I was on a good ride with a couple of close friends this past Sunday. After 3 or 4 hours in the twisty hills around here I misjudged a corner and crashed. My friend behind me told me what he saw happen and it sounds worse than I remember. Anyway, I locked the rear brake and started sliding, tail out to the right. I didn't panic because I've had that happen several times. So I let off and the bike pulled back straight but I wasn't straight with the arc of the curve anymore but headed towards a 100' drop off into rocks. I locked up the rear brake again and tried to lay it down but the front wheel caught and she went violently to the right. I was able to start raising my right leg up before I was thrown off. My friend said the bike rolled three times and I probably rolled at least ten times. I ended up about 150' from the first skid mark. Luckily the bike wasn't on me and it was an easy shoulder with gravel and grass instead of a drop off into trees and big rocks.
The bike is cosmetically ruined but she still runs and drives ok. I actually had to ride about 10 miles to get to a place that had cell phone reception. I'll be posting pics soon and most likely looking for parts to start the rebuild. We have our big rally coming up in 4 weeks and I'm not missing it. As for me, lots of road rash, a banged knee, badly bruised hip and a sore neck. I was not wearing a helmet and overall I'm very lucky to have walked away with just a few superficial injuries. No broken bones or internal injuries at all. As of today I'm able to get up and walk around without too much pain and I can take a shower without assistance. Road rash is healing nicely thanks to friends in the medical profession supplying me with silver sulfate burn cream and lots of bandages.
I'll be back on the road soon enough. A little wiser and probably more cautious about a few things. To be clear, we were't riding excessively fast, probably 35-40 mph, and we were not drinking excessively. A couple of beers earlier in the day at rest stops. The crash was entirely my fault for simply entering a corner faster than what I should have. As I said, probably a little more cautious from now own. I don't heal as fast at 48 as I did when I was 18.