I’m surprised Sveta and I are okay. Basically, on the way home from running errands I wound through a parking lot at a local park, to wrap up a quick fun jaunt before heading home. Then I took a corner wrong.

The sidecar wheel bumped up onto the curb. Then I really screwed up, and must’ve shifted my weight left — because suddenly, the sidecar was in the air, and I was leaning really, really far left.

“Oh crap,” I thought, “I’m going to crash.”

Bike was still going forward. Luckily there was no one in the path of the bike and no traffic in either direction. I got across the access road, amazingly still on 2 wheels. I shifted weight to the right and put the tub down, then drove over the opposite curb and brought the bike to a stop. Amazingly, I didn’t even stall the engine.

I powered down, dismounted, walked around the bike and checked everything over. All looked okay. Only thing out of whack was my shaking hands, only thing damaged was my pride. I drove home without any other events. Once home, a scotch on the rocks helped settle my nerves.

Freak accident, nearly complicated by a stupid rookie weight shift mistake. Can’t believe I didn’t wind up under the bike. Can’t believe I misjudged that wheel-to-curb distance.

Be careful out there. And mind how you shift that weight, no matter what’s going on.

Lessons Learned

• Mistakes happen. How you respond is often more important than the mistake itself.
• Always shift your weight the way you want the tub to go — because that’s the way it’s going to go.
• Don’t panic. I wanted to panic, could feel it gnawing at me, but I also had a woman to get home to, and in one piece. She’s more important than panic. I thought about Jodie, and got the Ural back under control.
• If the tub comes up and you don’t want it up, shift weight right and put it down.
• Stop evenly.
• Keep an eye on your surroundings; I knew I had leeway to fix this situation, because I scanned around me and knew there was no one nearby who could get hurt, and nothing for me to run into.
• Don’t beat yourself up too badly. Mistakes happen to everyone, just also be sure to learn from them.

Not an easy question, and one whose answers are entirely subjective. Some people swear by leather; some swear by synthetics. Others decry anything other than a t-shirt.

In our household, I wear a leather jacket, and Jodie has a lady’s Tourmaster Trinity (which I still need to finish up a post on). Soviet Steeds has a great, in-depth discussion on the topic of motorcycle jackets though, that can be of help to anyone trying to decide what type of motorcycle jacket they should get and wear:

In the interest of wearing a jacket while riding, I have my old leather jacket that really needs to be retired and I need to find something new. So, what do you all wear? Wear do you shop? What should I look for in a jacket? Fitting? Comfort (summer vs. winter)? Leather vs. that other stuff?

Follow the whole discussion: Soviet Steeds - What shall I wear?

On the IMZ Ural Message Boards, Jon wants to protect the paint on his Gear-up. He takes a bit of ribbing from the guys, who believe “Ural” and “clean” are mutually exclusive, but there are also some good points made about treatments that can protect your rough-riding Ural from getting rusted and pitted up:

The main recommendation is a treatment called ACF-50. Their product page has some great breakdown of the benefits of the treatment, though I’m still a bit unclear on how the layman can put on this stuff in the comfort of their home garage:

ACF-50 was developed 15 years ago and has amassed a record of performance unique in the aerospace industry. Here are some of its unique properties

Do you need it? As with all things motorcycling, your mileage may vary (YMMV). If you live and ride primarily in a region where corrosion is an issue, such as a maritime area or a cold-winter area where road salts are in heavy use, you’ll probably want ACF-50 or a similar protectant for your paint and metal. If not, well, it might not be a big deal.

As for me, Svetlana and I reside inland, and Eugene has very mild winters. At this point, I’m thinking Sveta won’t need a protectant like this, but I’m going to keep looking into it.