Yup, I did it again.
The best guess as to what happened is a combination of cold rubber, cold tarmac, and nearly new tires. Personally I have no idea what happened and witnesses don't seem to have any answers either.
This is what I saw:
After bench racing for an hour or so down at
Cascade Moto Classics I decided to leave. They were closing pretty soon anyway, and I was hungry. Anyway, to get out of the dealership you have to exit onto a four lane road with lots of traffic and turn left.
I saw a hole in the traffic and actually quite slowly entered the flow of cars. Once I was moving and straightened out (about 50 feet) I gave it a good handful of throttle to get up to the speed of the traffic coming up behind me.
I probably was doing between 40 and 50 MPH.
The next thing I know is the bike falls out from under me and I see a succession of images, sky-tarmac-sky-tarmac-sky-tarmac. About the third roll I had sense enough to cross my arms over my chest and tuck up my knees. Evidence shows that I rolled and/or skidded over 75 feet. Poor speedy slid about double that and came up to rest against a curve bleeding oil. I quickly got up and moved out of traffic.
I am not injured except for sore muscles and two small bruises. WEAR YOU GEAR, FOR BUDDHA'S SAKE! It worked for me. My gloves are a total loss, as is my helmet (duh). My jacket now has "character" but is otherwise in pretty good shape. My pants have a small tear just superior to the knee armor. I think my backpack saved me from any spinal injuries. It now has "character" too. :-D
The bike? I don't want to talk about it. Just look at the pictures below.
From this experience I have learned a few things;
1) I am never riding again without every stitch of armor I posses.
2)
Cascade Moto Classics are the nicest people you could hope to deal with. Within a minute Bob the sales manager and Scott (a local rider hanging out just like me) came running up to help. They picked up my bike, rolled it back to the shop, and were incredibly nice and understanding about it. I can't thank them enough. Scott even gave me a ride home, which is about a 80 mile round trip.
Once I reached the shop I got very nice hugs from (In order) Owners daughter
Tara, Parts girl
Liz, and Owner
Janice. This was as good for the pain as the Ibuprofen I swallowed instantly. When owner
Kelly returned he instantly came to help, and gave me information about people to contact for repairs and etc. Now you see why I've been dealing with them for over 10 years. They've
always taken care of me.
3)
Axio Hard Packs Rock! My laptop is undamaged, and my digital camera was still in good shape. The bag itself is probably in better shape than my helmet, although the stickers are somewhat worse for wear. Excellent product.
4) I'm pretty feaking lucky. Perhaps Motorcycles aren't the best choice for a hobby for me, but I'm not stopping. After all,
Glory lasts forever, wounds heal, and chicks dig scars. Do you realize how much sympathy I'm going to get in my massage class for this?
5) Good Chinese food is a pretty good substitute for Vicodin.
Anyway, that's the story. I'm really not sure about the end of it, although I know it'll hurt more tomorrow.
And finally, this is one of my
Favorite classmates.
Linear Mode
