Emergency manoeuvring is often underestimated as a matter of why you should know how to do it. Why it is safer to know what to do when you need to do it.
For example I was riding along on a country road and was expecting nothing until suddenly a deer shot out of the Slegg Lumber Parking Lot. Luckily there was no one behind me and I already knew that and I was able to just break really hard and let the deer run.
In those situations it is important to remember to check quickly where you can go with your bike, either slow down hard, swerve or accelerate. Now Swerving is really the only option if you can not slow down and have plenty of space ahead on either side of the obstacle.
Slowing down rapidly is really only possible if no one happens to be tailgating you which we all know is not all that uncommon as we like it to be. However when you need to brake hard the bike behaves very differently from a regular slowing down you have to clutch of course and shift down as you slow down so that you can get the hell out of the way if someone didn't see you brake behind you. Now it is paramount that you hold your bike straight when breaking in this way its not like slowing down slightly in a turn you will most certainly fall if you try to manoeuvre with that level of breaking. If you have ABS trust your system when you feel the vibration of ABS kicking in and hold on to your brakes if you don't have ABS you have to make sure that you don't lock your wheels during braking.
Don't stare down look ahead adjust your position as needed and make sure you see whats going on and how what you are braking for is moving. This will allow you to insure that you wont be surprised and also you will know where you will end up. This will allow you to start thinking about how can move after the object is moved around.
The last one Accelerating is rarely a good choice but there are occasions when it works best and can get you out of trouble. BE VERY CAREFUL with this one don't do this unless you are certain of it being best. You sacrifice space and also often can't see what is going on ahead of you. Past turns, vehicles or even the item you are trying to evade.
If you are not comfortable with low-speed manoeuvring, emergency braking or swerving. I would recommend to find an empty parking lot for practice and insuring that you know how you and your bike will behave in the emergency without some nasty surprise needing to happen.
This will also provide you with more confidence when riding knowing that you know what to do.
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