Changing Lanes: the "Zone" or not?

No, it's true. Just the other day I head checked just as
the guy in front lobbed a grenade at me. If it wasn't
for my deerskin codpiece and Professional Rider Pre-Programmed
Responses (and Repsol paintjob) I'd be like ... well,
like that Clem photo, anyway.

-----sharks (zone tripper)

 

I know the feeling, I'll be walking along the footpath, and instinctively
try to check my mirrors!

Adrian
CT-110

 

Zebee

I've caught myself doing the headcheck AND checking my mirrors (... hang
on, I'm walking [slaps head & continues]) before crossing the road.

 

[..]

NFS!

Walking up St Georges Road with the direction of traffic, crossing the
little side streets on my way to the bottle o or just for some bread, I head
check to see if there's a car indicating into my lane [that is the pavement
in this case, hehe].

Having ridden extensively in Oslo throughout the year for many years on a
mtb pushie, I was ultrafit & hard riding @ 30-40 kph on the flats - which is
more often than not 20-30 kph faster than cars so a fair bit of
lanesplitting etc. Cars would never see me, sometimes turn right [RHD
country] in front of me having just passed me 5 seconds ago, etc.. From that
headchecking almost turned into a 6th sense. You've gotta. Think traffic is
bad here? Well, if I saw someone actually indicate in Oslo it'd be the
exception not the rule. Maybe not that bad, at least 50% [60% tops] did it
actually... Which leaves the other 40-50% to going by clues. Which
eventually turns into gut feel - or just knowledge to stay away from those
f*s.

This situational awareness from being on a pushie [where I'm the hunted
animal] translates a fair bit into my bike riding, although the helmet
restricts the vision a bit. I guess I know what the OP described: I can feel
what's there, match velocities with the _flow_ and go in and out of the gaps
calculating several moves ahead. Headchecking is always a good thing to do
even on the best of those days though. As you said, the unexpected [shit]
does happen! And it's probably a fair bit riskier on the bike than on the
pushie..

But then again, so is getting out of bed.

j

 

[...]

Bloody Volvo drivers...

j

 

Hehe. When lanesplitting & changing lanes to go for the lane with the bigger
gap, I'm always headchecking for other bikes or pushies warping in from
another galaxy. I know they'd have to be going absolutely flat out crazy to
appear from nowhere like that, but as the above says, you can never rule it
perfectly out.

j

 

Well statistically those who survived the first few weeks (or hours..
minutes..?) would learn certain things that those who didn't didn't [might
as well defenstrate all grammar for this post]. So they wouldn't be able to
daredevil an approaching bullet but would learn a thing or two about the
"art of the war". If there's art to chaos, that is, they'd be able to rely
on their "sixth sense" to keep them out of trouble. Maybe it was just pure
luck for a few, but I'm willing to bet there's something more _as well_ for
the rest.

j
// having read a fair few books on CQC, war etc

 

Short and succint. Amen.

j

 

Nev..
.... turned up to a Glitch's weekend ride to Eildon last year on a 4 day old
Blackbird which was the dirtier than all the other bikes assembled at the
meeting point.

 

If you haven't read at least a fair few war books you better just let this
argument go, Conehead.

Nev..
'02 CBR1100XX #2 lives on !! no ZX12R yet...

 

I feel a slight hint of sarcasm here ...

Well given that quite a few of them were first person accounts, this is one
message I was left with anyway.

Will have to ask my ex-legionnaire [~5 year service] friend next time I see
him. He came close to biting it one day, I really wonder what would have
been going through his head at that time. {Some sort of late night bad pun
intended.}

j

 

Back under your bridge, OK. ;-)

regards,
CrazyCam

 

Bullshit.
//having been there and suvived, and learnt what a role luck plays in a life

 

Hahahaha! Should have read your post first, nev!

 

"Jorgen" wrote

You got me. WTF does that word mean. Couldn't even wild-card it in my
dictionary.

Theo

 

In aus.motorcycles on Wed, 15 Oct 2003 00:33:40 GMT

Dunno what that one means, but "defenestrate" means to throw someone out
of a window.

defenstrate might mean throwing someone out of a particularly wet bit f
ground I guess.

Zebee

 

"paulh" wrote

throw away...

I understood defenestrate to mean "put to death by throwing out of a
window".

Theo

 

[...]

Sorry missed the E.

It is my favourite English word.

j