So I figured, in light of the recent video that was posted about the Ninja 300 Crash in the twisties this week, to tell people about my stupidity on a ride today. Basically everything happened because of my need to go past my abilities. Thankfully I did not crash, but had I gone any harder, it would have been a different story.
First mistake, trying to beat a light: I decided i wanted to not get stuck behind it and opened up the throttle to get to the intersection as fast as possible. As I approached it, I decided to start braking, but was a little late on when I should have started. I applied too much pressure on the foot brake and ultimately ended up locking the real wheel up and then quickly let go of the rear brake to free it up.
STUPID MISTAKE
The other side of the intersection was slightly diagonal and required some light turning. Luckily I was only going about 15-20 mph by the time it happened but, had I been going any faster, the possibility of bad crash (possible high side) definitely would have existed. Thankfully, made it without incident.
2nd mistake, lack of target fixation: I decided to take a turn on a two-wide turning lane too fast and did not look at where I was turning. Instead my focus was straight ahead only looking at where I wanted to go with my eyes. I went wide and had to slow down and missed hitting the side by inches (even threw my foot on the ground to try and stabilize myself). I did this twice actually, can't remember where the other one was, but it was basically the same issue, LACK OF TARGET FIXATION and NOT TURNING MY HEAD TO LOOK WHERE I WANTED TO GO.
Soooo, i wanted to share this with everyone, especially considering how many new riders there are on this forum. I learned a lot from today and will definitely be taking it easier until i'm ready. It should also be noted that the temperature was a cool 39 degrees and it probably didn't help that I had cold tires for most of the time.
First mistake, trying to beat a light: I decided i wanted to not get stuck behind it and opened up the throttle to get to the intersection as fast as possible. As I approached it, I decided to start braking, but was a little late on when I should have started. I applied too much pressure on the foot brake and ultimately ended up locking the real wheel up and then quickly let go of the rear brake to free it up.
STUPID MISTAKE
The other side of the intersection was slightly diagonal and required some light turning. Luckily I was only going about 15-20 mph by the time it happened but, had I been going any faster, the possibility of bad crash (possible high side) definitely would have existed. Thankfully, made it without incident.
2nd mistake, lack of target fixation: I decided to take a turn on a two-wide turning lane too fast and did not look at where I was turning. Instead my focus was straight ahead only looking at where I wanted to go with my eyes. I went wide and had to slow down and missed hitting the side by inches (even threw my foot on the ground to try and stabilize myself). I did this twice actually, can't remember where the other one was, but it was basically the same issue, LACK OF TARGET FIXATION and NOT TURNING MY HEAD TO LOOK WHERE I WANTED TO GO.
Soooo, i wanted to share this with everyone, especially considering how many new riders there are on this forum. I learned a lot from today and will definitely be taking it easier until i'm ready. It should also be noted that the temperature was a cool 39 degrees and it probably didn't help that I had cold tires for most of the time.