drummer
Frieden mit uns allen
So four weeks ago I took a day off and a friend of mine I went for a day trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. It took us two hours riding to get to the area and gas up before we went up the mountain to get to the parkway. The ride and weather were perfect up to this point, everything was great. Less than thirty minutes later everything turned south. The Virginia DOT decided not pave, but rather use gravel and tar on some of the most twisted roads that traverse the side of the mountains. They also decided not to post signs stating this.
I entered an S corner and noticed the loose gravel on the surface and slowed down to around fifteen miles an hour. As I scoped out the surface of the road (which seemed to be okay) I focused on the exit point and started to do the push steering and lean to get out. At that point the gravel allowed my front wheel to completely reverse due to my push steering, I slowed and pulled back on the bars to correct the new direction. When I did this, the rear tire had all ready started to go in the new direction so now the bike dropped in the direction of my left foot. At that time my ankle was under the bike and subsequently broke in six places. The bike has a couple of very small scratches and had to have the valve cover replaced but that is all.
I have been on my back now for four weeks and tomorrow I get the cast off and hopefully into a walking boot. I offer this saga not for consolation but to say, be careful in Virginia, they have no respect for riders by using this method of paving and not posting signs to the same.
I entered an S corner and noticed the loose gravel on the surface and slowed down to around fifteen miles an hour. As I scoped out the surface of the road (which seemed to be okay) I focused on the exit point and started to do the push steering and lean to get out. At that point the gravel allowed my front wheel to completely reverse due to my push steering, I slowed and pulled back on the bars to correct the new direction. When I did this, the rear tire had all ready started to go in the new direction so now the bike dropped in the direction of my left foot. At that time my ankle was under the bike and subsequently broke in six places. The bike has a couple of very small scratches and had to have the valve cover replaced but that is all.
I have been on my back now for four weeks and tomorrow I get the cast off and hopefully into a walking boot. I offer this saga not for consolation but to say, be careful in Virginia, they have no respect for riders by using this method of paving and not posting signs to the same.