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Last Saturday I was riding a local road in the Mountains about an hour and a half out of Melbourne, Australia. I'd already made it to my destination, had a break and a fag and was on my way home along the same stretch of road.
I was taking it easy and just wanted to get home in one piece. I was coming around a 180 degree hairpin bend when the next thing I knew, I was sliding no my ass listening to that horrible sound of my bike grinding on the road!
I picked up the bike, but couldn't remove it from the rut on the opposite side of the road where it had settled. Gee I'm glad that there were no cars coming the opposite way at the time! And I'm glad that because of the direction of the turn I had headed into the cliff face and not over it!!!
I went back to see what had caused the accident, because it was a beautiful day and surely there was no ice or wet patches.
I find some f*cked up roadworks left right at the apex of the corner and at the exit. There was about and inch of gravel with a big black line through it, and banked over at the apex I didn't ahve a chance.
There were no signs identifying that road works had been completed, none whatsoever. To add to that the maintenance crews who had performed the job had done so ineffectively. There was a large amount (if not all) of emulsion draining away from the road due to the camber of the corner. Under the grit there was essentially no emulsion (or tar if you like) for it to stick to! I went out there three days later to find the emulsion still wet and sticky like goo!
I then had to wait approximately three hours for a tow, during which time I waved down as many riders as possible in order for them to avoid the accident. Most of them still almost lost it, and inevitably later that afternoon, about 2 hours before my tow arrived somebody else came down. And quite heavily I might add!. The rear end of his babyblade stepped about about 50cm before regaining traction on the road surface at which point he highsided!
Some locals had stopped to talk to me at the time and witnessed the whole thing. I didn't see all of it as I was running down the road at the time in an attempt to warn him.
I've attached some pictures of the road and of my bike. I've got a couple more to scan to show just how bad the situation was. My leather pants survived, but my gloves and boots are wrecked. I must have just slid on my arse and hands as my jacket and helmet had no signs of damage. My boots have a huge chunk out of the toe which goes almost to the steel cap and my finger was sliced and I've lost the feeling in it's tip. All in all I'm damn thankfull that I'm alright!
I've posted the pictures in a similarly entitled thread in the pictures section.
Enjoy!
I was taking it easy and just wanted to get home in one piece. I was coming around a 180 degree hairpin bend when the next thing I knew, I was sliding no my ass listening to that horrible sound of my bike grinding on the road!
I picked up the bike, but couldn't remove it from the rut on the opposite side of the road where it had settled. Gee I'm glad that there were no cars coming the opposite way at the time! And I'm glad that because of the direction of the turn I had headed into the cliff face and not over it!!!
I went back to see what had caused the accident, because it was a beautiful day and surely there was no ice or wet patches.
I find some f*cked up roadworks left right at the apex of the corner and at the exit. There was about and inch of gravel with a big black line through it, and banked over at the apex I didn't ahve a chance.
There were no signs identifying that road works had been completed, none whatsoever. To add to that the maintenance crews who had performed the job had done so ineffectively. There was a large amount (if not all) of emulsion draining away from the road due to the camber of the corner. Under the grit there was essentially no emulsion (or tar if you like) for it to stick to! I went out there three days later to find the emulsion still wet and sticky like goo!
I then had to wait approximately three hours for a tow, during which time I waved down as many riders as possible in order for them to avoid the accident. Most of them still almost lost it, and inevitably later that afternoon, about 2 hours before my tow arrived somebody else came down. And quite heavily I might add!. The rear end of his babyblade stepped about about 50cm before regaining traction on the road surface at which point he highsided!
Some locals had stopped to talk to me at the time and witnessed the whole thing. I didn't see all of it as I was running down the road at the time in an attempt to warn him.
I've attached some pictures of the road and of my bike. I've got a couple more to scan to show just how bad the situation was. My leather pants survived, but my gloves and boots are wrecked. I must have just slid on my arse and hands as my jacket and helmet had no signs of damage. My boots have a huge chunk out of the toe which goes almost to the steel cap and my finger was sliced and I've lost the feeling in it's tip. All in all I'm damn thankfull that I'm alright!
I've posted the pictures in a similarly entitled thread in the pictures section.
Enjoy!
. Yoshimura bolt on Titanium cans. Yosh box remap. Joe V airbox mod. plug in TRE. 17/41 sprockets. Zero Gravity double bubble screen. 
fan switch. HyperPro steering damper. Extreme Graphic Top Gun undertail. Ohlins rear shock.
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