You do realize that a bike sliding on its side has less traction than an upright bike with the
brakes applied. Laying a bike down looks good in the movies, but the bike will stop faster with the
brakes.
I'm in John's camp when I comes to braking versus "Had to lay her down"
Then again I'm one to talk!
I'm sure there are exceptions to the rule.
There's always the helmet story exception:
"I'd never wear a helmet 'cause a helmet's what killed a buddy of mine! He went down and slid off a
cliff, and his helmet strap got caught on a tree, and it busted his neck damn near clean in two!"