Ever get the feeling that there is an angel on your shoulder?

Occasionally yes, I can think of a few times in a spirited ride, I have no idea why but I slowed done to the speed limit to enjoy a view or listen to music and around the next corner I find a police cruiser. Once that happened I came over a knoll and on the other side a big moose standing over the yellow line.

My angels mostly kept me alive and unharmed after my numerous nasty get offs when I was very young and just as stupid. Worst was the classic chick turns from oncoming lane without seeing me and I superman'd over her trunk at around 55 mph. Rolled for a city block but only lost some skin. My ZX-6R spun her car 180 deg and the bike just decintergrated at point of impact. Lots of bike cops showed up and they all thought the rider was dead but, there I was, smoking a cigarette and getting a number from girl way out of my league that was being overly sympathetic.

Took the payout from that wreck (she ran the light and didn't have a license) and bought a brand new R6, which I preceded to drop, low-side and loop every chance I got.

Never broke a bone but still get chills and the occasional bad dream from my utter stupidity back then. Yet, I know the extreme limits of a bike, just found them in the wrong places at the wrong time.

In my youth I had a couple of close calls. Once being stupid and almost not making the corner which would have resulted going over a rocky ledge into a lake. The other hitting something slick on I84 in Portland at night. Did a berm shot off the barrier. Managed to keep the bike on both wheels. Had a major adrenalin rush going after that. That time I was ridding at the speed limit, no fun stuff going on.

I remember my Father telling me two things that I didn't heed well enough when I got my first bike:

1. It's not a question of if you'll lay it down, but when

2. Just when you think you've got the hang of it, the bike will teach you another lesson

My dad wrapped his Honda Magna around a speed limit sign when he got forced off a merging off ramp and looked like he jumped on a grenade when got out of bed to say he was ok that night.

haha! i dont do angels or any of that fairy tale stuff but on a ride last year me and the girl were hammering up a new mountain section in north thailand which i was filming on my gopro and just before another tight hairpin i decided to switch off the camera to save battery. as i rounded the right bend i sighted the next hairpin with a steep climb after it and as i was dipping into the bend i remember seeing some dude standing on the bottom of a big bus poking out of the ditch on the far side of the bend.
as i went round the bend i then spotted a lovely fresh diesel spill right across my line which i managed to sit up for but we got into a superb fishtail with me going over the bars and my girl landing on my back. by a stroke of luck my hand was jammed onto the brake lever by the weight of my girl pushing onto me and we managed to wobble over to the barrier behind which was a 400 foot drop to the gorge below. im a true believer of ABS now.
........it was a shame id switched off the camera tho.......oh hum.

The little voices in my head tell me to go faster, and to burn things.

I've had several of them moments. One when I was with a mate, he was on a thousand, and me on my RD350 having "fun". He slowed down "just 'cos" and we were only doing 40 when we rounded a ( normally 90 mph ) corner and there was a police car blocking the road due to an accident. Plenty of room to stop, or we would have been some stats

GuyW said:

The little voices in my head tell me to go faster, and to burn things.

Click to expand...

I know the voices in my head are not real, but they do come up with some good ideas

Had one of those moments last summer.

In a open area I came onto a road crossing. The visabiity was good except for one part, the view just right from the crossing was blocked by a farmhouse. The farmhouse was almost on top of the crossing, just a meter or so from it.
My speed was upto 90 km/h and something told me to slow down and I did.
When I was at the crossing suddenly another biker came with lightning speed from behind the farm and just went in front of me across the crossing. His speed must have been 120 km/h or more.
If I had maintained my initial speed it would be a deadly hit.
At that moment my heart had higher reffs then the Hyperstrada can do.....

So if my angel or the little voice inside my head tells me to slow down.... I surely will.

Regards.

My latest close call was last September on a very narrow piece of windy road sandwiched between a rock cut and a cliff down to the Columbia River, about 2 miles east of Northport, WA. I was on the homeward day of a 6 day trip through WA, ID, and OR. I'm coming around a tight, blind, right hand corner with a rock cut on my right and basically no ditch. As I round the corner, a small deer, probably about 6 months old, comes charging down the rock face and there's no way I'm going to miss it. I hang on tight to the bars and keep my momentum going and the deer bounces along the right side of the 2 month old HS pinning my right calf to the side of the bike. My calf hurt like hell but I kept on riding and didn't lose it! The only damage, a small ding in the pipe and a bunch of deerskin on the right side of the fender. Someone was smiling at me.