Like I said in the title, I just came back from the hospital. This is the story...
Since I get to try bikes of all brands and sorts (except enduro, which I don't care for) my boss booked me for an advanced skills training. We are theoretically bound to go through it every 2 years, but I do it every year because I consider my self a lousy driver. I know I'm not, but riding motorcycles doesn't give many second chances to people with overinflated egos.
Anyway, we were doing the ABS v. non-ABS braking and doing several passes at increasing speeds. We applied the front brakes only when driving by the cones on the test track, and measured the stopping distances.
I started with an ABS bike (I wasn't driving my C14) @30 mph , then 40 mph, and finally 55 mph. Two passes at each speed, pulling only the front lever brake in order to get used to the ABS kicking in.
The first 5 passes were a hoot and I learned to trust the thing. In the last pass, just when I was by the cones I eyed the speedo to check my speed and that's when I saw the red ABS warning lamp on. Unfortunately my hand was already on the lever and the signal was already dispatched from my brain. Next thing I know the front wheel blocked and smoking, and the instructor jumped out of my (eventually possible) path.
Now, I learned to do full braking on a non-ABS Suzuki Bandit so I am (or was) trained to let go the lever immediately upon front wheel lock up, but in this case I was so relying on the damn thing that it took me probably an extra half a second (and judging by the black mark on the pavement this seems realistic) to release the brake lever. This caused the bike to start leaning right and when I though I was going down I kicked the floor with my right leg. It was just a reflex, nothing to be proud of, but it did save me from falling at almost 60 mph. Both instructors congratulated me for saving the situation, although I keep thinking if it wouldn't have been a better idea to just fall, but I don't think so.
However, when my right foot touched the ground, because of the speed, it was shot backwards and my calf hit the rear frame. The doctor from the ambulance explained me that the hit was so hard that I almost got something called "muscle compartment" so they took me to the hospital were I've been under observation for the last 48 hours.
Lesson learned on my first training: how to brake without ABS.
Lesson learned on my second training: how to brake with ABS.
Lesson learned this year: keep in mind that things can fail, so never let go the basics out of your brain and be prepared to use them. Duh!
BTW, I'm fine. It hurts a bit but it'll be fine in a couple of weeks, and I can drive my bike this weekend already