Mostly a mental thing. Cold tires, cold pavement, cold day. Took a turn and back end kicked out a little. Lost confidence for about a week in the corners. Could have just brushed it off, but mentally, it'll chewed at me for a while.

Kick out the back-end of your car, and you're like "YEAH! WOOO!", but do that on a bike, and you're like "F**KING S**T!" And pullover to change your undergarments.

 

I guess I'm different than most who have responded.

In the just now 6 months and 7K miles of riding in my time, I've scrapped pegs enough to bounce the rear end out, I've hit gravel and sand and did the rear end swinging back and forth. I've ridden in heavy asssleet and passed 3 cars who ran off the road because I had no choice other than to leave my bike in the city - nope. I've ridden in 2 horrible snowfalls because they snuck up on me (I knew they were coming but lost track of time). Again, in the snowfalls, I rode right by 2 intersection accidents and as I ride by they just look at me like they don't know what to think. I've ridden in all kinds of rain and even had the front end come out just a tad, but I was able ride itout.

Every time something like that happens, it spooks me. But as soon as I'm upright and back on the throttle, all is forgotten. I'm not spooked anymore and actually, my confidence grows. I always remember what I was doing that caused what happened and try to not do it again. I've had a handfull of close calls and personally I feel like I'm a better rider for it.

I'm not saying it can't destroy your mood to ride - just try not to let it.

 

sell the bike voodoo...your riding career is now over.

 

There's been a couple of times when I downshifted too soon and the back tire got a little frisky on me that made me lose confidence for a while. But that was MY mistake, and I learned from it.
When you hit gravel on the road, you can't dwell on it because it something that's out of your control. Maybe pull over to clear your head for a minute, but you can't let it affect the rest of your ride.

To me, riding is like golf. Golf is a mental game more than a physical one. It's an exercise in muscle memory and mental toughness. When you play golf, you're going to hit some bad shots. If you dwell on those bad shots, you're going to hit more bad ones and your day will be ruined. You gotta know in your mind that you're a good golfer and that you're capable of hitting great shots.

Same thing with riding. You gotta know that you know how to ride, and there's not much you can do about gravel.

 

just a note;

It's not just that you had a spooky moment... I think we've all ridden through crap and kept going. I think we're more talking aboutthe realization that you are not currently mentally *there* and for what ever reason aren't as capable as normal, as a result.

 

I will be the first to admit that I scan the road for **** due to a bad accident. I love to ride because I enjoy it the speed associated with it is a by product. Yeah you lose confidence but stop take a breather, collect your thoughts and then move on with your trip.

 

It scares the **** out of me every time. I just cant get used to it. One time someone on our block had their sprinklers run over the road. Of course they live where the road turns and there is a slight down hill and it froze that night. I go to make my turn and my back end just slides out, to me it feels like my bike just made and L shape with the back straight off to my right while the front is still going where I wanted. I know it prolly wasn't but my paniced mind was all of the place. Some how the back of the bike came back behind me before I hit the dry road again and everything was fine. But did I ever drive like sissy for a month on corners.

 

A lot ofriders say that is good to learn how to ride a dirt bike, even though you know what you're doing on a streetbike.
they say that if you learn how to ride a dirt bike (due tothe fact of bein loose all the time) you can have better controll and judgement in those situations.
I had the incident of almost losing the bike on a turn, because some cager decided to throw a beer glass on the turn.
Scared the crap out of me. when you're almost scrapin the knee and there is glass up ahead in your path.
But I've have to say that both dirtbike ridin, and the safety course helped my judgement and I was able to get out of the way.