I Wiped Out!
by gabriel

This is a very belated post! Pretend it was published in 2018.

It was a chilly, wet day riding to work on the morning of October 3rd, 2018. Though not raining, the road was dearly holding onto the last rain’s remnants.

I only had one turn left and I’d be in my employer’s campus area, two turns and I’d be in my lot. But almost there is not close enough. As I was heading downhill in the right-turn lane, I began to slowly ease a little brake pressure as I knew it was wet. I also saw the first painted arrow coming up. I made sure I and my bike were upright and heading straight ahead before crossing the arrow. It did not help! Boy, I tell you the instant my front tire touched the paint (with water on top), I was on the ground! OOooommmppphhh! No split-second recovery here. It happened incredibly fast, like the bike shot over instead of fell over. BAM!

The two vehicles behind me graciously did not run me over.

I was curious and went back to the scene later to see where I went down compared to where I stood up when it was over. I reckon I slid about 40 feet on the asphalt. I was probably going about 40 MPH or more when I went down. Whew!

Some plastic here took a hit, but wasn’t really broken.
Marred but also still functional.
On its own, this one is kinda cute. You could use it to tell a story.
I wasn’t happy about this one. But you know what? Also just cosmetic.
All in all, these GS bikes are made to go down.
Moving on to look at how my gear held up, I was quite pleased with my jacket. This was the first time I had gone down in a textile jacket. When I made the transition from stiff leather to textile, I made sure to get high quality, dense material with high quality armor beneath it as well. Look at this! You can hardly tell I hit pavement at 40 MPH and slid for 40′!
This is the one spot that managed to tear through. I’m impressed.
Good thing it was cool out because I don’t wear chaps for style! My pocket knife played a role in this damage.
So, what did my tires look like, anyway? Like this!
Look dangerous at all?
This photo was taken exactly seven days after the crash incident. New rubber! I did not have the option to get either of my two favorite tires on these Beemer rims. I went with the most street-oriented tire I could find.
Stay safe!