Well, tonight I came as close as I think a person can come to dumping a motorcycle without actually doing it! Man, what a close call!! I made a turn down a side street with crumby, broken pavement. I took it easy, riding slowly in 2nd gear. I pulled up to an intersection where I stopped for a stop sign, using both breaks and coming to rest on my left foot as I always do. There was a couple of pokey pedestrians crossing the intersection so I decided to drop my right foot and "center" the bike vertically while I waited. The problem was that my right dropped into a depression in the pavement and suddenly the bike was tipping quickly to the right. I think the bike was very close to the point of "no return" and I felt like it was going down. Thankfully I still had control of the front brake and the tires did not slip and I was able to pull it back from the brink with the last ounce of strength my old body could muster!!

The incident turned out to be just another learning experience and a minor blemish on an otherwise dynamite 90-mile cruise!!

 

Good save! There are a lot of slanted and sub-standard roads around here. You put one foot down and you don't think the other foot is ever going to find the road.

 

Good thing you were still holding on to that front brake lever or otherwise you would have had to just stand up and watch her roll on her side.....nice job!

 

Congrats... you passed that test; or came through that surprise...
I've had a couple of 'put foot down nearly sliiiiiide out from under' moments. Really brings one back to focus on where and how the foot goes down.... at least for awhile until solid footing becomes taken for granted again.... then, time to relearn the lesson, by surprise...............

 

Yeah, you know I did the same thing several years ago on my Deuce in another area. Same scenario, except I was waiting on traffic. The only other possible contributor was that I was not wearing my MC boots and that is very unusual. The street shoes I had on have less rise which made the hole just that much deeper. Maybe THAT is the true lesson to be learned!! Boots Boots Boots!!

 

I have to be honest. I hate, at the moment these things happen, but, in the long run I learn to appreciate them. It's kind of like a permanant wake up call how quickly crap can happen. It never leaves your mind and in my opinion, makes you a better rider, one that anticipates all of the possibilities. I have two that I will share (many more that I keep in my mind). First one is I'm riding my Honda, brand new bike, to get a hair cut. (i'm 20 yrs old I think) Turn into the barbers parking lot, doing all of 10 mph and all of a sudden the bike drops. Come to find out, the just laid new gravel the day before. I knew it was a gravel lot, didn't have any idea how slick new gravel was. The second was my brother and I were driving on back country roads that we weren't familiar with. Came to a 90 degree curve that wasn't marked with a sign. Went straight through the curve and stopped in the grass. If a car had been coming the other direction....well, you get the point. Being 46 yrs old now, I find myself looking at what the drivers around me are doing, anticipating their mistakes. Just tonight, I came up on an on ramp that in often congested. I was in the fast lane and had a cager in the merge lane. He was on his cell phone and new he wasn't ready for the oncoming traffic. I let off and sure enough, he jerked his wheel left at the last minute. You have to be a totally defensive driver on a a bike

 

Yep, & it happens FAST too. I think most all riders can relate to what happened to you at one time or another. If not, they're turn is coming.

 

Dropped mine when I put my foot down on some ******&^%r's discarded, flattened skoal can lid. Foot went out from under me like it was on ice. Now I watch every stop.

 

That "near point of no return" feels awful and seems to last forever before you bring it back up with that last ounce of remaining grunt.
Been there done that but it was with my son on the back. (Not the son or the bike in the pic btw.)

 

Good that you were able to save it. We have all been there, and most of us a bit further.