At the core of everything is our mindset. What a rider believes at the pivotal point of a harrowing scene often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I hate to say it, but if you tell yourself you’ re going to crash, you probably will. Conversely, if you tell yourself you will make it through this godforsaken curve, then you will dutifully emerge unscathed with the luxury of time to reflect on what just happened. What we believe is what will likely occur, so believe you will make it through the curve safely.

What can we do to eliminate those mid-turn“ Oh crap!” moments altogether? In my instance, if I had set a more conservative entry speed, I would have been able to manage lean angle and cornering clearance. I would not have chopped the throttle mid-corner, collapsing the bike’ s suspension and further reducing the already limited cornering clearance. It would have been easier to stay calm and relaxed, making smooth steering and throttle inputs and looking through the curve in search of the safe exit.

But there I was, screaming Oh, man, this is bad! inside my head. I tensed. I stared. I froze. And then something miraculous happened. I changed my mind.

In a split second, I decided I was going to make it. I’ m not sure if it was pure willpower( my unwillingness to have to explain to my cousin how I just trashed his precious new bike), but I do know I made a critical decision to survive the turn. And when I made that decision, my eyes shifted to the exit, my arms relaxed, and my determination kicked in. I don’ t ever want to repeat the experience, especially on someone else’ s machine, but I learned that day that we have choices and effective tools available when we need them most.

I never told Denny about that incident. Back in the driveway when he asked me how the ride was and how I liked his bike, I said I loved it and was only a little surprised that it didn’ t have quite as much cornering clearance as I’ d expected in case he ever saw the scratches and gouges to the underside of the otherwise pristine bike. Sorry, Cuz. It was bad, but it could have been much worse.

Eric Trow is a life-long motorcyclist and renowned motorcycling proficiency expert. He developed the modern Stayin’ Safe method of advanced rider training and can be contacted at etrow @ stayinsafe. com.

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RIDERMAGAZINE. COM / MARCH 2026 / 11