Cyclist flies off cliff NGC

[LowRyter]

Certainly possible that he CLAIMED that it happened.

Easier than claiming that he went into the turn too hot, got on the brakes, stood it up, and target-fixated right off the road, which looks like what happened ....

Has happened to all of us at some point, we just caught it before we went over the cliff and didn't NEED to claim that the steering locked up ....

Lannis

[Gliderjohn]

Never giving up and poor judgment are two different things. If the pilot blows an approach, does not use good judgment by doing a go around and gives up then pilot most likely will be dead, less likely if continues to try. Of course in a glider there are no go arounds.
GliderJohn

[Lannis]

Never giving up and poor judgment are two different things. If the pilot blows an approach, does not use good judgment by doing a go around and gives up then pilot most likely will be dead, less likely if continues to try. Of course in a glider there are no go arounds.
GliderJohn

Yes; that's sort of what I meant by "depends on what the goal is".   If the "goal" is to land on schedule at any risk, then you "don't give up".   If the "goal" is to live to fly another day, that's different.   

The desire not to be seen as "a quitter" often pushes people into bad-judgment situations ....

Lannis

[Motomoto]

Dealers used to include Keith Code's 'Twist' 1 & 2 with sportbike purchases.

SRs at 6:00min mark:
https://youtu.be/zjL_BO4fPpU?t=6m

[drbone641]

He ran out of talent.

[rodekyll]

He ran out of talent.

He thought that countersteering was something you do on a barstool while waiting for your drink.

[johnr]

Dealers used to include Keith Code's 'Twist' 1 & 2 with sportbike purchases.

SRs at 6:00min mark:
https://youtu.be/zjL_BO4fPpU?t=6m

Interesting vid that and good for a bit of mental revision.

The guy has six years riding under his belt so we can hardly call him a newbie.

I think that either he is one of those people that refuses to believe in the facts of counter steering with a religious like passion, or, more likely, he simply "shyed' at the corner.  This can happen when your head gets out of phase, as it were, with what you are doing and forgets what it has learnt in a situation which requires sudden focus.  I've seen it happen now and again with people that should have known better. Heck, it's happened to me on occasion, though I was back on task quickly enough to avoid subsequent unpleasantries.

As for giving up biking as a result, I wonder what he thinks his chances are going over a 250 foot bank in a car?

[redrider90]

I found a better video and here are 5 shots. It's pretty clear that he was not breaking but off throttle.
In the first photo he is a 51 MPH and nearing the edge of the road. He had already lost control of his bike.
Look at the distance to the pole. Next photo his is 48 MPH and moved over the white line but still on pavement. Next frame his speed is still dropping to 46 MPH and he still has not passed the pole and maybe barely on the pavement. 
The next 2 frames show his speed drops to 38 MPH and is way off the pavement and just past the pole.
Now look at the distance from the 1st frame at 51 MPH to 38 MPH. He clearly had enough distance to brake and never run off the cliff. He was frozen solid/target fixed and off throttle. He wasn't even going that fast.
Is that number "3" in the lower left corner of the speedo screen show the gear he was in? If so he was getting no engine braking in 3rd gear at that speed. He was just gliding off the road.

[redrider90]

Look at the curve and his speed. He easily could have rolled on the throttle and pulled on the bars. aka Keith Code. I took Code's course at Road Atlanta and it was a  lot like the link posted. Every time we got off the track he reminded us of throttle control and keep your shoulder loose on the handle bars. He harped and harped on it. And also reminding us that when you get into trouble you more than likely can use a little more throttle and counter steer to get you out of a mess. I came away from his course so much better. My wife noticed it immediately how much smoother and faster we could take curves and I am no racer by any means.

[MotoChuck250]

He went right where he was looking.  Rider panic and froze.

This might be but it looks like the Gopro was tank mounted so we can't tell where he was looking.

At the rate he was slowing down he was on the front brakes which has the tendency on most bikes to stand the bike up and make it go straight.

[redrider90]

This might be but it looks like the Gopro was tank mounted so we can't tell where he was looking.

At the rate he was slowing down he was on the front brakes which has the tendency on most bikes to stand the bike up and make it go straight.

He was not slowing down fast. He was gliding off throttle. Look at the photos I posted. His speed dropped only 9 MPH from the 1st photo to the 4 photo. If he was braking he could have been stopped when he got to the telephone pole.

