Well.. it finally happened. Almost exactly 2 months into riding, I have crashed (and most likely totaled) my baby.
It was just like any other normal morning, except I decided to go on a canyon ride with some other riders.
We went up State Highway 243 (Idyllwild). We were coming back down the mountain, and as I approached a pretty wide turn, I came down too fast, and knew it right away.
I subsequently attempted to upright myself and brake, and during that whole process I was target fixating on the shoulder/guard rail that I really did not want to run into.
I ended up running onto the shoulder, hitting the guard rail on my right side, bouncing off and landing on my left side, and I slid a solid twenty feet, and my bike went about 10 feet into the middle of the road.
I was ATGATT, of course, and thank god.
I was wearing some Kevlar and knee padded riding jeans, my AGV Sport Sniper jacket, Bell RS-1, and A* SMX-2 gloves, and A* Fastlane boots.
My gear actually did it purpose, surprise
. I have slight rash on both my knees, and my left big toe is pretty bruised (I think I kicked the ground while tumbling).
Other than that, I am actually okay, and pretty happy about that.
As for my bike..
The right fairing is scraped and slightly cracked (from hitting the guard rail), both rear sets are completely broken off, my left turn signal broke off, and of course, my front fairing is scraped up, the side fairing is completely rashed/cracked, and my rear seat fairing is cracked and scraped.
But it gets better, my front tire got gashed, my front rim is bent inward at one point, and both of my forks are bent inwards, to where the tire is hitting the fairing.
The insurance adjuster should be coming in the next few days, so we'll see if he totals it or not.
I'm hoping he doesn't, because I love that bike, and there are a lot of good aftermarket parts I'd hate to see get totaled out.
On another note, a guy I was riding with went down about 40 feet in front of me at the same time when he hit a patch of gravel, panicked, and grabbed a hand full of front brake and high sided.
His front fairing is in complete shambles, and it looked more like a street fighter after than a zx-6r.
His bike was in the middle of the road, so if I had actually been making the turn, it could have been a lot worse, so in some sort I'm happy that if I was going to go down, I went down when I did.
Pictures will follow soon. I've got to get over the emotional part to go out and take pictures.
I cried. I'll admit it. I love that bike.
Unfortunately, I leave for school in two weeks, and I can't take my bike (before the crash.. and after), so I won't be able to ride until thanksgiving time at the earliest (if they don't total it).
But.. hopefully I'll be back on the saddle soon.
I know what I did wrong, and I've learned first hand what target fixation can do. Hopefully I can improve and do better next time.
Oh, and @
fishdip, my gloves held up in a crash higher than 30 mph.. so I think you owe me a pair of gloves
