In 2011 I took off on my first motorcycle adventure. I gave myself three months to travel, starting in Seattle, knowing only that I was going to meet my family in Arizona to do our second self-run rafting expedition down the Grand Canyon. I headed south from Seattle and found myself in California in early April. I woke up in SLO and headed south on the 101. I then turned east on the 166 and rode that until I reached 33 and turned south towards Ojai. I was pushing myself hard that day. I was excited, the roads and the scenery were so beautiful, and I was on fire. I was riding harder than normal and feeling invincible. 33 started to get twisty as the elevation began to increase. I was rounding a right hand corner and I was confident that I had reached the apex of the turn. I soon realized, to my horror, that I had not reached the apex of the corner and that I needed to turn even further. But I was maxed out. I couldn't seem to lean or turn any further. What happened next happened quickly, but I can recall it well. I straightened the bike and began to cross the divider. As I did this I braked hard and downshifted. I thought this would be enough to stop me but it wasn't. Next thing I remember was my front tire hitting the dirt and me flying through the air. I landed, rolled, and jumped up. My first thought was, "I'm alive." I patted myself down and felt okay. I was wearing a full-face, armored Joe Rocket jacket, Aerostich Darien Light pants over double kneed Carhardts, Sidi Adventure Rain boots, and Elkskin roper gloves. I'm so grateful I had all the gear on because I was not injured as a result. I looked around and realized that the dirt berm on the side of the road had saved me. If it wasn't for the berm, I would've gone straight down the gulch on the other side of the road and the results would probably have been very different. I went over to the bike and hit the kill switch. I then grabbed my phone and started taking videos. I've embedded them for you to see. What did I learn? Enter corners slowly. Don't go into unknown territory too quickly. Slow the &*DH down. I thought that night about ending my adventure early and calling it quits. I'm glad I didn't. I finished the trip, riding all the way over to Key West before turning around and heading back to Seattle. That trip was the best experience of my life, and I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to do it. Here are the videos I shot after the crash. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/bTM1Ryd8Lmc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/DqzTQSCqoO8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
So, what you're saying is, "Free tankbag, just outside Ojai"? Seriously, glad you remained in good shape and were able to learn from it. Hopefully it's been all good from there. MV
My first road crash was on the 33 as well, 1996 or 97. knocked myself out pretty good but ultimately was very lucky as well. Saw a lot of crashes on that road, we used to ride it every sunday just about. Saw one where a guy on TL1000S tucked the front and slid right under an on coming truck. Very unlucky and messy. Glad you were lucky.
When I went on this trip, I had just gotten my first smartphone, and I used Youtube to upload videos of my trip to share with friends. I was going through my videos the other day and I found these and figured I would post 'em up. I feel like I consume a lot of content on ADV and don't create much myself, so this is a step towards changing that.
Sadly, I left that particular tankbag at a gas station in Olympia, WA, at about midnight... no, I haven't seen it since. It was scary to retrieve the bag from the gully and realize that I could have ended up there.
