Heed 505

Crashing a street bike is never fun, but getting hurt is even worse. Thus, when you’re motorcycle riding you need all the protection you can get. Fortunately the folks over at Alpinestars have a versatile range of technical motorcycle riding gear priced within any motorcyclist’s budget. Thankfully, during my most recent spill, I was wearing their top-of-the-line Alpinestars Race Replica one-piece suit, Alpinestars Supertech R boots and GP Tech gloves.

The circumstances surrounding the crash (my first in eight years) during the 2010 Ducati Streetfighter press introduction at the Ascari Race Resort go something like this…

It was the second of five scheduled 15-minute track sessions. During the first session I was obligated (with good reason) to hang behind Ducati’s MotoGP test rider, Vito Guareschi, in order to learn all 26 turns of Ascari’s demanding 3.2-mile road course .

Despite cool track surface temperatures and blustery 30-mph wind gusts things were going well and I was quickly becoming familiar with Ascari’s fun yet challenging layout.

Halfway through the second session, I was really starting to put pieces of the track together and began going for it through Turn 23, a fast banked lefthander, taken in third gear, which shot me into the downhill Turn 24 chicane hot—really hot. In fact, as I entered, I remember freaking-out a bit. I thought to myself ‘Oh man, I’m coming in too fast… This is going to be sketchy’. Fortunately I didn’t panic; Instead relying on training I had received at the now defunct Freddie Spencer Performance Riding School last summer.

At the school, one of the most vital pieces of instruction that I received, was, when entering a corner smoothly initiate your front brake (trail brake) to scrub off speed until you can hit that corner’s apex then finish turning the bike.

So that’s exactly what I did. As I began leaning the bike into the corner, I initiated the front brake gently. With my index finger, I progressively leaned back on the lever; The bike responded—slowing, slowing; And then as I closed in on the corner’s apex, instantly the front tire folded, sending me underneath the bike before tumbling off into the track’s perfectly manicured lawn.

It was a slow speed crash (I was probably only traveling 40-50mph). Nonetheless, I hit the ground first with my left knee followed by my left shoulder. (I somehow managed to keep my Shoei RF-1000 helmet of the pavement). I slid underneath the Streetfighter for roughly a second before tumbling end-over-end in the grass.

As I picked up myself off the ground I couldn’t help but think about how big of an idiot I was. Thankfully, that’s all I was worried about as all of the gear I was wearing did its job. I didn’t have so much as even a scratch on my body. In retrospect, the crash was undoubtedly my fault. Sure the cool track temperatures and blustery conditions didn’t help, but bottom line is that I entered the corner too aggressively and asked too much of the front tire.

The friendly folks at Ducati graciously supplied me with a fresh Streetfighter, and despite my Astars gear being banged up, it was in acceptable condition to allow me to safely ride for the rest of the day. Needless to say, for the remaining sessions, I timidly circulated the track in a constant state of paranoia that the same sort of crash could happen again.

So what have I learned from this debacle? First and foremost never skimp on riding gear and always wear the finest gear you can afford. Secondly, it’s important to not only ride within your limits, but to respect the limitations of the tires, motorcycle, track conditions, etc. There’s no doubt that motorcycling can be dangerous and that occasionally accidents do happen, however, if you can learn to manage your risk you can minimize your chances of a crash ruining your fun.