Old Crash story

[Eric Sheley <eric@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I've not done any serious damage to my new Sprint, but with the recent
quality crash stories (still laughing Jay...), I figured I would send this
copy of an email I sent off last summer, after my road trip on the 96
Sprint - hope you enjoy.......

Begin original message ----- sent 7/20/1998 

Sorry for the length but at the request of the few that I've told, I
figured I would humble myself and pass this along for everyone else's
enjoyment.

Well - as you know, I just returned from my road trip on the Sprint. All in
all it was a wonderful trip, although I did have one mishap. One of the
legs of the trip was the fabled Blue Ridge Parkway (this is where Deals Gap
is) which is a 600 mile stretch of winding, twisting roads running along
the sides and tops of the Blue Ridge mountains. Most of the road runs at
heights of 2500 to 4000 feet with stretches of open cliffs with no guard
rails or other obstructions to keep one from taking a quick short run down
the side ;-) The posted speed is 35 to 45 mph with the corners marked at 20
mph - thus when on a bike it is run at 60 to 80 mph. With this in mind you
would expect my crash to be a dramatic, possible life threatening crash
caused by overdoing it in one of the many corners. This could not be
further from the truth - Mine was more a cross between Inspector Clouseu
and Chris Farley with maybe a touch of Leslie Neilson tossed in for good
measure.
	It was around 7:00 pm - 10 hours into an 11 hour ride - I was just
starting to realize that I had chosen much too long a route for the style
of road - but at this point there was little I could do but continue on -
trying to find a motel in the backwoods of North Carolina didn't appeal to
me much. I had just come thru a series of turns at a high rate of speed
when I came upon a small pickup from Maine travelling at a slow rate of
speed. As there was no place to pass, I slowed to his pace and that's when
it hit. 1 and 1/2 hours of Gatorade decided it was now time to leave - my
body let me know that a stop was necessary in the very near future. I had
not seen restrooms for 20 or 30 miles and wasn't sure how much further I
would have to go - so I decided instead of concentrating on passing the
truck, I would just pull off and relieve myself. 

	We came around the next bend and I saw a small area lined by trees in a
fairly straight section of road followed by a open cliff area. This looked
good to me so I pulled off. First, let me say that I had been travelling
much too fast for road conditions and at the current 35 mph I felt as
though I was going really slow. Slow enough if the exit had been paved .....
	Off into the grass I go, to immediately hit a rut hidden by the tall grass
- - at that speed the bike and rider became two as I gracefully exited the
seat for a better view from a few feet higher up. Catching myself and
pulling myself back to the seat I now realized that I had begun sliding
sideways with a fully laden Sprint (two full 36l Givis, with a 4 man tent,
sleeping bag and pad strapped to the top) heading at alarming speed toward
the cliff area. Now I have ridden off road before, and I'm not sure if it
was that or the pure adrenalin rush that saved me, but I was able to
straighten it out and come to a stop parallel to the to what I thought was
a cliff. It actually was a sharp 200-300 foot slope coming to rest at a
stand of trees at the base. It would not have been a nice ride down I
thought to myself ......
	My desire to relieve myself now became my primary focus again, and in my
typical suave move, I rocked the bike from my left foot to my right foot to
put down the stand. As the bike passed the midway point, I realized that my
right foot had not touched the ground yet. I began that quick panic - sort
of the same as watching the head of a hammer hurtle towards your thumb
instead of the head of the nail you were aiming for. The bike was now at 45
degrees and I knew there was no way that I was going to stop it. I'm not
sure where my right leg went - it just sort of became non existent. The
next thing I know,  my leg contacted the ground and shot me off the bike -
hard and fast - I was leaving the safety of the Corbin headed straight out
toward the slope. For a moment I saw nothing but blue sky and clouds and
everything was alright with the world. My free fall was abruptly ended as
my body slammed into the ground with a thud and began a ride more intense
than the best water park or back yard 'slip and slide'. The angle of the
slope, the wet vegetation and my leathers proved a great combination for
body surfing as I began to pick up speed down the hill. My helmet was
slamming into the ground and bouncing back up as I could not get hold of
anything to slow myself or even gain some semblance of control. As I passed
over the vegetation I remember wondering if it was poison ivy - something I
don't do well with at all. 
	Then my brain started functioning in panic mode again and I realized that
my bike may be following me down the bank. The thought of being crushed to
death by a bike sliding down the hill behind me was not at all appealing. I
did my best Jackie Chan and was able to roll / slide my body into a feet
first slide, and much to my delight, saw that my bike was laying on it's
side precariously perched on the top of the slope. 

	I now was able to dig my feet into the ground and slow my descent. The
climb back to the top took much longer than the trip to the bottom. By the
time I reached the top, I was in no shape to right the bike, so I sat there
dazed pulling grass and twigs and dirt from my visor and zippers and vents
and any other crevice that was invaded. After 10 minutes of waiting, I
realized that it may be a long time before I saw another vehicle so I put
to the task of righting the Sprint. Slipping and muttering and straining, I
managed to wedge my knee under the bike and then with a great push got it
back upright. 
	I had lost quite a bit of gas and broken my turn signal. Upon closer
examination, I found that the turn signal shaft had bent back and the force
of the impact cracked the fairing and with it my nice custom paint job. 
	Next time nature calls, I'll think carefully about answering .......

- - Eric
"How much of your brain do you use ? 1.5% - The rest is filled with malted
hops and bong resign"



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