SkooterG
Purveyor of Crooked Facts
Been a while since I have been on a 'real' ride. Several months in fact. The itch has been strong for a while, so this past Thursday I got to scratch it. Decided on a long ride through the Arizona High Country. Nobody accepted my invitation to go along, but that was ok by me as I just wanted to go for a good ride. Not having to deal with bathroom and food breaks for a group of riders was a plus. The other goal I had was to finally try out my new DSLR camera I bought off Craigslist several weeks back. Gotta start learning how to use it!
Clicky for the route I planned to do.
So off I went. First stop was breakfast at the Buckboard Cafe in Superior, AZ. A popular Harley hangout on the weekends, I had never been there before. I was the first one there and the food was great. I'll go back again.
After breakfast was the nice ride up to Globe, and then on to the Salt River Canyon. This is my favorite stretch of asphalt in Arizona. I had told myself I was going to go easy as I hadn't done twisties in a while and figured I was a bit rusty. But I was relaxed and 'in the zone'. I enjoyed a nice aggressive ride through that awesome stretch. Sorry, no piccies. I was having too much fun.
As I approached Show Low, I headed east into the reservation.
After passing through the res, it was east on Hwy 260 to my lunch destination of Greer, AZ. Up in the higher elevations, temps were cooler and the scenery not your typical Arizona desert.
Up at 9,000', still a hit of snow at the Sunrise ski area. Unusual for this time of year, but we have had a cool spring this year.
Arriving in Greer. I had never been to Greer before as it off the main highway about 5 miles. I had been by it many times, and was glad to finally get to see it. Neat little place. I'll have to make it a more regular destination.
Lunch at the Rendezvous Diner. Neat place, friendly people, great food.
Mmmmmmm.......YUMMY pie!
After lunch, it was east to Eager and Springerville, and then back west to Show Low, Heber, and Payson. A great, relaxing ride in the high country with moderate temps, pine forrests, and beautiful scenery.
In Payson I refueled and got a surprise. A relaxed pace at high altitudes resulted in some rather good fuel mileage. 306 miles on a single tank. Hadn't done this in a long time - if ever. At least not on this FJR with the PCIII. 6.25 gallons in for 49.1mpg. Not to shabby.
After Payson it was north through Pine and Strawberry, and then west Hwy 260 through Camp Verde to the cool little town of Jerome that sits high on a cliff. From Jerome, my route was Arizona 89A to Prescott - a curvy little road with tight twisties, excellent scenery, and bad pavement.
I was just over 5 miles outside of Jerome when it happened.................
Owie.
Low-sided in gravel I never saw. In my past wrecks, there was always a pucker moment no matter how brief of 'Oh shit, this could hurt' before impending disaster. Not this time. I was riding along, relaxed, and then I was on the ground tumbling. I never saw the gravel.
My flip-faced helmet opened up hence the bloody lip. Fortunately it was a light hit on the ground and only a cut lip on my teeth. Scary. Not sure why the helmet opened. I know this particular helmet won't fully latch if I don't close it with some authority, but I usually make sure I do that. I don't know????? I do know I love flip or modular helmets, but I am rethinking them now.
My gear saved my ass for the most part. Even the rash above could have been much worse. My jacket absorbed most of it before the sleeve came up my arm exposing the skin:
At the scene, I was walking around fine if a bit sore. Two days later when I woke up, it felt like a Mack Truck had run over me. Now, four days later, most of the pain and bruises have subsided.
View approaching the turn:
Which is located HERE by the way.
View looking back at the direction I came from:
I was just starting to initiate the turn. In the process of leaning left. Slightly uphill corner, I don't think I was braking at all. If I was, it was just a little. I wasn't riding too hard as I know the road surface can be iffy. I was probably riding 5 out of 10. I was pretty relaxed, as in the five miles of twistys prior to this I hadn't experienced any traction issues from the asphalt or gravel.
Here you can sort of see the gravel along the center of the lane, where my front tire washes out, and then the hard parts start scraping.
A close up of the gravel. It was worse in person than it looks in the photo. Blends right in with the asphalt.
Tire washing out then bad shit........
I remember sliding along the ground, then my face hitting the ground and me thinking "WTF? That shouldn't be happening", and then a short time later the FJR hitting me - "That's F***ed up, now I have to worry about 650lbs landing on top of me?" I came to rest right by the guardrail. I am pretty sure the FJR hit the guardrail and then bounced into the middle of the road and came to rest straddling the centerline. Most damage was to the left side, especially the left front. Still, the right PHID was destroyed (as was left) and the front fender has some scratches on the right side.
After taking some time to calm down, I rode to the Jerome FD where I cleaned up an they bandaged my arm. Then it was the 120 mile ride down to the VA hospital in Phoenix so they could scrape the asphalt out of my arm. By the time I got there I was pretty stiff and sore. FJR handled great, though I could feel something 'loose' when braking. Still haven't tracked that down, but on closer inspection the next day I now know there is something off with the front end. Rear of the front fender hits the fairing below the radiator when turning bars side to side. I am worried that I may have frame damage. I am partial to my Dirty Ol Whore and will be really bummed if she is totaled. I just hope it's the forks that are bent, or maybe the lower triple tree. I think it's going to be tough figuring out exactly what is wrong.
This is the one that I had always worried about and over hundreds of thousands of miles had never happend - A low side in a corner due to some hazard. Kind of feel this one wasn't too much my fault. I could have been going slower due to the pavement I suppose. The big one - I could have had my sunglasses off. After leaving Jerome I remember thinking to myself, 'I wonder if I should stop and take off my sunglasses?' While the sun was low, it had not set yet. But I was in the shade of the mountain. So while not dark, the shade combined with the crappy road surface and I would have had better visibility without the sunglasses. I didn't remove them because in another 5-10 minutes I would be crossing the top of the mountain and in sunlight again. Lesson learned there. I am still not too sure I would have seen the gravel even with my sunglasses off, but I might have.
