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.

[Moedad]

Whoa, when I said dirt/dual sport bikes get dropped/crashed, I meant dropped/crashed, not run down by somebody in a truck. That's crazy! I'm glad to hear that you're okay and you went on with and completed your ride, even with the adrenaline dump. Good for you!

[Water Warrior 2]

Whoa, that could have been so bad in so many ways. Glad to hear nothing was too messed up but your body chemistry. Now that you have the first scratch and off out of the way things will certainly get to be more fun with a healthy does of caution. Have you thought about crash bars for protection if/when the bike goes down again ? Plastic is really expensive to replace.

[dentheman]

I'm glad to hear you're OK.

[alanmcorcoran]

Originally Posted by Moedad

Whoa, when I said dirt/dual sport bikes get dropped/crashed, I meant dropped/crashed, not run down by somebody in a truck. That's crazy! I'm glad to hear that you're okay and you went on with and completed your ride, even with the adrenaline dump. Good for you!

Yeah, it was a very disconcerting introduction to dual sport riding. Kind of put a big damper on the beginning of the day, but I'm glad I pressed on. It was near perfect weather (especially considering it was early October) and I felt a lot more confident after the ride about taking the bike on an overnight down a dirt road. Cleveland National Forest is kind of a weird place - a big chunk of forest surrounded by the densest population. The mountain peaks are covered in microwave towers and, there's a really weird "out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-but-not-really" vibe to the place.

After I survived the backwoods mountain trail, I came out just a little west of The Lookout and rode Ortega (this is 20 miles of Serious [and often Deadly] Twisty stuff.) It took ne a while to get used to going sixty after so many miles of 5-20 mph on the rocks and sand.

Although I was not real happy to scratch up the KLR (and, it'll probably be fixed up by the insurance company) I was more disappointed to learn I couldn't pick up the (much lighter than the Strat) bike. I gotta figure out how to do it if I'm going to go on any solo adventures.

[dhgeyer]

Wow! I'm glad to hear that it wasn't more serious.

If it's any consolation, you don't get any points among off road riders for having a pristine bike. More often the reverse, really.

I do hope you figure out a solution to your problem. I don't know about where you are, but around here I've been a lot of places where I could wait days for help, and those places don't tend to have any cell phone service. That's one of the main reasons I got rid of the Concours. There's no way I could get that thing off the ground.

[alanmcorcoran]

That is a concern. I'm thinking about getting one of those "Spot" things but I haven't really looked into the details. Couldn't pick up the Concours with "the technique" eh?

[dentheman]

Please enlighten me on the 'spot' thing.

[3-D Video]

Originally Posted by dentheman

Please enlighten me on the 'spot' thing.

It tells the zombies where you're at:
www.findmespot.com/

[dentheman]

Originally Posted by 3-D Video

It tells the zombies where you're at:
http://www.findmespot.com/

Thanks! I take it a zombie is the non-motorcycle part of the population that you are trying to get away from on your motorcycle. Like your boss, certain relatives, etc?

ADDED- In my continiuos effort to increase my knowledge, I did a search of >motorcycle zombie< and found the zombies are much more insidious than I originally thought when I came across this, which explains it all: http://www.lostinasupermarket.com/2010/ ... ie-hordes/