I gotta be honest with you 0, after watching the vid again, if I got on it any quicker, I might have hit the guy. I mean, figure another second after the car leaves the frame, which puts me barely a car length in front. I like more clearance before I pull in front of a car after passing.


I was doing around 70 IIRC. I suppose I could've made it all happen faster if I went up to 75-80, but I've had people pull right into my lane without warning, so there's no foolproof way I guess.


The other bike planned his move before he knew what I was doing.

 

You didn't see him coming up on you?

 

I didn't see him. It was probably 10 sec since I scanned my mirrors. I'm still trying to make that to be a more frequent habit.

I obviously wouldn't have changed lanes without looking, but even if I just moved to the right in my own lane, we might have clipped.

 

The other drivers/riders on the road will always be idiots. They will always do stupid, dangerous stuff. There is no point in worrying about that. All you can do is rely on your wits and deal with it.

If it feels like I'm pushing back on your "this guy was an idiot" view, it is because I am. I think you spent too much time lingering in the left lane, and it is inexcusable to have someone come up and surprise you on your six.

You had a borderline close call. I understand you are a fairly new rider. I encourage you to look at this event as an opportunity to learn what you could have done differently, and not bother with thinking that if only the other guy hadn't been a douche.

 

Hey the guy probable had some place to go....When you gotta go....You gotta GO...........

 

......... that was my thought too
..... use those mirrors, there be **** comin' at'cha from all directions !

 

That's why I post here. I commuted 110 miles on my Harley today...I can handle some constructive criticism. I don't post stuff like this to be patted on the back.

FWIW, the trip home was uneventful, but I was working those mirrors.

 

Many years while enduring mandatory Motorcycle Defensive Driving for Motorcycles through the Dept. of Defense, we taught when passing don't leave the tire track side of the lane open. In this case the other rider thought you left the right tire track open for him to pass you. If you had stayed in the right tire track when you passed that car the rider would have passed you on your left. So goes the line of thought from school. Again check those mirrors. Ride safe.

 

We had a rider get killed in a sort of similar accident here a couple of weeks ago. Two riders traveling closely together in the right hand lane of a four lane 50 mph non-divided 'highway' came upon a slower traveling car. The lead bike changed lanes and went to pass the car. At the same time the trailing bike did the same thing, but also accelerated. He was either thinking the lead rider would speed up to pass, or just trying to pass between the leading bike and the car. Either way, the two bikes clipped. Both crashed, the trailing bike rider died. The leading rider and his passenger are both still in the hospital.

The really tragic part is that both bikes were leaving a memorial ride for a local rider who had died in a motorcycle accident the week before.

 

Passing situations like that are my opportunity to get the bike over 100.


Cross thread points?