Why people think you have to fall…
Jan 4th, 2010 by Leo
When you do it right, riding over ice or snow…(or dirt or oil) is easy. It’s actually so easy that first timers who have been trained properly rarely crash. But if you do it wrong, even just a little bit…a fall happens so suddenly that it’s impossible to react or do anything. Doing it right seems so easy and uneventful that it’s tempting to do different things (i.e., the wrong things). That’s why I think even experienced bikers sometimes crash over snow and ice.
So how can you learn about the bad things that happen when you do the wrong thing? Either you can use other people’s experiences and learn from it or you can experience it yourself. Unfortunately most people need to experience it for themselves…
So if you fall into that latter category, you probably will fall at some point riding over ice and snow… Hopefully it will be at a low speed on a road without much traffic. But you should know that in any given instance, you don’t HAVE-TO fall or crash or drop your bike because of ice or snow or oil. There is no stretch of road where a crash is inevitable…
So what do you need to do? You know the drill:
- Look ahead and identify areas of traction: if you’re on clean pavement, keep a lookout for snow and ice. If you’re around snow and ice, keep your eyes peeled and focus on the areas with clean pavement.
- Slow down and straighten up as you approach the slippery spot.
- Approach the slippery spot at an angle that allows you to go straight while riding over it.
- As you pass over the slippery spot, cruise straight over it (you can use only the slightest amount of rear-brake or throttle).
- * If you do have to turn while over the ice, put your feet down and try to keep the bike as upright as possible, and go slow using the clutch and throttle.
Do those things and you will not crash. Fail to do 1-4 (over ice), and you probably will crash. It’s as simple as that.
By the way, watch out for the ice these days, especially around exit ramps and around park areas. Cheers!
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Hey Leo, thanks for the post. So what did the guys in the vid do wrong? Or are these crashes, as your title suggests, simply very, very random? Great blog. Keep up the good work!
that’s Valentino Rossi, one of the greatest motorcycle racers ever… Afterward he explained (because we can’t see it on the camera) that he rode up on a dirty part of the track (in order to take a different line than Jorge Lorenzo who was ahead of him), and when he turned the front wheel went down. The very next race he had his team paint a donkey on his helmet to show he knew he messed up…
Riding over slippery stuff feels exactly like riding over a clean piece of asphalt – until you turn… And when the front wheel goes, it goes so fast there’s nothing you can do. Even if you’re Rossi.