The After-Crash Jitters

Went riding last Saturday with some folks, including a guy on a sport bike.

This guy had the "after-crash jitters". He's actually a cruiser rider, who crashed his Honda VTX a few months ago. He did so by leaning really hard into a curve, and apparently scraped it hard enough to where he lost traction and low-sided.

That was enough to convince him that he needed a motorcycle with more "scrape angle". So he bought a Yamaha FZ6, which isn't really a typical sportbike, it's more like an all-purpose bike. Not a dual-sport, but something that strikes a middle-ground between a cruiser, sportbike, and tourer.

So I figured "Cool, this guy REALLY want to hit some twisties hard".

But just the opposite. He's now a very cautious, and careful rider.

The ride was to Newcomb's Ranch, a popular hangout along the Angeles Crest Highway, a famed road here in Southern California, that connects the Los Angeles basin with the ski slopes near Wrightwood. It's 55 miles of some of the best riding in the Southland, hundreds of 25-40mph sweepers, no tight hairpin turns. You can hit these curves really hard if you know the road well enough.

Though right now, there's a road closure about halfway up the road. Still, the road is open through Newcomb's Ranch, and it's still an excellent ride if you really like to ride.

This guy on the FZ6 decided to pick up the rear of our group. He did ok on the freeway, but when we jumped on Angeles Crest, he just faded away from sight. I slowed it down to about 40mph, which is well within the comfort range for the average cruiser rider. But I still lost him.

I pulled over to the side, and waited. Some cars eventually passed by, and then several minutes later, he finally showed up.

So I continued on with the group. I pulled over a couple more times along the way, until we finally got to Newcomb's Ranch.

He explained that he had become a "changed" rider. But not so much that he had become an advocate of safe riding, just that he had totally lost his confidence. That crash gave him a really bad case of jitters.

He was shorter than I am, and had difficulty putting his feet on the ground. I stand at 5'8", I'd guess he's about 5'6". The seat height on the FZ6 is 31.3 inches. Compare that to his VTX which was 26.5. He could only get his toes on the ground. I'm not sure that FZ6 was such a smart idea.

I told him, "You sure got a great bike for riding the twisties!".

He said, "But I don't like the twisties. I prefer to stay on the freeway."

I tend to think the freeway is more dangerous.

The guy is a really nice guy. I felt kinda sorry for him. I've had the jitters getting back on a motorcycle after a crash, but those jitters go away after a couple of days. His jitters have been around for way too long, and has had a great impact on where he rides to, and having friends to ride with.

So I told him it's actually a really good idea to tackle a road like Angeles Crest Highway, and to hook up with a group. No better way to confront a demon than to face it head on.

And while I enjoyed hanging out at Newcomb's Ranch with him, his riding is so slow at this point that it becomes detrimental to a group of riders of having to pull over and wait every 10 miles or so. It would be ok if he knew the route well enough to get there on his own. But he doesn't know the roads well enough around here.

He needs to spend more time confronting that demon. I hope that at least having ridden with me last Saturday, along Angeles Crest, some of those jitters went away.