HOV Safety Ride

9 riders gathered on Sat Oct 13 in the morning at Kallang KFC for this HOV ride conducted by Endlessloop. The Street Smart thread in SBF was the main source of publicity for this safety event. Thanks to Andrew (Kushinagar) for his help in publicity in SBF, as well as MotoV riders Lawrence and Michael who came down to help out in convoy riding.

Endless in yellow giving a talk on the key points in his HOV riding technique.

The participants took turns to share their experiences. The helmet talk-Discussing the pros and cons.
Turk emphasizing the different braking distance with different methods.
Well.. It started raining. The one hour theory stretched on for another 40min. We finally decided to convoy out in the rain and continue with the practical portion of the HOV ride when it seemed that the rain was not going stop any time soon.
Ah Seng was the lead bike. Using radio sets with ear pieces, he applied his HOV technique through a running commentary while riding. 3 participants convoyed behind him and heard his scanning of hazards as well as saw his riding. I was the last bike.

As we approached a traffic light along a straight road at around 40 km/h or so, the lights went amber when Turk and I were both approaching the last arrow. Turk braked to a stop. I started braking while aligning my bike slightly right. The next thing I knew was that I lost the front wheel's traction and flew forward face first. The kerb loomed nearer as I flew, and to make matters worse, my bike was now behind me pushing me forward. I did stop just after the stop line, with my right leg pinned down by the right pillion footpeg, and the bike was now lying on its right side almost parrallel to the stop line. Darn! That sucked!

In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have expected Turk to beat the amber, so I would put this down to my inexperience being the sweeper in a convoy, and bad judgement on my part that I was following too close. I may have lost traction due to incorrect braking (too hard), or due to the last white arrow (slippery when wet), or both. This self skid was totally avoidable and it was wholely my own error that caused it.

Thankfully, my armoured glvoes protected my hands as I pressed them down real hard. I was also wearing a full face helmet, but thankfully this did not come into use. Apart from a bruised ego and and knee, I'm otherwise fine and live to learn from my mistake.

Crashbar saved the day for the engine.
Street Smart Tip of the day, which I learnt the hard way. Ride safe :)