The Accident
I was coming down a hill in rock creek park to a tight "U" turn framed by a long, sloping "in" hill (from the right, and down), and then a long, sloping "out" hill (to the left, and up), with these two 90° bends in the middle. I was approaching the intersection in 2, because I had expected to pull through it in 2, rather than 1 (mistake #2) because 1 would have put down too much torque on a piece of asphalt that wasn't in great shape. Because I was unfamiliar with the area (mistake #1), I did not expect there to be old people (hikers), cyclists (trails), and people with strollers (presumably out for a walk. As I got closer to the turn/crosswalk, because I was off-throttle (not in neutral, mind, and the bike isn't exactly quiet, and the guy I was riding with had just blown through that turn at pretty high speed (mistake #3), so whether they heard me is a matter of speculation, but nonetheless irrelevant), I braked heavily and began my turn through the double 90°s. As the bike slowed rapidly (the 7 has a very, very powerful set of front brakes because it is heavy), the steering angle I had intended to use to lean through the turn increased from "slight" to "too much" (mistake #4), as the effort required to turn the bike at 45 is very different than the effort to turn the bike at 5. Essentially I overcompensated, and turned the front wheel perpendicular to the back wheel. This turns the chassis into an "L" when it should be an "I", and it "folded," pitching me, and it, to the asphalt. I did not hit anyone.
Damage to me
I got up afterwards (I wasn't really surprised, and in fact had time to say, out loud, "oh fuck," as I realized what was going to happen), dusted myself off and briefly checked for injuries. Nothing felt broken (but I knew shock had a way of making compound fractures not hurt, so I was focused on external signs of damage). I managed to get the bike vertical (565lbs dry, mind you, lifted bare-handed from the ground – shock does amazing things to the body), rolled it forward, put it on the kickstand, and resumed checking myself over. Everyone was I guess expecting to see ground beef, because, hey, it's a motorcycle accident, and I had to yell and reassure people, "hey, I'm wearing body armor. I'm fine."
The body armor had done its job. I was wearing Cortech DSX denim pants, which are a kevlar/denim composite with aramid and 1.4mm leather (so 1.4mm of denim, reinforced by 1.4mm of leather), with additional Aramid in the knees and CE (level 1) pads at the knees. These performed flawlessly. My foot is the lowest part on the bike on that side, so my middle left toe was responsible for breaking off the shift knob, and I was concerned I'd broken my toe briefly. I did not. I was wearing Sidi Doha's, and again, they functioned flawlessly. Not only did they not suffer any damage, after I got them home, I just ran a suede brush over them and they literally looked new. They also protected me from breaking my ankle as the bike came down on it. Next to hit was my elbow. My left elbow landed on its CE (level 1) foam in the Joe Rocket ("Phoenix 4.0") mesh jacket (which I generally regard as garbage), and was uninjured. Next to hit was my shoulder, again landing on a CE (level 1) pad, and again, was uninjured. I did not strike my helmet, other than my own turning my head and briefly running the visor across the asphalt.
Furthermore, when I inspected more closely, I had no abrasions anywhere, that I was sure I had bruising (was still in shock), but that I had broken no bones, and every piece of armor I wore (listed above, with the exception of the HJC CL-15 helmet) functioned flawlessly. And, I might add, is in the condition it was when I got on the bike that morning. I'll still be replacing the pads. Worth noting, I was wearing a backpack (Camelbak "MULE") and I feel a bruise on my upper-mid-back, so it's possible I hit my back after my shoulder, and I will be replacing the Joe Rocket foam piece with one from Bohn that is CE (level 2) certified. The JR one is garbage.
Don't get me wrong, I have lots of painful bruises, but I literally consider them to be payment for the enjoyment I get out of relaxing rides down GW parkway or to Gunston Point with Sandy, not going too fast, and not riding in unfamiliar areas. I paid here, for my irresponsibility, with $$ – damage to the bike – and pain. It's also worth noting that I'm not so injured that in less than twelve hours I was racking/unracking DL380G4/5's at work, single-handedly.
Damage to the bike
The only injury I sustained was in actually picking the bike up, where a fairing had cracked, it was sharp enough to cut my thumb. It's about a 1cm cut, and bled briefly. The bike itself suffered a cracked fairing, but for its part, all of its crash protection worked. The fairing and its support bracket folded and cracked, taking the brunt of the fall, and the foam on the inside of the fairing further insulated the crankcase and cam towers. The rear spools (which are really more for stands, but work like "frame sliders" in a crash) took the brunt of the rear end. The bar-ends (at the ends of the handlebars for you non-bike people) took the force of the fall at the front, along with the fairing. At no point were the frame or swingarm touched. The engine was untouched. The tank was untouched. I have a little bit of scuffing on a single reflector, but didn't lose so much as a turn signal, and the seam between the lower and upper fairings is still less than 2mm, to give you an idea of how well the fairings held, even when one cracked.
I rode the bike home, after bending the broken shift lever slightly so that the bike could be shifted (no more knob, remember?).
Cost of a new fairing is a couple hundred dollars, and I'll need a few rivets and a bracket to put it back on. I also need a new shift lever, which is $33 from Kneedraggers, but it may be cheaper on eBay if I look around. I'll probably replace the rear spools, for $15. The biggest cost will be paint on the fairing, which will have to be "blended" to match the color of the rest of the bike.
What I didn't do right
Keith Code says you don't learn from your crashes if you think about what you did wrong. I know what I did wrong. He says instead you learn when you learn what you didn't do right.
1. I could have come down the hill in first gear instead of second. I would have slowed more easily, and a lean would have been easier through the turn. I would also have been louder. I might also have put too much torque on that piece of road, which was kind of dubious.
2. I could have honked to let them know I was carrying too much speed and given them the warning they needed.
3. I could have used a lot more rear brake (it's hard to lock up on the 7 compared to the fronts) to keep load off the front. The heavy load on the front drastically changes the steering angle, which greatly contributed to the spill. Provided I hadn't locked up the back brake, this might have been the best solution.
4. i could also have accelerated through the turn, and muscled the bike into a very tight lean, opening the throttle harder. This last one troubles me. I might have hit the (nearest) cyclist or somebody in the street and still gone down, injuring both them and myself; furthermore, as I was wearing armor and they were not, they'd have been in much worse shape than me.
5. I can also speculate that a different suspension setting would have helped (really tightening up the front forks) but it's already a pretty painful ride, and doing so might make it very nervous in e.g., turns or rough terrain. For a track, it would be fine, and probably the right idea.
6. The thing Keith would say is I was not familiar with the road, and that turn. The people were a complete surprise to me, and if I'd known there would be people at the bottom of the hill, I'd have taken it in first. I might have stopped. That's what I didn't do right. we can talk about all the other stuff all day long, but it comes down to carrying too much speed into an unknown area and reacting poorly.
7. Colin just recently told me in an email, when I was complaining about the front end coming up on the 7, to which he had this to say:
He's right. The plain and simple cause here is my right hand. There's a lot of other shit that went into it, but if I'd slowed sooner, come into it slower, stopped for pedestrians, I wouldn't have dropped it. You could also argue that if I'd sped up, and blown through the turn, that I'd have done fine. However, I think that's a stupid solution to the problem I had.I say all of this to shake the "situational excuses" train of thought.
There will always be a situation where you have to merge and/or
accelerate quickly. There will always be another driver trying to park
directly up your ass on the highway. THE ONLY VARIABLE YOU CAN CHANGE
IS YOURSELF.
