so, i had the distinct pleasure of totalling my beloved sprint last weekend. i'm fine, but that's all she wrote for the bike. here's the story, and the pics...
i was racing around some twisty backroads, and in the middle of making a sharp turn at about 40 mph (not sure of the exact speed, could've been more), i lost traction, and the bike and i slid off the road and into a tree. I don't remember it as well as i'd like; it's a turn i've taken plenty of times before, and while i was definitely going faster than one should on a public road, i also noticed that there was gravel right where i'd lost traction. it was in the outer half of the road at the exit of the turn, so it looks like my line was running a little wide, but not so wide that i should've run off the road, which makes me want to blame the gravel demons... can seams in the road affect traction? look at the pics and tell me what you think.
anyway, all I remember is leaning into the turn, and then all of a sudden I'm sliding across the road. There's about a second of sliding, and then darnkess (presumably I was tumbling, as both sides of my jacket show damage), and then "crash". After the crash I found myself lying on the ground with the bike on top of my leg, and I couldn't get my leg out. I noticed steam coming from the bike, and then I saw that fuel was spilling everywhere, and I was like holy s---, I'm about to explode, I've got to get out from under this thing- it was a bit frightening for a few seconds as I struggled to lift the thing enough to pull my leg out. Somehow I managed, and the bike didn't seem like it was going to explode, so I stood it up and surveyed the damage.
At first I was thinking, I hope it's not so damaged that I can't ride it home. should be able to ride away from a lowside, right? the only damage should've been scratches on the left side. Then I realized that the underside of the bike had hit the tree at full speed- the frame was cracked in two places, the engine mounts were snapped, and upon further inspection, a chunk of the clutch cover was sheared off as well. It was then that I realized how serious the accident was- I saw the mark the bike left on the tree, and I started to do a reality check on myself, looking for broken bones, but I was just a little bruised up. It was confusing to see the frame of the bike snapped like it was and be walking on my own two feet, but I was ok. My brand new vanson mesh jacket- it had literally come in the mail the day before and this was the first time I'd ever worn it out- was shredded, as were my draggin jeans, there was a small scratch on my helmet (not sure how that wasn't any worse), the side of my left boot was scratched, and the knuckle guards on my gloves were ground down about 25%. thank god for good gear, eh?
So, I tried to call 411 to get the number for a tow truck, but my cell wasn't getting good service. Which sucked a lot, because I was hoping to avoid police involvement- I flagged down some guy in a car, told him I needed a tow but couldn't get cell service, so he said he'd call for me up ahead. Unfortunately he called the cops instead of a tow truck, but the cops were very nice, and similarly mystified that I was walking around given the shape of my bike. What sucked was that they asked for my registration, which I keep under the seat, and I couldn't get to it because things were so bent up that the latch wasn't working- I had to spend 20 minutes pulling at things and eventually wound up pulling the gas tank even further off the bike- and spilling more fuel- in order to get to my paperwork. But the cops were nice, they told me that on the accident report they'd write that the wreck was caused by me hitting debris in the road (as opposed to improper operation), which was awful nice of them.
And now…
photos.
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