Jamison Creek Road Head-On

[phillybeef]

Human Failures.
In 2009 we were about two-thirds the way on our 150 mile Santa Cruz Mountain Ride...While heading down-hill on Jamison Creek road, I was leading, with 2 friends in tow, and on the second, of 2 left-hand Hair-pin turns on Jamison, I was confronted with the fact that I was about to be drilled head-on by a motorcyclist, skidding straight into my path.

I had set-up for this left-hand, down-hill corner in a safe but sporty manner, keeping the contact patches of my tires in the right-side tire track of my lane, as I like to do.

I was going about 25 when I saw what was happening, I hit the brakes and knocked off 5 mph....

still leaned over, I can't hook it to the left as it would put me into jeopardy, across the double line.....

So I reacted, just before impact, to let off the brakes so upon impact, my momentum would carry through his momentum.... I don't know if that was the right thing to do or not...??

The impact was terrible, I estimate about 30-40mph impact. Even though I tumbled over the top, it felt
like hitting a wall.

In the aftermath, we both rode away from this accident. Bodies bruised battered bloodied, bike parts bent and broken but no real serious injuries or broken bones.

This guy would not tell us what caused him to skid across the line, he would only say "it locked up!".... We surmised, after looking at the road (in his direction of travel), that he was pulling a long, fast wheelie up this section on Jamison Creek Road (we are dirt-bike riders too, just like this guy, BUT we just don't cut loose like that on the Road!).

It took about a year for my left index finger to heal and longer for my psyche to heal.

Picture notes;

PIC 1; Says it all... Don't cross the double line... And don't skid across it either!

PIC 2: You can see in the long skid marks, that he was pumping that brake peddle..... Also see the gas puddle in the road...

PIC 3: The hill side naturally blocks the view, in both direction. This is the perps' view.

PIC 4: The perpetrator rides a red Honda XR650L, I ride a yellow Suzuki DRZ400S.

 

[quicksparks]

If you had it to do over again would you do anything differently? I'm not talking about setting up the turn differently, but once you saw the other rider on the red XR650L. It looks like you could have straightened up and run wide into the dirt turnout. But I wasn't there so I don't know if that was possible.

 

[2strokeYardSale]

By skidding you mean he was upright? With the rear locked up? The intermittent skid marks are probably caused by undulations in the asphalt, not by him pumping the brake. You had a lot of shoulder to use if you couldn't avoid him in your own lane by straightening up, and you were on a dual sport. Anything to avoid a head-on. Grass, embankment, tree, guardrail, anything.

 

[phillybeef]

If you had it to do over again would you do anything differently? I'm not talking about setting up the turn differently, but once you saw the other rider on the red XR650L. It looks like you could have straightened up and run wide into the dirt turnout. But I wasn't there so I don't know if that was possible.

No, I would not do anything differently. Since at first view, the Honda was straight up & down and going from my left to right, at first it looked like he was going for that outside turnout....so, me steering to the outside would be steering towards the direction he was travelling in. When he saw me he tried to initiate a turn back to his right, as if to get back into his lane and that's when the bikes aligned for head-on collision.

 

[phillybeef]

By skidding you mean he was upright? With the rear locked up? The intermittent skid marks are probably caused by undulations in the asphalt, not by him pumping the brake. You had a lot of shoulder to use if you couldn't avoid him in your own lane by straightening up, and you were on a dual sport. Anything to avoid a head-on. Grass, embankment, tree, guardrail, anything.

Yes, he was up-right skidding, could've been locked up. I saw him pumping the brake peddle. Like I said above, he tried to turn back..... When he saw the impact coming, like me, we ended up using what little protection the front end of a bike can provide. I think a side-swipe or side impact, in this case, would have resulted in broken bones.

 

[RhythmRider]

All you can do in a situation like that is react as best you can. Sounds like you could have done worse, since you managed to avoid serious injury. One option would be to go in the left lane, but you never know what else is coming around that blind corner. Shitty situation, and it sucks that he put you in it. Hope he apologized at least. How'd you figure he was doing a wheelie? I don't see how one could infer that from looking at the road.

 

[phillybeef]

All you can do in a situation like that is react as best you can. Sounds like you could have done worse, since you managed to avoid serious injury. One option would be to go in the left lane, but you never know what else is coming around that blind corner. Shitty situation, and it sucks that he put you in it. Hope he apologized at least. How'd you figure he was doing a wheelie? I don't see how one could infer that from looking at the road.

Going into the left lane was an option that I considered, but since I didn't know what was there, I did not cut to the left. I thought the Honda rider may have been passing a slow moving vehicle just before the corner....

Tom Lynch, (the Honda rider) apologized and gave me $100 cash on the spot. Then stiffed me for the rest of my damages ($500)... He changed his phone number after I called for the money.... I failed to get his driver license number..... My bad....

When looking at the road and adding up the circumstances, we concluded that a wheelie was performed....
#1. He had an audience (his buddy was fallowing him).
#2. We are dirt-bikers and the road has that incline straight, that has wheelie written all over it.
#3. A long fast wheelie would be enough distraction for a rider to misread a corner like that, because after all, (we think) he was impressing himself and his buddy.

 

[DefyInertia]

Bump

This one is tough. Seems like you recall an amazing amount of details. It sounds like in the end you didn't change you trajectory at all (considered options but stayed on course given the riders actions and the threat of other traffic)?

Were you standing at the time of impact? Hands tightly on the controls? Would "layin' her down" have changed the results much? What about jumping straight up? These are rediculous questions but good lord, this is a unique crash.

Does the other "rider" have anything to add?

 

[gbstone]

Only judging by the picture.....the other rider may have been riding over his head, with no skill or understanding of how to turn a motorcycle.

Once he couldn't make the turn he got target fixated and hit the rear brake.....may have hit rear brake and never touched front brake....either way only a novice would hit rear brake and skid

So he stands the bike up by braking and rides straight into you.....what ever your eyes are fixed on you will hit, .....lucky for him you were not a pickup truck.....you did the best you could.

 

[Wack]

Only judging by the picture.....the other rider may have been riding over his head, with no skill or understanding of how to turn a motorcycle.

Once he couldn't make the turn he got target fixated and hit the rear brake.....may have hit rear brake and never touched front brake....either way only a novice would hit rear brake and skid

So he stands the bike up by braking and rides straight into you.....what ever your eyes are fixed on you will hit, .....lucky for him you were not a pickup truck.....you did the best you could.

+1, overcooked it, locked it up and ran wide. OP could have tightened it up, gone inside and A) been a superhero or B) gone head on into a following car. An mentioned before react as best you can, look where you want to go and if you impact, don't tense, go limp, tumble, slide until you stop. If no traffic, stay put and self access any possible injuries.