COVER STORY
Crashing 101
Author: Jon Hatcher
The Big One
You’ve seen big crashes during professional road races on television - the ones where the theatrics and air time rival some of the best stage shows on the Vegas strip. Unfortunately it’s very difficult to be skillful enough to stick the landing during a huge high-side. The pros have probably had their fair share of extraordinary crashes but some of us still have no idea what to expect from an accident on the track. Most crashes are fairly straight-forward but once in a blue moon a rider will experience, The Big One. While reading black text will never fully prepare you for the real thing, we’ll examine some ideas about what to expect from the experience of crashing. There are a few simple steps to a crash at the racetrack. They are: - Realization
- Projectile Motion
- Risk Management
- Aftermath
Chapter 1: Realization (The “Oh Sh!t” Moment) First, you obviously will not see it coming (Duh), so your concentration will immediately move from your next reference point to the incident at hand. Every crash has a different set of circumstances, but the first thing you’ll realize is that something is different. It might be the feeling of the rear tire stepping out, the iron-welding-to-brake pad feel in the lever of a wheel locking, or the harsh slam of another motorcycle torpedoing into your swingarm. Whatever the case may be, you’ll immediately realize that something is unusual. Once you have come to that point, your mind will proceed to think one of two ways: “This isn’t a crash” or “Oh Sh!t.” The process of which way your mind goes is inherently random. You’ll either be in denial or you’ll realize what is about to happen. If your mind chooses the latter, your second thought will be “This is going to hurt.” On the other hand, if you immediately think “This isn’t a crash,” then you might have a chance to save it. However, for the purposes of this article, let’s just say that you loose it. Your second thought will now be “Oh Sh!t,” closely followed by “This is going to hurt.” And trust us, it will hurt. Chapter 2: Projectile Motion Next, you and your bike will most likely part ways. In a few rare instances, you may still be holding onto the bars during a crash but keep in mind that this is an easy way to lose a finger or two. Assuming that the motorcycle has grown tired of your company, you will be dumped, thrown, hurled, pitched, tossed, cast, flipped, launched or otherwise removed from the saddle and placed on the ground in a messy pile. This action can happen so fast that you may not even know how you wound up on the asphalt or it can take so agonizingly long that you’ll be able to fill out an entry for airtime in your FAA pilot’s logbook.
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