Only took me 3 months, but I finally ate it at the entrance to my work this morning. Basically, there's a patch of gravel sitting on the asphalt right in the middle of the entrance and you really have to turn early to avoid it. I've run through it very slow and upright a couple of times and I was going a touch faster than I usually do and was probably carrying some lean angle. As soon as my front tire touched it the bike was on its side; it was immediate, no sliding or fighting even though it couldn't have been more than 20mph. Though once I was on the pavement I did have time to look over at the bike sliding on its left side and notice sparks under the bar end weight as I was sliding right next to it, thinking "damn that's not going to look pretty". The bike is alright, both fairings already had cracks in them when I bought it...now the left one has a bigger crack and some scratches. The bar end is scratched and the clutch cover has more scratches on it now.

My elbow/forearm would have been seriously fucked up without my jacket. I basically landed right on it and slid. I also scuffed up my knee slider and the side of my knee but the pants look pretty good, and I drilled my left toe pretty good judging by the wear marks on my boot. Everything is still in fine shape though. It was definitely a good case of why to wear full gear...I would have been pretty bloody/bruised otherwise but I'm not even sore. I am pissed that my jacket/boot is scratched up though.

I guess the moral is to avoid gravel at all costs (no ****) and go slower when you know it's around. I had been progressing pretty well too, but I'll be getting back on the saddle when I have to drive home from work today.

 

Ouch! Glad you made it through without too much injury.

Ever give any thought to clearing out the gravel?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by marmaladedad &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ever give any thought to clearing out the gravel?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I have since about 7:20 this morning.

 

that sucks man done that plenty times on a dirtbike, glad your aright.....
i

 

Sorry to hear about your spill, good thing you had some gear on.

Speaking of which, I need to invest in some knee and hip protection, for under my jeans. Any suggestions?

 

Also sorry to hear about the spill... Just take comfort that it happens to EVERYONE.

Make sure you log this in the memory bank and try and carry on conscientiously as I am sure you already do

 

gear

 

Made it home with no wrecks so I'm 1 for 2 today.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GSpeedR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Made it home with no wrecks so I'm 1 for 2 today.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I guess that's a good thing.

Sorry to hear that you went down, but better at work and slower speeds than on a freeway. Take what you can from the experience, and continue to gear up and progress as a rider.

I have about eleventy billion off-road and motocross/supercross crashes under my belt, but only 3 on-road crashes so far: 2 low sides on the freeway in inclement weather (once was the first rain of the year, the other was a snow and wind storm on I-80 going over Donner) and a low side in the canyon riding over my head. I have learned from every one of those crashes, and have ridden the first rain of the season w/o a problem since then and in snow w/o a problem... as for riding over my head, that was a noob mistake, and I have clocked 12,000 or so responsible miles since then.

It happens to all of us.

 

yep, its good experince to have under your belt. and scuffing your jacket is just gonna add some character. but thank god it was at a low speed. and there wasnt too much dammage.

 

Sux man glad your ok. My first dump on a bike wasn't preety but it was funny. I just bought my first bike and was anxious to show it off. i was at a party for awile when someone asked if they could hear it. The bike was cold so i turnes the choke on and i started it. When i looked down i thought a saw the Nuetral light on but it was the light for the brights. Needless to say that when i let go of the clutch the damn bike took off on its own and almost went right through my buddies living room. LOL im just glad that it was a old 98 Katana and not my RC, But till this day i never done anything that stupid with my bike again, the burnt hand teaches best.