My first crash (outside of a minor track spill back in 1998ish on a 2-stroke 250cc bike). Happened this morning at about 7:00am on the I-5 freeway on the way to work. Traffic was moving well at ~40-50mph.
There was one of those metal trucks that looked like this going with the flow of traffic in the left/fast lane.
The SUV behind him, gives me room to pass, so I throw up my left hand to thank him. That was a mistake. The truck in front suddenly slams on his brakes. Which is fine since I always have an escape route. But you know how some people turn at the end of a hard brake? Well, that's where I was headed. If I didn't give a thank you wave to the SUV behind him, I probably could have stopped in time. I hit the rear right corner of his truck.
I distinctly remember my left mirror just snap off and hit me in the shoulder. It ended up 2 lanes to the right on the ground. My inside elbow caught the metal corner of the truck and turned the handlebar and then it was all over. This was at ~25mph. I flipped over the right/front side of the bike and flew for maybe 5-6 feet into the lane to the right.
I also remember the handlebar digging into my lower stomach quite hard as I went over. It still hurts now. I landed on my hands and they also hurt. No impact to the helmet at all. I rolled over to the side and remember chuckling to myself as the truck I hit just drove off lulz. I looked up and the Acura TL in the next lane stopped with plenty of room.
At this point, I think adrenaline kicked in and it was a jumble of thoughts, probably in this order.
"I hope my bike is okay, I hope my bike is okay."
"Why is the bike so hard to lift up?"
"I need to tell my friends in NJ"
"How am I going to hold the bike and get to the other side and put the kickstand down?" (I was standing on the right side of the bike).
"Why is everyone looking at me?"
"I can't see, my visor is all fogged up."
"Where's my mirror?"
"I hope my bike is okay."
I'm not sure how long it was, but I eventually walked it over to the left shoulder and just put the kickstand down and took a few breaths. Took off my gloves and looked at my hands, wondering why they hurt so much. Took a quick look at the bike and only saw some scratches. Couldn't hang out too long on this small shoulder, so I made sure everything was rideable and then continued on my way to work.
Might not have been a great idea to keep riding because I certainly wasn't concentrating on the ride at all. Kept thinking about the crash. It took way longer this time to finish the ride to work.
If anything, it was my fault. But I'm glad I'm okay, the bike is okay, and I didn't hit a "nice" car. Apparently it was a work truck and he didn't care. I'm sure he knew because it was a pretty loud impact.
Got to the work parking deck and took some pics.
Pulled to side of the freeway initially. I straightened up the bike a minute later. Was pretty embarassing to be standing there while bumper to bumper traffic drives by you staring.
Didn't notice this at first. But during the rest of the ride to work, I noticed a lot of pain in my finger.
Glad I decided to get these Speedymoto frame sliders. It saved the bike. Nothing on the body was touched at all. I was shocked.
Brake was bent (I think) and scraped up.
Half a brake lever.
Left side mirror gone. I had to pick it up off the freeway 2 lanes over.
Handlebar has a slight wobble (not the fork). There is usually a gap there, but now it moves a bit. Worried about this. Gonna bring it to the shop after work today.
Glad I was wearing my jacket, or this woulda ripped apart my arm. This is where it impacted the corner of the metal truck.
Be safe out there guys.
