It *is* possible to motocross a TLR...

....when one gets complacent about a stretch of fast A-road and then
panic-brakes when the large oncoming vehicle on a right-hand bend
passes to reveal a parked van on ones side of the road.

I did at least have the sense to let off the brakes and yank the bars
to unweight the front wheel as I went over the verge.

Shook me up a bit, partly because I still don't know why I didn't see
the van earlier-it's quite an open stretch of road, though the
oncoming vehicle may have masked it, but also why I didn't just steer
round it when I did see it. I am, to say the least, disappointed by my
reaction to a real unexpected hazard.

Still, stayed upright and regained the tarmac after a short bronco
ride.

Apparently no damage done and a lesson learned.

 

Sounds like you did pretty well all in all. So you just had to clean the mud
off the tyres and the sh*t off the seat then?

 

Oh, bugger. I thought that was mud too!

 

Naah. Tastes completely different ...

 

could your view of the road ahead have been bettered by a different road
position ?

Target Fixation ?

Were you centered soley on the truck, and not the van ?

Do you ride this road often ?

Too many questions ?

 

Possibly, I don't recall making a positive effort to swing left on
this occasion because it is one of a series of fairly gentle curves
with wide verges. There is a tighter bend of the series, going the
other way, where I do deliberately move over to improve visibility
round the hedge rows. I certainly didn't make extra allowance for the
oncoming traffic on this occasion, which may not have helped.

I think I just thought "oshit" and hit the brakes without further
synaptic activity. Once on the brakes, I was certainly well aware of
the back of that van looming, with the descending buzz of the disks
acting as a sort of soundtrack. So once on the brakes, quite possibly.
This was the first time that I can recall that I've felt the need to
brake hard urgently from speeds above about 30mph to avoid something.

Even on the track days that I've done, braking was as hard as I'd
dared but always anticipated and effectively "planned".

No, not really. The truck (or maybe a bus, memory is a bit hazy) just
sort of moved aside in my field of vision to reveal the van.

Not every day but well into the hundreds of times. That's why I think
I got complacent. I got used to "knowing" that this bend could easily
be taken at this speed... in fact I was making, um, good progress as
they say, but was actually taking it fairly easy. Just a pleasant
trundle...

Yes. Stop it. Stop it now! I can't take any more of this!

 

OK boys, let him go.