Wow man glad you're OK. Insurance agent told me that boys used to be the higher risk but now young teenage girls are getting in more accidents. Cause- driving while texting and talking on the freakin phone!

 

Soooo, how long was the "other" skid mark?

 

Its your skills followed by luck E. Knivel

 

Nice job. Stories like these make we want to get the ABS even more.

 

Lots of good stuff in Floridafred's post. The below is meant for newer riders; for the more experienced guys it's already more or less second nature.

The above quote of Floridafred bears repeating over and over again. For you newer riders out there, if you ever hear someone say, "I had to lay 'er down," walk away fast. You're talking to someone who threw their hands up at the last second and just gave up.

Another excellent point: Not everyone has a surgeon's touch on the brakes in a panic situation. Despite all your practice you may, as Floridafred did, lock the rear brake. If you do, just don't let up on the brake until you're almost at a complete stop. If you do let off, you'll high side, which means you'll get flipped over the bike onto the road, with the bike not far behind you. Most likely you'll end up either under the bike or under a car. Not good. Hold that rear brake down and ride it out.

With antilock brakes, Floridafred's incident probably would have been classified as "interesting" rather than "terrifying."

Finally, if you're going to use another vehicle as a shield, which we all sometimes do, don't come up right alongside that vehicle. You don't know what they might do (as in Floridafred's post). Hang back near its rear quarter until you're past the obstacle in question. You might be in the vehicle's blind spot for a few seconds, but your range of maneuver if the shield makes a sudden move is much wider than it would be if you were next to them.

Great points, Floridafred, and others who have commented.