ocdmachine
Member
Normally I do not share embarassing moments in my life with the public at-large but my previous life taught me the value of "after-action" reports. It is also incumbent upon us all to share experiences that can teach others the lessons some of us decide to learn the hard way.
So here it goes. A beautiful Sunday morning for a ride on the FJR with good friends. Location is Hwy 580 west of Lampasas,TX. This is a great motorcycle road with curves and easy sweepers that rarely has a lot of traffic. One of our favorite rides taking the backroads to Coopers in Llano. Now the real kicker is that a group of my Harley buddies & I rode this same route a couple of weeks ago and knew that they had done some road resurfacing by dumping gravel everywhere for the cars to grind in.
We all took it easy back then and I had just warned a new rider about the gravel on the roadway and to not get aggressive in the curves. Well . . .
Suppose I should have listened to my own advice! Here is the curve that did me in. If you look close you can see the darker gray in the curve that is the loose gravel. I knew it was there and entered at a safe speed.
Here is the view of the left sweeper after I had just cleared the curve. It appeared fine with no gravel so I nailed it and chose what I thought was a decent apex to negotiate the curve. 2 mistakes. First there was still residual gravel carried by vehicles this far out and my rear wheel swept out to the right as soon as I hit it. Secondly, I delayed entry too late and ended up too close to the outside of the roadway. I was able to counter-steer and keep the bike upright but ran out of roadway and into the ditch I go.
Initially it looked like I was going to come through OK and be able to ride it out but the dirt in that part of the country is clay and that and grass and speed on street tires don't mix well. She went down pretty hard and slid a couple of hundred feet. Here the DPS Troopers are trying to determine the point I left the roadway.
We had a slight gentlemen's disagreement on that point as I was pretty sure it was farther back since I rode upright for a good distance in the ditch. Bike slid on the left side and flipped over to the right. My friends had picked the bike up prior to DPS arriving.
Appears to be all cosmetic damage only. Will get her in next week for the insurance claim. ATGATT is appropriate here. I'm guessing I went down between 50-60 mph. I had really cranked it after clearing the curve so pretty sure I had her up to about 70. Helps going down on dirt & grass versus asphalt :blink:
Final result: 3 fractured ribs, fractured sternum, broken right hand, and a badly bruised right knee. Was wearing my padded riding pants and mesh jacket, gloves and of course the full-face helmet. No doubt whatsoever the proper gear kept me from being seriously injured.
The humbled look
Learn from my mistakes, this was a mental lapse with 100% fault on me alone.
So here it goes. A beautiful Sunday morning for a ride on the FJR with good friends. Location is Hwy 580 west of Lampasas,TX. This is a great motorcycle road with curves and easy sweepers that rarely has a lot of traffic. One of our favorite rides taking the backroads to Coopers in Llano. Now the real kicker is that a group of my Harley buddies & I rode this same route a couple of weeks ago and knew that they had done some road resurfacing by dumping gravel everywhere for the cars to grind in.
We all took it easy back then and I had just warned a new rider about the gravel on the roadway and to not get aggressive in the curves. Well . . .
Suppose I should have listened to my own advice! Here is the curve that did me in. If you look close you can see the darker gray in the curve that is the loose gravel. I knew it was there and entered at a safe speed.
Here is the view of the left sweeper after I had just cleared the curve. It appeared fine with no gravel so I nailed it and chose what I thought was a decent apex to negotiate the curve. 2 mistakes. First there was still residual gravel carried by vehicles this far out and my rear wheel swept out to the right as soon as I hit it. Secondly, I delayed entry too late and ended up too close to the outside of the roadway. I was able to counter-steer and keep the bike upright but ran out of roadway and into the ditch I go.
Initially it looked like I was going to come through OK and be able to ride it out but the dirt in that part of the country is clay and that and grass and speed on street tires don't mix well. She went down pretty hard and slid a couple of hundred feet. Here the DPS Troopers are trying to determine the point I left the roadway.
We had a slight gentlemen's disagreement on that point as I was pretty sure it was farther back since I rode upright for a good distance in the ditch. Bike slid on the left side and flipped over to the right. My friends had picked the bike up prior to DPS arriving.
Appears to be all cosmetic damage only. Will get her in next week for the insurance claim. ATGATT is appropriate here. I'm guessing I went down between 50-60 mph. I had really cranked it after clearing the curve so pretty sure I had her up to about 70. Helps going down on dirt & grass versus asphalt :blink:
Final result: 3 fractured ribs, fractured sternum, broken right hand, and a badly bruised right knee. Was wearing my padded riding pants and mesh jacket, gloves and of course the full-face helmet. No doubt whatsoever the proper gear kept me from being seriously injured.
The humbled look
Learn from my mistakes, this was a mental lapse with 100% fault on me alone.
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