So I went out to the parking lot to practice (of all things) tight circles and cornering, so I could get more of feel for them - both to the right and to the left.

This lot, however, was very sandy. Even the clear spots had a little sand tucked in between the jagged surface of the pavement. Still, I found a relatively clean patch that was just large enough for me to ride an oval or figure-eight at a decent speed. I rolled around this patch for quite a bit, but I still wasn't able to get my right knee down. So, then I decided I would concentrate on just riding in circles, making them tighter and tighter until it happened.

Well, it worked well for the left knee, but I just could not bring myself to ride at the speed and make the turn tight enough to bring my knee down on the right side. So, I finally gave up on that. It seemed that I was just not as comfortable on that side with cornering. And, no wonder. I don't get as much real high speed cornering experience turning right, since that's the danger direction.

So since I wasn't going to get it done on the right knee, I decided to get more comfortable leaning the bike over on the left. That went well for a while, and I was grinding down that knee puck pretty good. The thing is, the air temperature was not as warm as it usually was. Today it was around 80 degrees down from 90+. Also, I was still using the same high tire pressures 35/39. And, I was riding around at a relatively low speed, no more than 35 mph. Oh..., remember that I said that this lot was very sandy (the sandlot). All of these factors combined means that I had to be extremely smooth and careful on the throttle.

I was rolling around in these tight circles I figure at about 15-20 mph. Pretty slow. My left knee puck is scraping steadily now, just one long constant drag. Suddenly, before I even realized it, my shoulder is on the ground and I'm still pulling on the throttle. The engine starts revving like crazy. I had to make a conscious and deliberate effort to let go of the throttle grip so that the engine could slow down. The leathers held up well on the cheese-grater style pavement. There was some damage (mostly scratches), but the frame sliders held the bike off the ground pretty well.

I've gone over the fall in my mind countless times after it occurred to try and figure out just exactly what caused it to happen. The tires were gripping just fine.

I realized that I was maintaining a very delicate balance traveling at that slow speed. I was riding in 2nd gear, at 15/20 mph, and maintaining the lean. At that point when the rear tire broke loose, I had just twisted the throttle a little too much, and a little too sharply for the conditions. And, BANG!!! Down I went.

That's enough practice for today.