So a little context before I answer your question.
On motorycles, when you're a beginner, you start out doing track days to gain confidence and start working on your bike technique, body technique, and vision skills. Once you have those down pat, it's not much longer before you start to get closer to the limits of what a bike can do (not to say that you go to the very edge of performance, but more so the limits of a bike's forgiveness of mistakes). From 8 years experience track riding, I can say that the first crash is always jarring and disrupts your mental flow. Although that's true for all motorsports. However, there are 2 major types of crashes where bikes are concerned. What you're seeing here is what's known as a lowside. This is oftentimes the most tame of crashes because the bike just falls away from you and you end up sliding on the ground. Now, while that may sound traumatic, think of it this way: The rider, when in full lean and with body position that far over losesthe bike to a slide like this, they're only really falling inches to the ground. Literal inches. It feels less like a crash and more just a loss of tactile input. Then you're just sitting there, sliding along, with nothing bad happening to you until you come to a stop. It's one of the only crashes that I know where the rider/racer/operator has time during the crash to mentally back out and wonder where they went wrong before the crash has even ended. I can say that once you get used to lowsides, like this one, they become a non-event, and usually I'm already trying to get back on my feet and get my bike back up before I've even stopped sliding. There's no real danger of injury or death where lowsides are concerned (barring other riders striking you at speed or running you over or crashing into you). Highsides, on the other hand, are nightmares, and you're a lucky one if you manage to get away scott-free. If you're unfamiliar with what a highside is, I highly recommend searching the terrm yourself and experiencing it yourself. Hope this helps.
So a little context before I answer your question.
ReplyDeleteOn motorycles, when you're a beginner, you start out doing track days to gain confidence and start working on your bike technique, body technique, and vision skills. Once you have those down pat, it's not much longer before you start to get closer to the limits of what a bike can do (not to say that you go to the very edge of performance, but more so the limits of a bike's forgiveness of mistakes).
From 8 years experience track riding, I can say that the first crash is always jarring and disrupts your mental flow. Although that's true for all motorsports. However, there are 2 major types of crashes where bikes are concerned. What you're seeing here is what's known as a lowside. This is oftentimes the most tame of crashes because the bike just falls away from you and you end up sliding on the ground. Now, while that may sound traumatic, think of it this way: The rider, when in full lean and with body position that far over losesthe bike to a slide like this, they're only really falling inches to the ground. Literal inches. It feels less like a crash and more just a loss of tactile input. Then you're just sitting there, sliding along, with nothing bad happening to you until you come to a stop. It's one of the only crashes that I know where the rider/racer/operator has time during the crash to mentally back out and wonder where they went wrong before the crash has even ended.
I can say that once you get used to lowsides, like this one, they become a non-event, and usually I'm already trying to get back on my feet and get my bike back up before I've even stopped sliding.
There's no real danger of injury or death where lowsides are concerned (barring other riders striking you at speed or running you over or crashing into you).
Highsides, on the other hand, are nightmares, and you're a lucky one if you manage to get away scott-free. If you're unfamiliar with what a highside is, I highly recommend searching the terrm yourself and experiencing it yourself.
Hope this helps.
Thanks. I was hoping for a number, not an encyclopedia entry. lol
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