Major Agusta
09-03-2008, 01:13 PM
Hey Ya'll,
Hopefully the story has been told and you all know I walked away. I'm fine.
See, what had happend was (haha); it was a very nice 3rd July day, sunny, no wind and not hot. Went for a ride with Badrepp66, and two other army buddies of mine (Howard & Cortez; can't remember their screen names right now). The ride took us HWY 217, to 26, some back tracking to Skyline, to Cornelius Pass back to 26 to 47 (to Vernonia) then some real country stuff back to HWY 30.
Well, the whole ride went great with no incidents, and there were sections out there I knew I had to slow way down for. So all was well when we arrived in the little town of what I think is Deer Island (north of St. Helens). There we gased up and got onto HWY 30 headed home, all of us breathing a little easier (we all admitted to this later when we talked over the whole thing) that we had a great ride without mishap. On HWY 30 we cruised not busting triple digits often but here and there, enjoying the big space we had on the two and three lanes in the more developed areas.
I was following the lead bike by what seemed like lots of space doing 70-75mph in a left hand corner. About at the apex I spot the lead bike and what seems like the brightest brake lights ever, and in my minds eye I saw the future; me slamming into the back of him. I grabbed (unfortuneatly, yes, I grabbed) the brake, hard, and never felt out of control but the next thing I knew I was slamming down on the pavement. Before I was separated from my bike I remember thinking, "damn, I'm down." and began rolling. My first reaction was to reach out my arms to slow myself and quickly realized I needed to wrap up and relax. I didn't roll for long and stopped face down and looked up (I was in my lane looking back the way I came - no traffic coming, the other two riders had driven around me as I was rolling). I rolled to my left to get out of the middle of the road and then I started figuring out where I was hurt. I had hit the pavement on my left side knocking the wind out of me so that was the first thing - catching my breath - which took a while. The lead bike had flashed his brake lights to warn us he had seen a cop on the side of the road just around the corner, that cop was the first one who came to my aid. He came into view above me to stabilize my neck and head, he asked me how I was but I still couldn't talk. When I finally caught my breath I laid there a bit longer wiggling fingers, limbs, and stuff to see what was hurt. In the end, I have several scrapes that happened because the pavement ate through the seams on my jacket at my elbow, ate through my gloves, and, my left knee is still just a bit sore from the initial impact. My bike flipped at least one time (this I know because as I was rolling I caught a glimps of it flying verticle, front wheel pointed skyward, about a foot and a half off the ground) and was totalled. I was wearing leather jacket, mesh gloves, full helm, and heavy denim riding pants I was wearing for only the second time. Let me be 101st to tell you all, gear - gear - gear!
Sorry I disappeared for a while, I've actually been traveling (army training) almost the whole time since the accident. And yes, I'll be on another bike again soon.
Hopefully the story has been told and you all know I walked away. I'm fine.
See, what had happend was (haha); it was a very nice 3rd July day, sunny, no wind and not hot. Went for a ride with Badrepp66, and two other army buddies of mine (Howard & Cortez; can't remember their screen names right now). The ride took us HWY 217, to 26, some back tracking to Skyline, to Cornelius Pass back to 26 to 47 (to Vernonia) then some real country stuff back to HWY 30.
Well, the whole ride went great with no incidents, and there were sections out there I knew I had to slow way down for. So all was well when we arrived in the little town of what I think is Deer Island (north of St. Helens). There we gased up and got onto HWY 30 headed home, all of us breathing a little easier (we all admitted to this later when we talked over the whole thing) that we had a great ride without mishap. On HWY 30 we cruised not busting triple digits often but here and there, enjoying the big space we had on the two and three lanes in the more developed areas.
I was following the lead bike by what seemed like lots of space doing 70-75mph in a left hand corner. About at the apex I spot the lead bike and what seems like the brightest brake lights ever, and in my minds eye I saw the future; me slamming into the back of him. I grabbed (unfortuneatly, yes, I grabbed) the brake, hard, and never felt out of control but the next thing I knew I was slamming down on the pavement. Before I was separated from my bike I remember thinking, "damn, I'm down." and began rolling. My first reaction was to reach out my arms to slow myself and quickly realized I needed to wrap up and relax. I didn't roll for long and stopped face down and looked up (I was in my lane looking back the way I came - no traffic coming, the other two riders had driven around me as I was rolling). I rolled to my left to get out of the middle of the road and then I started figuring out where I was hurt. I had hit the pavement on my left side knocking the wind out of me so that was the first thing - catching my breath - which took a while. The lead bike had flashed his brake lights to warn us he had seen a cop on the side of the road just around the corner, that cop was the first one who came to my aid. He came into view above me to stabilize my neck and head, he asked me how I was but I still couldn't talk. When I finally caught my breath I laid there a bit longer wiggling fingers, limbs, and stuff to see what was hurt. In the end, I have several scrapes that happened because the pavement ate through the seams on my jacket at my elbow, ate through my gloves, and, my left knee is still just a bit sore from the initial impact. My bike flipped at least one time (this I know because as I was rolling I caught a glimps of it flying verticle, front wheel pointed skyward, about a foot and a half off the ground) and was totalled. I was wearing leather jacket, mesh gloves, full helm, and heavy denim riding pants I was wearing for only the second time. Let me be 101st to tell you all, gear - gear - gear!
Sorry I disappeared for a while, I've actually been traveling (army training) almost the whole time since the accident. And yes, I'll be on another bike again soon.