This has happened to me twice in the past week and was hoping you guys could give some tips to aviod crashing.

I wrote this for the Women in the Wind:

"In the canyons out here, we commonly cannot see all the way through the turns. Our views are blocked by trees or rocks. For safety, we should be riding on the outside of the turn so that we can see as far through the turn as possible. For a right hand turn, that means riding closer to the yellow line. But for a left hand turn, that means riding closer to the shoulder.

"So, what I would like you all to do is to set yourselves up for turns by riding in the wheel tracks on the outside of the upcoming turn. Do NOT move to the inside of any turn until you can see fully through the turn, so you can see what is coming. That way you can best avoid dangers either in the road or in the other lane."

If you are on the outside of the turn, you can spot the gravel sooner and can choose what to do about it. That's one step.

The next step is to SLOW DOWN! If you are going into a turn without thinking there might be gravel or a dead cow or a car stalled right outside your sight line, you're not riding safely. Ride ONLY as fast as is safe given your sight distance and your ability to stop or swerve out of the way under the conditions. Or, on gravel, to you will want to STRAIGHTEN UP and go over it as upright as possible.

Make sense?

Good advice!!

I lived in Pacific Beach from '93 to '96. I had a great time there, although I didn't ride motorcycles at the time.

Marco

...SLOW DOWN!...
Bingo. Don't know about how much to push to the outside of the turn (I like to have a bit of safety margin) but if you don't know the road is clear SLOW DOWN.

And if you start to slip a bit, don't do anything abrupt.

If the back end starts to slip out keep on the throttle, stay off the brakes and pray it links back up without tossing you off :). YIKES!

Sachi's methods are covered well in the Proficent Riding series of books. This method is called "delayed apex turning" and allows one to see farther through the curve. I recommend these books highly.

Here in the Bay Area, riders who go out into the mountains to ride, have a different theory - on right turns stay to the right... or else.

Here's an AWESOME thread from a local forum talking about this issue:
http://www.southbayriders.com/forums/showthread.php?t=136

I took a look at that thread, Alex. I can understand what those riders mean, but they aren't really staying to the right - they are simply riding in the center of the lane, instead of riding at the far left edge of the lane on right hand turns. The "stay right on right turns" language is misleading.

enter the turn at a SLOW speed so when there is gravel you don't have to worry about it...that is how I do it and when I see that is is clear I give it gas

Here in the Bay Area, riders who go out into the mountains to ride, have a different theory - on right turns stay to the right... or else.

Here's an AWESOME thread from a local forum talking about this issue:
http://www.southbayriders.com/forums/showthread.php?t=136

There's a lot of uninformed riders there who are going to wad up bikes while riding unfamiliar roads.