My first crash!

They say there are two types of riders, those who have gone down and those who are yet to go down. I am now officially a member of the first group. The weather was gorgeous today so I decided to head out and get in some riding and check out some of the usual roads out twords Dewatto and Tahuya. I was on my way home taking the back roads out of Gorst up to Bremerton when it happened. There was a lot of dirt/gravel still on the road from all of the ice we've had lately so I was taking it easy, only going about 25mph going through a slight right hand bend, even thinking to myself "Ok, I'm gonna take it nice and easy cause of all the gravel" when my rear tire slid out from under me and I low-sided. I didn't slide very far and was able to get right back up and shake it off. Fortunately there was a guy who saw what happened and came over to help me pick up my bike and make sure I was ok. I was wearing full gear and it really saved my ass.

The bike was ridable so I rode home, but by then my right hand was really starting to hurt. I changed my clothes and called my friend Kevin and he gave me a ride down to the hospital cause there was no way I would be able to shift to drive properly. They checked me out and thankfully nothing was broken. My right hand is banged up pretty good and I'll prolly have some gnarly bruises tomorrow, but I'll be ok. They gave me some pain killers and sent me on my way.

After all that I was able to inspect the damage to the bike. Fortunately there is nothing that absolutely has to be replaced immediately. The frame sliders did their job and took the brunt of the damage. The bad news is that the rear brake lever for my bitchin CycleCat rearsets is bent, it's usable, but I'll probably want to get a new one. I'll need to replace the right side frame slider as well. The tank has a small scratch in it as does the front faring. I guess there goes the resale value. The front brake lever is scraped up at the end, but isn't bent and is still usable. Same goes with the right side mirror. The back of the mirror is scratched up pretty nicely, but it's usable. Most of my gear survived with only minor scuffs. The gloves, pants and jacket don't have any major damage at all. My helmet however has some nice scratches in it. I've heard that helmets are only good for one impact, so I may have to replace it. Buying a new $600 helmet is not something I'm looking forward to.

All in all I have to say I was god damn lucky. My only physical damage is relatively minor as is the damage to my bike. Full gear saved my ass.

Here are some pics: