You can't predict everything

One of the phrases that gets thrown around in riders' forums is "All The Gear, All The Time."  I always subscribed to this philosophy because I could never predict when I would hit a patch of diesel on the road and go for a slide.

Another Melbourne rider, Blue Smith, had an equally unpleasant but even more unexpected incident recently which he's kindly agreed to share so we can learn from his experience - thanks Blue.

Hi guy's, just wanted to have a bit of a yarn about the events leading to the demise of my beloved Firestorm yesterday... This accident wasn't the result of stupidity or the actions of another road user, it was a freak accident...!!! I pride myself in my ability to cope with those moments of fear we all encounter on the roads, usually when pushing our limits to some extent... I've always been able to keep a level head until I could find somewhere safe to pull over, have a mini melt down then get on with my day...

A bee flying through my partially opened visor yesterday was something I never expected - I had a KBC IS16 with the internal sun visor, the bee hit my top lip before bouncing back against the visor and then angrily trying to get out and ending up slamming back and forward between the visor and sun visor... I was nearing the apex as this happened and it was enough to totally ruin my control over the bike - the result being a trip over the side of the Lake Mountain Road and a very lucky escape with only a few cracked ribs and a lot of internal bruising...

Be careful out there guys and gals, it can be the things you least expect that bring you undone :-)

Apart from the obvious "Always wear your protective gear coz you never know when you might come off", all I can get out of this is to ride with the visor closed whenever possible!  Which I guess means getting on personal terms with some of the anti-fog solutions for your chosen helmet's visor, because up until I read Blue's tale I have habitually ridden with my visor open a crack to prevent fogging up.

Thanks for sharing Blue, all the best for a speedy recovery.