Marilyn and I went "adventure touring" on the DL 1000 V-Strom on Friday and had adventures. Pavement north and east out of Manhattan, Montana (Hwy. 346) to gravel Hwy. 290 north and east along Sixteen Mile Creek to Ringling, probably about 50 miles of gravel. First 15 or so is maintained, and last fifteen or so, with the middle 15-20 unmaintained. That middle section was basically decent dirt, but it had been wet and someone came through with evidently a four-wheel drive so there were ruts 2-6 inches deep, which we successfully navigated around until about the 25 mile mark. Then, I got into one 4-5 inches deep. Bike's front tire went left and Marilyn and I and the rest of the bike went right at about 15-20 mph. Hit the ground hard and slid about 15 feet in the gravel.
It is absolutely amazing how fast you go from riding along, enjoying yourself, perfectly vertical, to slammed to the ground, sliding, watching gravel and dirt flow through the opening in the helmet, dust everywhere, wondering how badly you just screwed up: did I hurt Marilyn? Did I screw the bike up to the point we can't get out of here? And, oh, is anything on my body broken? All this as dirt flies and grinding noises are heard.
When the dust settled, my right foot was pinned between the ground and Marylin's right foot, which was pinned between my foot and the bike. When I started tugging on my leg to extract my foot, Marilyn would yell. I thought, uh oh, broken ankle. Of course, with both of us on our sides on the ground, there was no way to gain any leverage to lift the bike to free our feet. The tank bag was askew and gasoline was leaking onto it and the ground. I had to ignore Marilyn's yelps while I pulled and tugged. I finally extracted my foot but Marilyn was still caught, the rear footpeg pinning her boot to the earth. I got the saddle bags off and out of the way and the tailbag, then managed to lift the rear wheel enough that Marilyn could pull free.
She quickly affirmed nothing was broken, ankle just twisted and sore. We assessed damage: my right knee sustained most of my impact, just banged and rashed a little and sore and stiff (kevlar in the knee area of the Draggin' Jeans did a good job, jeans hardly the worse for wear and tear), gloves and leather jacket dirty and scuffed, helmet and face shield above the right eye gouged and rashed; Marilyn's right shoulder sore, ankle swollen and stiff and turning purple, no damage to her jacket(!?), boot scuffed a little and sole partially torn loose, helmet scratched and gouged above and over the left eye ...
Got the bike righted and assessed: foot brake lever bent around from 90 degrees to about 40 degrees, right front signal light stripped off the stalk, some scratches on upper fairing, handguard, mirror, more scuffing on crash bar ... otherwise, good to go.
Put the luggage back on, remounted and rode another 20 miles or so out to Ringling. Found more sore spots Friday night and more yet Saturday and Sunday.
Monday, Marilyn's coworkers urged a visit to the doc and X-rays: fractured bone in her ankle, a "boot" for six weeks. Ah well, could have been worse, as the cliche goes.
Discovered the Suzuki engineers built the V-Strom to sustain light crashes without disabling damage. For example, the signal light is designed to come apart and off the stalk without its destruction. It all goes back together and continues to function. I discovered earlier the hand control levers are designed, in the event of a fall, to snap off the first inch and a half or so and leave a usable piece to enable continued operation; they actually cast in a "scored" weak spot to induce breakage at a salvageable place on the lever. Someone was thinking.
It is absolutely amazing how fast you go from riding along, enjoying yourself, perfectly vertical, to slammed to the ground, sliding, watching gravel and dirt flow through the opening in the helmet, dust everywhere, wondering how badly you just screwed up: did I hurt Marilyn? Did I screw the bike up to the point we can't get out of here? And, oh, is anything on my body broken? All this as dirt flies and grinding noises are heard.
When the dust settled, my right foot was pinned between the ground and Marylin's right foot, which was pinned between my foot and the bike. When I started tugging on my leg to extract my foot, Marilyn would yell. I thought, uh oh, broken ankle. Of course, with both of us on our sides on the ground, there was no way to gain any leverage to lift the bike to free our feet. The tank bag was askew and gasoline was leaking onto it and the ground. I had to ignore Marilyn's yelps while I pulled and tugged. I finally extracted my foot but Marilyn was still caught, the rear footpeg pinning her boot to the earth. I got the saddle bags off and out of the way and the tailbag, then managed to lift the rear wheel enough that Marilyn could pull free.
She quickly affirmed nothing was broken, ankle just twisted and sore. We assessed damage: my right knee sustained most of my impact, just banged and rashed a little and sore and stiff (kevlar in the knee area of the Draggin' Jeans did a good job, jeans hardly the worse for wear and tear), gloves and leather jacket dirty and scuffed, helmet and face shield above the right eye gouged and rashed; Marilyn's right shoulder sore, ankle swollen and stiff and turning purple, no damage to her jacket(!?), boot scuffed a little and sole partially torn loose, helmet scratched and gouged above and over the left eye ...
Got the bike righted and assessed: foot brake lever bent around from 90 degrees to about 40 degrees, right front signal light stripped off the stalk, some scratches on upper fairing, handguard, mirror, more scuffing on crash bar ... otherwise, good to go.
Put the luggage back on, remounted and rode another 20 miles or so out to Ringling. Found more sore spots Friday night and more yet Saturday and Sunday.
Monday, Marilyn's coworkers urged a visit to the doc and X-rays: fractured bone in her ankle, a "boot" for six weeks. Ah well, could have been worse, as the cliche goes.
Discovered the Suzuki engineers built the V-Strom to sustain light crashes without disabling damage. For example, the signal light is designed to come apart and off the stalk without its destruction. It all goes back together and continues to function. I discovered earlier the hand control levers are designed, in the event of a fall, to snap off the first inch and a half or so and leave a usable piece to enable continued operation; they actually cast in a "scored" weak spot to induce breakage at a salvageable place on the lever. Someone was thinking.
