Oft said is that there are two types of bikers, those that have gone down and those that will. I’ve re-joined the former. The last time I went down on the bike was way back in ’79 after an afternoon thunderstorm in Pensacola. I re-upped my membership this past Saturday on the Skyline Drive.
Chris and I had left Vienna early in the morning to join the Triples meet at Big Meadows. We had an uneventful trip to the drive, and enjoyed a vigorous ride up Rte 211 to the Thornton Gap entrance. Speed limit is 35 and I was pushing it a bit here and thereto get to Big Meadow; didn’t want to miss anything. The park service maintains the drive with asphalt and cinder patches. The low speed limits keeps the cinders from be blown off the road.
We were doing pretty good avoiding the cinders until we passed Spitler Knoll. The road goes down into a blind right curve with an abundance of cinders. My line took me right into the middle of them. I guess I rolled off the throttle, felt the bike skid left and out from under me and I was one with the cinders sliding on my right side, wondering what my son was thinking of all this. Once I came to a stop, I tried to stand up but fell down like I was drunk. Waited a moment before trying again and walked to my bike to assess the damage. An Aramark employee coming the other way and had stopped asking if I was alright. Nothing seemed amiss. He helped me get the bike up and it fired right up.
The damages from front to back; dinged and shaved headlight rim, broken front signal lens, shaved and now leaking master cylinder, shaved brake handle, broken mirror, ground down case guard, dangling aft turn signal, snapped off high beam switch and turn out tank bag point. My gym bag with my clothes and gear had fallen down between the bike and the ground and that got shredded as well as a Fairfax County Library book put probably protected further damage to the bike. The turn signals still worked so I taped the aft dangler back on the stem with some athletic tape.
I sprained my left thumb, dinged my helmet and my jacket got some severe abrasions on the right arm. Got some scratches on my right leg and my gloves got torn here and there. Makes a pretty good argument for wearing protective gear.
I limped into Big Meadow both literally and figuratively and finally meet up with the Triples group. A number of them had also encountered the cinders and knew what I was talking about.
The engine, suspension and tracking felt sound, and the brakes and electrical worked. I got over my initial shock and felt the best thing to do was ride on. Some duct tape and electrical tape fixed things for the weekend and I enjoyed a nice ride with the group later that afternoon. Needless to say, I was real careful on Skyline Drive.
Darrell
Chris and I had left Vienna early in the morning to join the Triples meet at Big Meadows. We had an uneventful trip to the drive, and enjoyed a vigorous ride up Rte 211 to the Thornton Gap entrance. Speed limit is 35 and I was pushing it a bit here and thereto get to Big Meadow; didn’t want to miss anything. The park service maintains the drive with asphalt and cinder patches. The low speed limits keeps the cinders from be blown off the road.
We were doing pretty good avoiding the cinders until we passed Spitler Knoll. The road goes down into a blind right curve with an abundance of cinders. My line took me right into the middle of them. I guess I rolled off the throttle, felt the bike skid left and out from under me and I was one with the cinders sliding on my right side, wondering what my son was thinking of all this. Once I came to a stop, I tried to stand up but fell down like I was drunk. Waited a moment before trying again and walked to my bike to assess the damage. An Aramark employee coming the other way and had stopped asking if I was alright. Nothing seemed amiss. He helped me get the bike up and it fired right up.
The damages from front to back; dinged and shaved headlight rim, broken front signal lens, shaved and now leaking master cylinder, shaved brake handle, broken mirror, ground down case guard, dangling aft turn signal, snapped off high beam switch and turn out tank bag point. My gym bag with my clothes and gear had fallen down between the bike and the ground and that got shredded as well as a Fairfax County Library book put probably protected further damage to the bike. The turn signals still worked so I taped the aft dangler back on the stem with some athletic tape.
I sprained my left thumb, dinged my helmet and my jacket got some severe abrasions on the right arm. Got some scratches on my right leg and my gloves got torn here and there. Makes a pretty good argument for wearing protective gear.
I limped into Big Meadow both literally and figuratively and finally meet up with the Triples group. A number of them had also encountered the cinders and knew what I was talking about.
The engine, suspension and tracking felt sound, and the brakes and electrical worked. I got over my initial shock and felt the best thing to do was ride on. Some duct tape and electrical tape fixed things for the weekend and I enjoyed a nice ride with the group later that afternoon. Needless to say, I was real careful on Skyline Drive.
Darrell
Comment