Interesting stories.

I have had one accident, which was mostly my fault. I think I have told the story on here in the past; I was on a VStar 1100 and was following an old guy (83 y/o) in a Caravan who had left town with a 35 mph speed limit and was now a 55 mph two-laner. Driver never sped up past in-town speed and I was getting annoyed. I was overconfident at this point in my riding career, and unjustifiably so. I rode his rear bumper and was waiting for an opportunity to pass.

The driver slowed down even more and started to veer on to the narrow shoulder to the right. I interpreted that as an imminent turn into a driveway on the right, so I rolled on the throttle to go around him on the left. Next thing I saw was his van turning left in front of me. I did not know how to swerve or countersteer at that time. I also had fallen in love with the rear brake only, due to convenience. I locked up the rear, started to go over low side, steered the other way and was hurled off the bike high side and skidded on my knees and forearms towards the front of the van.

Luckily, the old man saw this and stopped and I skidded in front of him and landed in the gravel on the left side of the road. No permanent damage on my body, just some painful road rash from wearing inappropriate gear; stretched tendons in my right foot when it got caught under the bike that took years to get back to 80%. Bike was totaled. Driver was issued a ticket for failure to use a turn signal to turn left. I learned later on that the driver was a former tractor trailer operator and was making an unnecessary wide turn left out of habit.

Traffic court found him not guilty, insurance mediator found him guilty.

I gave up riding for the next two years.

Seeing people ride around lit the flame again. I promised myself if I got back into it, I would train and practice and be an ATGATT rider. I bought another VStar in 2014 and slowly got back into riding. I watched videos, practiced, and wore my gear. In 2015, I had a 6000 mile riding season and I knew it was time for a longer distance bike. Enter the F6B in October of that year.

I am confident if that road scenario were to occur again today, I would not have an accident. Why? I am a much more cautious rider and I feel I can handle a bike much better in regards to making it go where I want it and need it to go these days. I probably would be several car lengths behind that driver, allowed him to make his turn without a signal and off I would go, merely shaking my head at questionable driving tactics of the guy in the van.

I have to admit I go through a stretch of fear a few times per riding season where I feel vulnerable on a bike, that an accident is inevitable. I worry this affects my confidence and my ability to focus and manage a close-call event should I encounter one. I continue to work on battling this.