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So my brother, his friend chris and I went out riding tonight. I was a little wary anyway since Chris just got his license.
I've ridden with my brother a ton of times, and he has an old cruiser bike so we never really tear up the corners too much. Chris just got his license though and isn't very good on a bike yet.
Well we decided to cruise to the next town over on what michigan guys consider 'twisties'. We came upto a hard right and a faster left. I was in the lead and when I hit the left, I could feel my bike just jittering and bouncing, tons of big pea gravel. I held the lean and just started to pray. I was damn near out of the corner and I felt the back end kick a little and it dropped off the road, I saved it, BARELY, rode through a low ditch and put it down in the guys yard before I got to the end of the ditch (and cinderblocks)
I swear, I hadn't even taken a full deep breath and Chris comes blasting through the corner, into the ditch and flips the damn bike. thank god he hit it about 60 ft before I did, I didn't see him at all, just the bike cartwheel, my brother was right behind him and watched him go right through the corner, I guess he didn't even hit the brakes until he was off the road. I ran up and before I could even tell him to stay down he was up and trying to lift up his bike. I don't think the lucky sod even had a scratch on him. His helmet was SCRATCHED up bad.
So here's the damage inventory.
Me - scraped up forearm up until where the jacket I was wearing rode up a little, a hickey on my left hipbone where I must have hit the handlebar when I laid it down.
Bike - My left smoked turn signal has scrapes... anybody need a right one? and the fairing that was already scraped up from the PO dropping it on asphalt at 30mph has now got some scrapes from dirt in his yard. Other surface scrapes on the rear fairing, but a respray will take care of that.
I feel terrible for chris though. He was meant to be behind my brother. My brother had just waived him before the 2 corners and I had no idea (it was dark out, all I could see were headlights). I feel so responsible because I wan't out to race anybody or endanger him, it's just one of my favorite roads and I sped up for those two thinking my brother would be a cushion between me and Chris. Thank god he's ok.
I didn't want him to ride his bike at all. I offered to grab the truck, but after my brother took it for a test ride up and back, and Chris not wanting to leave his bike there, we rode it back SLOW. I didn't want to go over 25 miles an hour because of the unknown state of the bikes (his trashed the front fairing, windshield, dented tank, dented exhaust, scraped up engine covers, bent clutch lever. (and I didn't know if I'd screwed up my bike too). And I was just replaying it all over and over.
I'm still pumped with adrenaline and it was probably an hour and a half ago. I'm gonna go wash up some more and stop over at my friends house. I need a beer in a BAD way.
Signed,
No longer feeling invincible.
I've ridden with my brother a ton of times, and he has an old cruiser bike so we never really tear up the corners too much. Chris just got his license though and isn't very good on a bike yet.
Well we decided to cruise to the next town over on what michigan guys consider 'twisties'. We came upto a hard right and a faster left. I was in the lead and when I hit the left, I could feel my bike just jittering and bouncing, tons of big pea gravel. I held the lean and just started to pray. I was damn near out of the corner and I felt the back end kick a little and it dropped off the road, I saved it, BARELY, rode through a low ditch and put it down in the guys yard before I got to the end of the ditch (and cinderblocks)
I swear, I hadn't even taken a full deep breath and Chris comes blasting through the corner, into the ditch and flips the damn bike. thank god he hit it about 60 ft before I did, I didn't see him at all, just the bike cartwheel, my brother was right behind him and watched him go right through the corner, I guess he didn't even hit the brakes until he was off the road. I ran up and before I could even tell him to stay down he was up and trying to lift up his bike. I don't think the lucky sod even had a scratch on him. His helmet was SCRATCHED up bad.
So here's the damage inventory.
Me - scraped up forearm up until where the jacket I was wearing rode up a little, a hickey on my left hipbone where I must have hit the handlebar when I laid it down.
Bike - My left smoked turn signal has scrapes... anybody need a right one? and the fairing that was already scraped up from the PO dropping it on asphalt at 30mph has now got some scrapes from dirt in his yard. Other surface scrapes on the rear fairing, but a respray will take care of that.
I feel terrible for chris though. He was meant to be behind my brother. My brother had just waived him before the 2 corners and I had no idea (it was dark out, all I could see were headlights). I feel so responsible because I wan't out to race anybody or endanger him, it's just one of my favorite roads and I sped up for those two thinking my brother would be a cushion between me and Chris. Thank god he's ok.
I didn't want him to ride his bike at all. I offered to grab the truck, but after my brother took it for a test ride up and back, and Chris not wanting to leave his bike there, we rode it back SLOW. I didn't want to go over 25 miles an hour because of the unknown state of the bikes (his trashed the front fairing, windshield, dented tank, dented exhaust, scraped up engine covers, bent clutch lever. (and I didn't know if I'd screwed up my bike too). And I was just replaying it all over and over.
I'm still pumped with adrenaline and it was probably an hour and a half ago. I'm gonna go wash up some more and stop over at my friends house. I need a beer in a BAD way.
Signed,
No longer feeling invincible.
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