My Mastercard Commercial

DOT approved motorcycle helmet... $100

Leather motorcycle jacket... $200

Walking away from a 25 foot slide with only a sore elbow...

PRICELESS!


Yes, that's right. I hit a patch of gravel in the middle of the road today after getting my new clutch cable and bit it. I'm hoping I can track down the construction company that didn't clean up the road through county permits and make them pay for the repairs (fork and axle bent, mirror busted, stuck in gear, bent shift lever, bent headlight bracket, bent and scratched turn signals, new helmet, new jacket, $75 tow fee...). Pictures coming soon...

"Any day Mort(death) takes a shot at you and misses is a good day!" "Even better if he misses clean!"
Glad you is OK! Get the elbow checked, could be a floating bone chip and can bite you bigtime later.

Glad you're OK. Sorry about the bike. I hope you can get some satisfaction from the construction company. Sometimes, injuries take a day or two to show up.

Glad you're okay, man. Another fine example of the right gear saving someone's bod. Sorry about your ride but hopefully you can get the construction company wankers to come good for the damages.

there are different kinds of motorcycle riders..
here is alist of a few kinds
those who will never end up crashing
those who will crash once and never ride again to avoid another crash
those who crash because of no fault of their own and get really hurt or killed ..
those who cause their own death or serious injury..
professional racers who crash pushing hard or becuase of equipment or other racers..
then there are the rest of us who continue to ride ..some often even daily who crashed alot in the beginign. either becuase they were young and fearless(maybe dumb) and lacked experience..but sometimes if we don't die first..get more experience and begin to avoid their own mistakes and those of others and get faster ,safer,,and continue to ride ..allways anticapating the next scenerio..and teaching newer riders by our mistake stories
i am glad you are okay..and never like to see someone crash or hurt their bike..but...sometimes what is learned in a crash later can save your life ..and others you teach...peace craig, p.s ,every car is trying to kill you at all times..helps me stay alert

trianglelaguna wrote:

...p.s ,every car is trying to kill you at all times..helps me stay alert

OH! Did I forget to mention some lady in a van turned in front of me at the last possible second which is why I didn't see the gravel....was more worried about not hitting the dang van. Cop said he couldn't put the other vehicle in the report because we didn't hit (even though some folks got their tag #)...

I think I fit into the last category. I'm definitely going to ride again...just not sure if that bike will get repaired before I get something new...

Here's a great shot of the gravel. It's a nice 4-5 foot patch in the middle of the road I initially hit and went straight through. The road curves right there and I did not have enough time to take the curve before hitting the three foot patch of gravel from the curb out (which is what I slid on). And if you notice the speed limit, I was going at most 5 mph over....30 mph max! I was traveling in the opposite direction (toward the camera). Van turned left from opposite me onto the road you see left.






~Clutch

Here's an even better shot of just how much gravel is smack dab in the middle of the road:

And here is where I started to slide:

This is how far I slid (looks a lot farther in the photo). Starting about 4 feet behind the cop car, and there is at least another car length between the bike and the cop car.:




ps: I'm sparing everyone the closeups of the bike....not pretty

Glad you made it...really glad.

A few of us have gone down and are still riding. Glad you pulled through ok. But if your like me as I lay on the freeway with a shattered leg.....I look over and see my bike and that's what really got to me!

Apart from beautiful women saying no, the worst sound in the world is hearing your bike hit the ground. Been down a few times myself and was able to walk/limp away every time - no matter how hot it is I always wear boots, full face helmet, leather jacket and gloves when I ride. Glad you were too, hope the bike can be fixed.

Btw, speaking of gravel in the road, here's a pic I took in Santorini in September, it's our rental ATV on the left. Would have preferred a two-wheeler but as you can see road conditions were simply too bad.