Here in Wisconsin, I often ride in Amish country, which is cool, but sometimes when entering a curve, I will look ahead and see a big pile of poop, sometimes from an Amish horse pulling a buggy or from cattle crossing. Of course, more often it is a bunch of loose gravel. Either way, what is your response when you are already into your curve and leaning, but you know you are about to hit something that will make you slip. To be honest, I've done it often, but I am not sure what my response was. I think I may have done some of the wrong things, like touching the brake or straightening up. Never went down, but wondering if someone has a prescribed response to this situation, so I can preprogram my brain before my next back road ride.
Honestly, the only thing I can offer is very general advice. Always move slowly enough that you can stop on the road surface you can see.
+1 Set your cornering speed based on what you can see, and anticipate the hazard. When I see that sort of shite I have enough time to scrub off and straighten, maybe take two apexes (apexii?) around the corner... so you go a little slower - it ain't a racetrack, right? TT
We here in Ohio, around Holmes and Tuscarawas counties, know the meaning of "slippery shit" and "slippery as shit" and are well versed in riding the "Road Apple Chicanes". We always joke about it when leaving for Mid Ohio races, going the fun way. It is really a serious threat in damp conditions because then it only takes a light layer to be more slippery than simple wet pavement. In the Amish areas it IS usually a pile of crap, not gravel, but both are something to be wary of.
Always, ALWAYS leave yourself enough of a safety margin to be able to change your line, slow, or even stop for any eventuality that you may come across on the road. This depends a lot on the road conditions, the performance of your bike, and the skill of the rider. Only YOU can judge where this line is. And only YOU can pay the price when you do it wrong. Like Mark said above. "Slippery as shit" isn't merely a figure of speech.
I would like to apologize for my obvious stereotypical southern first thought. I'm afraid that the first thing that would pop in my head is "whoa shit!". Reigning in my cultural shortcomings, my next thought is don't drive too fast in areas where Amish folk will be using horses and wagons.
The thing not to do is fixate on the pile of poop or you will surely hit it, try to look at the good blacktop either side of it and thats where you will go (you should be able to stop in time too or you are going too fast) Stewart
I asked a fellow I rode with for a while this summer a similar question. Currently I always leave myself enough leeway to back off, straighten up or change position in the road, but he suggested that he pretty much realizes he's committed to the corner and just carries straight on through. Hey, if we have to pick up our dogs' shit from the road (even the pavement), why shouldn't they have to pick up their horse poop too?
Thanks for the replies. I have a vague memory of reading something where they had studied hitting slippery stuff in turns and found out the worst outcome was if the rider tweaked the brakes or clutch and the best outcome was to stay with your curve and count on the tires finding gription since presumably the whole road isn't covered in shit.
I do a lot of paved goat path riding through blind corners and the risks are gravel/debris instead of poop. I like to ride a bit faster than always being able to come to a complete stop within my line of sight, although I feel I leave myself plenty of margin to maneuver significantly around a hazard. A few things I do to minimize the risks encountering slippery stuff around a corner: - Keep you wheels in the outside tire tracks - it is likely that the cage traffic preceding your arrival has already created the cleanest, least slippery, path through the crude. The outside tire track will give a better view around right handers and keep your head away from opposing traffic on left handers. - When in doubt, hang off. Not for knee dragging/ground clearance, but just to keep the bike more upright through the corner. At any given cornering speed, having the bike a few degrees more upright will merely be demanding less traction from your tires. Also having your weight low and to the inside will allow the bike to slide much more gradually, predictably and controllably, than if you keep your body upright and pushed the bike down into the corner (high side city). - Of course, get braking done before the corner, neutral to roll-on throttle through the corner and be smmoootthhhhh with any throttle/brake transitions. I'm pretty religious with the above for rain riding, winter riding, starting out on cold tires, dry days after heavy rains, and on unknown roads. All pretty similar risks as your "shit."
Or at least lift the front wheel and hit the throttle hard at the right time to spray your buddy who's just behind you!
It's that darn religion thing again... if it weren't for that the Amish would be in Suburbans, vans (aka Yodertoters), and pickups!
I grew up around Arthur, IL, the big Amish community in our part of the country. For years I have joked that drivers from Arthur make good autocrossers and road racers because we are used to dodging the road apples to keep our cars clean for dates on Saturday night! Anyway, I never rode a motorcycle on poop covered roads so far, so all I can say is what has been, slow down and leave plenty of safety margin, don't fix on the problem, and take a line other than the middle of the road. My wife has horses so once in a while I have to dodge a pile in my own driveway....but she is pretty good about cleaning that up!
Oh yeah, forgot to mention, if hitting the slippery stuff is unavoidable (eg, all the way across the road), I'll straighten up too. Fortunately for me, this is a purely instinctive action, imprinted in my brain from being a lifetime alpine skier in icy Vermont/East coast crud. It generally goes like this: 1) you spot the slippery stuff 2) you tighten your line before you hit it, while you still have good traction 3) you straighten up as you go over the slippery stuff (still lightly on the gas is fine, relax, and let the bike get a bit squirrelly) 4) once clear on the other side, tighten your line again to finish your turn This is obviously easier to practice on the slopes, due to greater frequency of ice and lower consequences of error, but sometimes I practice with the bike by treating manhole covers, road stains and leaves as potential hazards.
Amazing how much conversation can be developed over shit. For a change the shit is stiring the conversation rather than vice versa!
This is exactly what i do. Plus i use random markings and objects in the road as practice to see how fast and far i can swerve in a turn whilst being in my lane.
