Thought I would share what I learned this weekend riding "the sisters" in the Texas hill country.

• #1 Don't ride with a bunch of inexperienced riders
• #2 Don't let your son talk you into switching bikes without some practice
• #3 Don't ever feel too confident in your abilities
• #4 Pavement can become glass in a split second
• #5 Gloves and a thick wallet can sure save your hide

I rented a Yamaha V-star 650 for my son's first longish type ride - felt it was small enough and forgiving enough for him to get good experience on.

We were riding the three sisters in the Texas hill country - left from Dallas Saturday, Sunday had ridden all 3 sisters.

My first mistake was allowing him (my son) to talk me into switching bikes on what I thought was going to be a fairly straight road back to Kerrville.
My second mistake was following him too closely just because he's my son and I was still apprehensive.
My third mistake was feeling too confident in my own ability.
My forth mistake was improper emergency braking.

So here is what happened:
The rest of the group (made up of a couple of seasoned riders and three inexperienced riders (my riding buddy's sons) and his wife were well ahead of us and for whatever reason, they decided to all stop for a picture, unfortunately at the bottom of a very short blind curve (see bullet #1).

When my son came around the corner on my RKC, seeing them all stopped, he jumped on the brakes (see bullets #1 and #2).
I, following too closely (see bullet #3), saw him jump on the brakes. I remember seeing the tread on my RKC's back tire - kind of an everything goes into slow motion type image and thought he was going down so I applied the brakes on the V-star to not hit him, locking up the back tire (riding an unknown bike, too much back brake) and I laid the V-star down (see bullet #4). Incidentally, I'm convinced the ABS on my RKC kept him from locking up and going down as well.

Only damage was to my jeans and my pride (see bullet #5) but learned a number of valuable lessons that I thought I knew.

 

What kind of damage was there to the Vstar? Glad it didn't end up worse for you guys.

 

Only damage to the V-Star was the left rear tail light post. Yes, could have been a lot worse. Still amazed at how slick pavement can become in a heart beat.

 

Man that wallet was a savior!
At least it was the rental bike that went down.
Glad it wasn't the king.

 

This posts is making me consider carrying two wallets. Glad you're okay and you didn't end up getting into the RK.

 

Pretty funny :-).

My goal in posting this is so that someone can maybe learn from my idiocy.

I've read other members mention not riding with inexperienced riders. I've read other members warn against improper braking - remember the video of the guy that had his bike jump on him after he face planted from improper braking (all back brake). I've read members talk about practice practice practice and yet I broke all of these rules - after years and years of riding. It is amazing how easy it is to do - all of these things that lead up to me being on my backside were easily preventable.

 

One of many lessons here is how unforgiving pavement is (including pavement that's suddenly become "smooth as glass"), and how little protection denim offers from a slide...

 

Looks like your wallet saved your A$$

 

What did the "inexperienced riders " do ? Seems you appeared be the least experienced by your own account, by being the one who went down. I'm glad you didn't get hurt .,,

 

I'm glad you only hurt your pride. Even a slow speed crash can leave you busted up.
Sometimes a learning experience is a good thing.