OOPS.

[Water Warrior 2]

Had a slight emergency today on a leisurely ride with no destination in mind. Gassed up and hit the highway. A few kilometers down the road and heading downhill I told Lynda I would pass the one and only car in sight. Just didn't like the looks of the car I guess. We have com sets that are very handy. Anyway, away I go with Lynda in pursuit on the M-50. Glanced in my mirror to see if all is well after my pass and suddenly see something fly away from Lynda's bike. Did you loose something I ask. Answer is no. Yes you did I say. My tankbag is gone. Oh oh, time to stop.
Here is what happened. Stopped for gas and Lynda moved the bag to the pillion seat from the tank. Darn thing stayed there till the wind finally blew it off at 120 KPH (75 MPH) while passing. Out of sight out of mind sort of thing had occurred after gassing up.
So we stopped and got passed by that one car and I volunteered to walk back to get the remains. Oh sure dummy, uphill fully geared up and on a quite hot day. I even left my helmet on thinking I would be dressed for the ocassion if some cager clipped me. Thank God for flip-face helmets so I could breath.
Retrieved said bag and let Lynda check it over. To say the least it now has character after it's tumble at speed. Still useable and very thankfully an undamaged digital camera inside.
Here is a strange part. A garage door opener on the zipper of the bag took a real hit. Scrapped and missing a clip on cover which I did actually find. Battery was missing of course........NOT. The battery was somehow captured by one of the magnets on the tank bag and stayed there.
What is the lesson learned ? Always do a visual check of everything before riding off. This would also apply to parking the bike and walking off. It could have been much worse. Overall we did have a nice afternoon ride.