ORIGINAL: pococj

Since I've been doing some work on my Sloptail, I've been riding THE MAMA's li'l Suzuki 650 Savage to work. This morning I was behind an old car spewing fumes big time. I got off my normal route and onto another road I use when the cagers get too wacky. As I was approaching an intersection a couple oil field trucks were pulling out. I slowed to about 25 or 30 and passed the intersection.

The road drops just enough that the surface can't be seen just past that point. When I topped it I saw a stream of water gushing down the road, looked to be about 6 inches deep. I had nowhere to go, and the thought flashed in my mind that I was gonna go down. I hit the brakes, got off them, and hit the water. The Suzi shot out from beneath me and went on its left side. I hit on my knees and the back of my right hand. I remember distinctly thinking, "Damn, this is going to hurt!" Then I realized the road was grinding the heel of my right hand, and pulled it up.

I was sliding, but since there was so much water on the road, it wasn't as bad as it could've been. Another couple thoughts flashed through; 'My knees are getting torn up, roll over on your back', and 'Look at the sparks flying off the bike, even under all that water!' Even as I was sliding down the road on my back I remember being amazed at being able to think all these things.

When I stopped the bike was still sliding. As it finally halted I started checking myself and knew I was all in one piece. I got up and walked through the water to the bike, picked it up and started pushing it back up the rise. At this time I thought the water was from one of the oil field trucks dumping its load. I was ticked and was heading up to lay into them. Then I realized the water was running from the wrong direction. I shined the headlight over to that side of the road and saw it gushing out of the ground. Water main break.

About that time a couple pickup trucks came by and both of 'em hit the water and started sliding all over the place. I got the bike into a street light, started it up, gave it a quick look, and headed on to work. Got there just as the company safety guru pulled in. Asked him if he needed another motorcycle accident story for his safety newsletter.

Damages to the bike: left rear turn signal (plastic), left mirror (plastic), left mirror stem (steel) ground down a bit, tiny scratch on front fender (steel), scrubb marks on left saddlebag (fake leather), bent left foot peg (steel), scratched edge on windshield.

Damages to me: 3 scraped knuckles, both knees ground down a bit, left elbow scraped a bit, couple 3 scrapes on left leg. I had on jeans, long sleeved shirt, denim jacket, boots, and helmet.

Ironic thing: Stinkin' skid lid never touched the ground!

Time to go out and see if I can straighten the foot peg, or maybe stick an HD one on. That'll give the li'l Suzi some class!