Need a mechanic in Guatemala. Urgent

Holy Hell:eek1

Tough one to avoid, sometimes you just got to go slow. Looks like you came out all right considering the hit.

WHAT The F__K !

Did she do that on purpose???

Looks that way too me...

At the very least she could have checked her mirrors!















youdidalsotrytopassonassolideline

Vieja Pendeja !!

When you ride, you are going into battle.

Its a shame! what was she doing? Unbelieveble!

At least you are a good rider, handled the crash.

No gloves, brave indeed!:eek1

I am going to take a risk here and point out a couple of things, and I mean to do this with all due respect and not incite some sort of riot on here which might see me flamed terribly.

First, you were coming up on her pretty fast.
So many drivers in this part of the world are so distracted it is ridiculous. Stereo blaring, cell phone stuck in ear, changing movies for the kiddies, etc...yes, she likely was not deep in thought about nuclear physics, that is for sure!
She likely checks her rear view mirrors about once a year.

Second, going for a pass on that curve would not have been my plan.
I know that video can skew things and put things out of proportion, but I wouldn't have passed on that curve simply because I would have expected the driver
to drift to the inside. Again, most drivers here can barely keep a vehicle between the lines at the best of times, let alone on a curve, they always tend to drift from lane to lane or sit in the middle with little respect for the lines. I often wonder why they bother to put lines on the roads. Also, you can see tire tracks leading to where the woman stopped, the tracks are in front of the vehicle so there must be some reason she pulled over there. Not signalling is just a bad habit here practiced by about 95% of drivers.

Third, yes, I would have been wearing gloves. It gets real hot here, too, but ventilated gloves with knuckle protection are always on. Now, at the risk of sounding like a hypocrite, it was Guaterider and another big miles, life long Mexican rider, who convinced me of changing from the old "roper" style gloves I used to wear, to something with at least enough protection to give me a chance. I am grateful to them for patiently explaining why my 40 year habit was not a good idea.

Veter, I am sorry to hear you were having to do a tuck and roll, thanks for posting the video, it is an eye opener for anyone thinking about riding here.
Again, my 3 points above are simply observations and I don't want them to be construed as some sort of expert opinion, just some observations from my experience here. Few states or provinces in Latin American countries have any kind of driver exam, the chief driving instructor is a Brit guy named Charles Darwin.

Geez... you're the guy with the clutch from hell experience in Mexico.

Hope you get on the road soon, and don't wind up curled up in a ball on the floor of a cheap hostel room, with an empty bottle of skanky mescal. I'll give you a pass if you have considered it.

Push on and good luck, you've had more than your share of adventure on this one.

tricepilot, sure if it helps anyone

MikeMike,

Thanks for the tips. man, I agree with everything you said. Here is my explanation of what was going on for the others to learn from my mistakes.

1. I always wear gloves and was going without them that day only in order to control my camera. And here it comes.
2. When she started to brake, in my understanding she was going to stop at the roadside as ppl there often do. That is why I moved to the left to get ready to pass her. When she started moving left herself it happenned really fast and the only thing I could do was braking and drifting. Actually at that point I decided that they were bandidos trying to hijack my bike as the movement was really fast and aggressive. I had a pepper gun in my pocket and after I rolled from a bike I was waiting for them to open the door of the car to pull it out and use it.
3. I was breaking only with the front brake. After the incident I'm building up a habit to use both.
4. BMW pants saved my foot, I would definitely have broken it as I was in severe pain even with protection

mark883,

Ending up with a bottle of meskal in not an option for me. I need quite different takeaways from this trip :)
I just spent 2 weeks with a beautiful girl at a kiteboarding spot near lake Arenal and today plan to cross to Panama. Life is good and tough moments sometimes make it better - noone remembers just an ordinary day

And you've had quite your share of extraordinary days. You will be able to share an epic story of triumph over adversity, that's for sure. You're ok, that's what matters.

And still, your trip beats being trapped on that cruise ship with no electricity, and the shitters are backed up. You might not have heard about that in the news- dead in the water, being towed back to shore in the Gulf. FUN!

Mark

I think those situations are completely different. In my trip I'm looking for challenges as well as new ideas and new people. As for me challenges develop my ability to stay in control of the situation no matter what.

But this accident you raised here is totally out of anyones control. And those people there were not even looking for challenges, just for the rest with their families. You can't compare such stuff.

MikeMike makes some really good points about the incident. I know I take some chances riding in Mexican traffic and can see myself getting into that kind of jam. But it would involve the misjudgments MikeMike highlighted.

Glad you're OK and let the CATours guys help you. Hope the rest of your trip is a bit less, uhmmm, "instructive".

I'm glad you recorded the accident. I think she intentionally ran you off the road...I would get her insurance to pay for your damages, but that's me. That would've pissed me off