I think I had an angel looking over my shoulder that day, it was scary times and put me off biking for a while.
A few of us was dicking about around Petworth and Bury Hill and every sensible rule went out the window.
Don’t ride outside your limits chasing someone who is faster than you on a bike and roads you’re not familiar with....... recipe for disaster!!!
I was following a friend who is a lot faster than me on his bike, at the top of Bury Hill the left hander tightens half way round (didn’t know that). I F***** the previous corners up and tbh wasn’t feeling it that day but foolishly I was determined to make up ground. Couldn’t even see my friend at this point and got my line all wrong started the corner in the middle of the lane at 90+ got half way round the corner tightened and then….. had that heart stopping realisation I wasn’t going to make it…… There was traffic coming in the other direction there was nothing I could do….. I tipped it over trying to find more tyre it wasn’t there….. I low sided in what seemed slow motion. My leg was trapped under the bike (thank god for extra long crash bungs) sliding into head on traffic cars swerving around me. My leg came free the bike collected the curb and shot off up the road, I was tumbling at this point over the curb and ploughed into light shrubbery. A bloke who narrowly avoided me help me out of the bush, I escaped with a couple of light scratches to the legs pretty f****** lucky considering I had no leathers on. I was obviously more concerned about the bike and the fact it wasn’t mine, but this bloke said he was a biker and take it from him I was lucky to be alive and he was expecting to be fetch a dead body from the bushes.
This thought me a valuable valuable lesson, it put me of bikes for a while….
One of the worst things that day was having to ride my bike 30 miles home, an hour after the crash.
But 8 months later I done my first track day at Cadwell Park and it been plain sailing since….. well almost hahaha
Funny thing was just before we headed out on each other’s bikes my friend turned to me and said “you bend it you buy it” lol !!