I am just bummed about my poor FJR. Hope I can fix her.
Clicky for the route I planned to do.
So off I went. First stop was breakfast at the Buckboard Cafe in Superior, AZ. A popular Harley hangout on the weekends, I had never been there before. I was the first one there and the food was great. I'll go back again.
After breakfast was the nice ride up to Globe, and then on to the Salt River Canyon. This is my favorite stretch of asphalt in Arizona. I had told myself I was going to go easy as I hadn't done twisties in a while and figured I was a bit rusty. But I was relaxed and 'in the zone'. I enjoyed a nice aggressive ride through that awesome stretch. Sorry, no piccies. I was having too much fun.
As I approached Show Low, I headed east into the reservation.
After passing through the res, it was east on Hwy 260 to my lunch destination of Greer, AZ. Up in the higher elevations, temps were cooler and the scenery not your typical Arizona desert.
Up at 9,000', still a hit of snow at the Sunrise ski area. Unusual for this time of year, but we have had a cool spring this year.
Arriving in Greer. I had never been to Greer before as it off the main highway about 5 miles. I had been by it many times, and was glad to finally get to see it. Neat little place. I'll have to make it a more regular destination.
Lunch at the Rendezvous Diner. Neat place, friendly people, great food.
Mmmmmmm.......YUMMY pie!
After lunch, it was east to Eager and Springerville, and then back west to Show Low, Heber, and Payson. A great, relaxing ride in the high country with moderate temps, pine forrests, and beautiful scenery.
In Payson I refueled and got a surprise. A relaxed pace at high altitudes resulted in some rather good fuel mileage. 306 miles on a single tank. Hadn't done this in a long time - if ever. At least not on this FJR with the PCIII. 6.25 gallons in for 49.1mpg. Not to shabby.
After Payson it was north through Pine and Strawberry, and then west Hwy 260 through Camp Verde to the cool little town of Jerome that sits high on a cliff. From Jerome, my route was Arizona 89A to Prescott - a curvy little road with tight twisties, excellent scenery, and bad pavement.
I was just over 5 miles outside of Jerome when it happened.................
Owie.
Low-sided in gravel I never saw. In my past wrecks, there was always a pucker moment no matter how brief of 'Oh shit, this could hurt' before impending disaster. Not this time. I was riding along, relaxed, and then I was on the ground tumbling. I never saw the gravel.
My flip-faced helmet opened up hence the bloody lip. Fortunately it was a light hit on the ground and only a cut lip on my teeth. Scary. Not sure why the helmet opened. I know this particular helmet won't fully latch if I don't close it with some authority, but I usually make sure I do that. I don't know????? I do know I love flip or modular helmets, but I am rethinking them now.
My gear saved my ass for the most part. Even the rash above could have been much worse. My jacket absorbed most of it before the sleeve came up my arm exposing the skin:
At the scene, I was walking around fine if a bit sore. Two days later when I woke up, it felt like a Mack Truck had run over me. Now, four days later, most of the pain and bruises have subsided.
View approaching the turn:
Which is located HERE by the way.
View looking back at the direction I came from:
I was just starting to initiate the turn. In the process of leaning left. Slightly uphill corner, I don't think I was braking at all. If I was, it was just a little. I wasn't riding too hard as I know the road surface can be iffy. I was probably riding 5 out of 10. I was pretty relaxed, as in the five miles of twistys prior to this I hadn't experienced any traction issues from the asphalt or gravel.
Here you can sort of see the gravel along the center of the lane, where my front tire washes out, and then the hard parts start scraping.
A close up of the gravel. It was worse in person than it looks in the photo. Blends right in with the asphalt.
Tire washing out then bad shit........
I remember sliding along the ground, then my face hitting the ground and me thinking "WTF? That shouldn't be happening", and then a short time later the FJR hitting me - "That's F***ed up, now I have to worry about 650lbs landing on top of me?" I came to rest right by the guardrail. I am pretty sure the FJR hit the guardrail and then bounced into the middle of the road and came to rest straddling the centerline. Most damage was to the left side, especially the left front. Still, the right PHID was destroyed (as was left) and the front fender has some scratches on the right side.
After taking some time to calm down, I rode to the Jerome FD where I cleaned up an they bandaged my arm. Then it was the 120 mile ride down to the VA hospital in Phoenix so they could scrape the asphalt out of my arm. By the time I got there I was pretty stiff and sore. FJR handled great, though I could feel something 'loose' when braking. Still haven't tracked that down, but on closer inspection the next day I now know there is something off with the front end. Rear of the front fender hits the fairing below the radiator when turning bars side to side. I am worried that I may have frame damage. I am partial to my Dirty Ol Whore and will be really bummed if she is totaled. I just hope it's the forks that are bent, or maybe the lower triple tree. I think it's going to be tough figuring out exactly what is wrong.
This is the one that I had always worried about and over hundreds of thousands of miles had never happend - A low side in a corner due to some hazard. Kind of feel this one wasn't too much my fault. I could have been going slower due to the pavement I suppose. The big one - I could have had my sunglasses off. After leaving Jerome I remember thinking to myself, 'I wonder if I should stop and take off my sunglasses?' While the sun was low, it had not set yet. But I was in the shade of the mountain. So while not dark, the shade combined with the crappy road surface and I would have had better visibility without the sunglasses. I didn't remove them because in another 5-10 minutes I would be crossing the top of the mountain and in sunlight again. Lesson learned there. I am still not too sure I would have seen the gravel even with my sunglasses off, but I might have.
I am just bummed about my poor FJR. Hope I can fix her.
