KLR 650 down

[alanmcorcoran]

In regards to other inquiries - yes, it's been christened, but not perhaps as you might have expected. Last Saturday I set out to do the entire length of Maple Springs Road to the Main Divide out through Ortega Highway in Cleveland National Forest. My fellow So Cal'ers can vouch that this is A Serious Dirt Road Ride. There are sandy sections, rocky sections, sandy/rocky sections and lot of some pretty hairy shit. That's why it's surprising that my lay down had nothing to do with any of that.
As I approached the trail, going pretty slowly, a young man in a pickup truck, parked on the left side of the road in the "wrong direction" (facing away from me) suddenly "shot" (lurched? launched?) across the narrow (still paved) path and right into me. Fortunately, I was going slow and avoided a serious collision (although he scared the crap out of me.) It was so fast, so deliberate and so violent that my initial thought was "This mother f*cker is trying to kill me!" (At the time it was the only logical explanation my lizard brain could come up with.) So naturally, my fight/flight instinct kicked in, I had an adrenaline rush, and, well, I won't go into the other thoughts that occurred to me. Bike went down and got scratched up a bit. Nothing serious, but it only had a little more than 200 miles on it! I debated not filing a claim. The guy was very sorry, he admitted he didn't see me, helped me pick my bike up and gave me all of his insurance info, etc. I think he was a little freaked too, cause we both realized, one second made the difference between me having an andrenaline rush and being totally dead. I did file a claim and I didn't want to talk about the accident too much as I am leery of insurance claims and insurance companies and, I guess part of me is concerned he might change his story and I'll have an aggravation I don't really need. I should have took pictures, and done some other stuff, but i did not have the presence of mind to do much other than to get his policy and address.

Because I was so shook up, and had that post adrenaline sickness you get, I thought about turning tail and going home,but I told myself, adventure is what you wanted and this is all part of it, so get your ass up that effing mountain already! I had many butt puckering moments on the 20-25 miles of mountain trail, but I am happy to report - I stayed upright throughout. Most of the pictures I posted were post accident, so the bike, as you can see, is still relatively purty-looking.