VanillaThrilla

Yep, it finally happened after all these years riding! I lowsided on a group ride. Fortunately it was only slightly due to my own error, but it happened none the less.

I was second in the pack and the leader and myself were rolling pretty hard on a road I was not terribly familiar with, so I guess that was my first mistake, but I wasn't riding outside of my means. Well, I lost my nerve after I took a banked curve that tossed me to the wrong side of the road, so I started backing off a little bit wanting to get a better feel for the route and to let the people behind catch up. I'm approaching a sharp left hander and start braking pretty hard and setting up my body positioning to flick the bike over into it when I see gravel in the line I was taking... I freaked a little inside my head but tried to calmly brake harder and stand the bike up. Well, that worked, mostly anyway... I stood it up and almost missed the gravel but it still caused the tire to wash out from underneath me and I ended up on my side. Once it started to go over I almost saved it once again but before I knew it I was on my back. Luckily I had scrubbed most of my speed off going into that situation and the bike didn't slide much or very far before it was in the grass. I mean, literally, just a couple feet really. It ended up in the grass and I'm really surprised it didn't tumble or flip since I wasn't exactly sitting at a standstill. If it had slid about another foot, it would have taken the bike and myself for a ride about 15 feet down a hill into a creek full of rocks, sticks, trees, etc.

My left mid fairing is a little scratched up and my frame slider shows that it went down but it's really not that bad at all considering the circumstances. It didn't brake the shifter, peg, or lever... small scratch on my Motovation weighted bar end, but barely noticeable.. and that's really pretty much all! It kills me to know I scratched up my fairings since it's going to be hard to get a replacement in candy plasma blue, but I'm just glad I got up and walked/rode away from what could have been a bad accident. I rode for another 3-4 hours after it happened and although a little shook up, I wasn't afraid to get right back on and ride her the way I like to ride her. My helmet shows no scratches or damage, nor does any of my gear other than my left glove which has a small scrape on the palm! I really don't think things could have been much better other than the obvious--if I hadn't gone down.

Be safe out there fellas! I'm thankful I was geared up. This was my first time going down--EVER!

BentValve

Glad you are ok. Another testament to frame sliders.

Mongoose87

glad to hear it. Like they always say it is not a matter of if you go down, it is a matter of when you go down.

ultravietnam

good save bro. Again, glad you're able to dust yourself off and hop back on and ride home.

goosane

Glad you're ok and had your gear on. By cartoon logic, you and your bike would have instantly blown up if you had fallen down the hill. Its crazy how long it takes to stop when you go down. If felt like I was tumbling for like a half hour when I did.

Jesus

Gear +1

oNi

Damn, glad you made it out alright and still riding.

Ride safe all.

D.Nick

Damn Adam. That blows but is awesome at the same time. Haha. Glad you are ok.

VanillaThrilla

Thanks everyone! In all honesty, if you're going to go down, that's definitely the way to go! It couldn't have happened in a more ideal way!

My shoulder and part of my back are sort of sore today, probably from impact, but my body is fine and if you weren't paying close attention to the bike you would still think it just came out of the showroom. LOL! To have been going as fast as I was going (not fast, but it was fast considering how little we actually slid from point of impact), it looks more like the damn thing tipped over. Very light abrasions on the stator cover.

KING OF THE WORLD!

VanillaThrilla

Oh, and I checked... I didn't see any horseshoe in my ass. Might be lodged up there pretty good though