Why it's important to wear ALL your gear.

Crashing sucks. Crashing sucks when you're on your way to your first day of training at your new job and it's raining outside. But that was me this morning. What seemed to be a routine ride to work turned into me getting thrown off of my iron horse.

I left the house about 10:30AM in the midst of a light rain that had started within the last hour. As I was completing a right turn onto the main road, my bike felt like it caught something on the road and went into an uncontrollable fishtail. I held on until it finally went down, sliding toward the middle of the road and sending me the other way toward the shoulder. From what it felt like, I fell onto my right elbow first and rolled several times, hitting the left side of my forehead in the process, until coming to a stop face-down on the pavement. The wind was knocked out of me and I lay there for about a minute or two. Fortunately there were a few guys and some firefighters at the gas station in front of the whole scene.

After regaining my breath and feeling for all my appendages, I got up unassisted. After taking off my helmet, I realized that my face shield had ripped completely off. My jacket was perfectly intact and my pants had not one rip on it. After it was deemed that I didn't need any medical attention, police from both Franklin County and the Ohio State Patrol came by to assess the situation. It turned out that I went down at the border of two counties, Franklin and Delaware, but since the incident occurred on a U.S. Highway, it was handed over to the OSP's jurisdiction. As I found out as a resident of Ohio, I was cited for "failure to control vehicle" and I now have to pay a $130 fine for the whole incident.

It was either my face shield or my face. My skin and glasses were completely intact after the spill.

The good news? I'm alright. No road rash whatsoever. The area above my right elbow where the initial impact occurred is bruised and the muscles on my right hip are a little sore. I feel better after a 2-hour nap. I got a little headache from the hit to the head and I'm watching that to make sure that it doesn't worsen (it feels like it's improving). My helmet has now been retired and is now a new hangout spot for Fuzzy (he also got a bath today). The bike did get quite a bit of rash on the right side case and front fairing but nothing that can be fixed or found on eBay.

As for the cause of the fishtail, I can only speculate that I hit either an extremely wet spot or an area that had pooled up in oil and other slippery chemicals. In addition, I was attempting to accelerate up a small hill while turning which didn't help the balance factor at all. Nevertheless, I was fully dressed for the occasion and covered head to toe in protective gear. I still believe all that gear kept me out of the ambulance today.

I'll be making up my job training at Meijer on Saturday and business goes on as usual. Matt was able to ride my bike home and I am glad I have him to take care of me. It looks like the car is getting a bit more exercise, and if I'm still on the up and up tomorrow, I've got a hockey game.