Rider down... low side crash in a curve - Motorcycle-Journal Forums

tallannie · 03-25-2007, 11:14 PM

Hi all,
I am just back from a great trip riding some fabulous roads ...maybe 400 mi of fun ... which I cut short when I dropped my C50 in a curve at about 30 mph?

We were riding highway 49 way up near Sierraville (near Tahoe) and I managed to drop my bike in curve on some sand. There is a ton of sand on the roads due to the recent winter snows. I saw I was a bit too wide in the left turn and as I tried to tighten up my turn with countersteer on the left handlebar, the front wheel just came free and I slid on my engine guard / windshield / left knee off the road. Tore up the skin on my left knee pretty badly and have about 30 stitches in it now. I have an "immobilizer" I have to wear for 2 weeks while the skin tries to reattach... he said I lost enough skin that I might need grafts. Definite scar that my husband says looks like a largescale roadmap of hiway 49 ...

But everything works fine physically in the knee and all my other safety gear protected me well. My left engine guard got badly bent ( but no broken legs or serious bike damage). My modular helmet is scraped up along the jawline ( I must have had the left side of my face scraping the road....but no problems with my real jaw). My new pretty leather jacket is all torn up on the left arm (but my arm is fine). My boots are dented ( but my toes are fine).... etc. I am a walking advertizment for the value safety gear !

I was wearing only regular levis and actually I have ordered, but not received, a pair of kevlar lined jeans. They have kevlar knees and butt and if I had been wearing them, I may have walked away unharmed.

I will be away from riding for 6 weeks or so the doc says while I grow some new skin. This is probably a lesson everyone has to learn, I understand...and it does not diminish my love of riding one bit.... just chastened me... I was lucky and I still have a lot to learn.