[Lannis]

He was not slowing down fast. He was gliding off throttle. Look at the photos I posted. His speed dropped only 9 MPH from the 1st photo to the 4 photo. If he was braking he could have been stopped when he got to the telephone pole.

Pretty selective data.   If you take 4 seconds of data rather than just 1 or so, he dropped almost 30 MPH from the time he got in trouble to the time he started into the sky .... I'm still betting "on the brakes" and lost control thereby.

In any case, it's one of those experiences where I learn that I wouldn't have gotten into that situation.   There are many I would get into, but not this one ....

Lannis

[redrider90]

Pretty selective data.   If you take 4 seconds of data rather than just 1 or so, he dropped almost 30 MPH from the time he got in trouble to the time he started into the sky .... I'm still betting "on the brakes" and lost control thereby.

In any case, it's one of those experiences where I learn that I wouldn't have gotten into that situation.   There are many I would get into, but not this one ....

Lannis

I am not evaluating by the time frame but by the distance and speed seen on the speedo. The first photo I put up at 51 MPH shows him far from that telephone pole and he had already drifted to the outside of the curve. As you follow the next frames he just keeps on going off the curve almost if not in a straight line. His speed drops but not fast enough to claim he is braking. Even the pavement off the road would have taken mild braking without losing the front end. That bike has ABS and traction control. I bet he could had pulled as hard as he wanted and it would not have locked up. The bike was almost straight up. Look how much distance he had at 51 MPH until he went off the cliff. If he was braking he would have taken far more than 16 MPH off his speed.

At 50 MPH he is traveling about 75 per second. Look at the photo below. He crashes 4 seconds after this photo. Do you think he has enough distance to stop that bike? How far is he from that telephone pole and his speed at the pole is about 42 MPH. Braking distance for the FZ10 under optimal conditions is rated at 127 feet @ 60 MPH and at 30 MPH it is 34 feet.  So he clearly is not braking. 

[yogidozer]

misleading title. didn't exactly fly, now did he? 

[Lannis]

misleading title. didn't exactly fly, now did he? 

Well, Tiddles the Cat could fly across a room and land in a bucket of water ... so he did sort of fly.

[yogidozer]

Well, Tiddles the Cat could fly across a room and land in a bucket of water ... so he did sort of fly.

sometimes falling feels like flying......for a little while.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX4-U2r4lS0

[Darren Williams]

It's a phenomenon that's happened to many of us...

Mid corner we decide we would rather be a drag racer than a road racer.   

[oldbike54]

It's a phenomenon that's happened to many of us...

Mid corner we decide we would rather be a drag racer than a road racer.   

 Yeah , but Angelle would have made the corner 

 Dusty

[johnr]

Counter steering just drops the bike over into a lean angle quickly. That's great but there's a point where too much speed is still too much speed.

Counter steering does a lot more than that, unless of course your forks are vertical, in which case you are not going round a corner at all.   His speed doesn't look to much for the corner too me.

[Lannis]

When I don't want to be erect anymore I counter steer. What does it do for you?

I've never been in that situation, so I'd be no help .... I'm sort of the opposite.

[rodekyll]

When I don't want to be erect anymore I counter steer. What does it do for you?

There's no pill for that?   

[Chuck in Indiana]

Members here have made that corner too - it's Stunt Road, right exactly here...

goo.gl/TzpXTW

Someone should make an instructional vid of how to take that at 68 MPH.    

I've done it many times..  No.. not the flying part. 

[rocker59]

One thing that was always pounded into my head as student pilot was "never give up". If you stick with that attitude AND training with how to deal with at least some common likely situations you will be much less likely not to panic and will be more likely to deliver yourself or at least minimize he damage when SHTF.
GliderJohn

Yep.  A bike like in this video has way more capability than the average rider.  He should've trusted the bike and LEANED !!!

Hard to do when a n00b, though.  The natural reaction to entering a turn too hot is to stand it up and get on the brakes.  One has to work hard to overcome that natural reaction.  When in the motorcycle business, I used to have to ride with a lot of n00bs.  Saw the "stand it up and ride it straight off the road" thing happen on too many occasions.

I see this with horses, too.  When a horse gets rowdy, a rider's natural reaction is to bail off.  Unfortunately, bailing off will usually result in an injury.  Riding it out is normally the best option.  The horse will usually settle down, if handled properly.

Sometimes it takes years to teach people to resist the urge to bail.  Both on motorcycles and horses.