Broken

Well the inevitable finally happened.

So far I've had two tip-overs. One on a group ride where I tried to pull over on the side of the road and tipped over the drop-off between asphalt and gravel. That resulted in a broken turn signal I super glued back together and a small scratch on the fairing. Nothing too serious. The second was in my driveway when I didn't get my bike up on my new rear stand correctly, causing it to fall over and narrowly miss my car! THAT resulted in a broken brake lever and a dented clutch cover, and a few more scratches.

There was a big group ride this weekend - all three days, with over 200 miles each day. Due to the driveway tip-over, I was frantically wrenching Thursday night until midnight getting the replacement brake lever (cheapy internet part didn't quite fit correctly until I took a rat tail file to it) and clutch cover ($175 Paulimoto fits like a glove - I guess you get what you pay for?). Friday we rode the Santa Monica Mountains and it was awesome. Saturday we rode Highway 33 and it was awesome. There had been rain during the really early morning Saturday (like 2-3am), but it was just overcast and damp when we headed out around 8am. I was cautious with the unknown road conditions, but felt on all day long. The sweepers of Highway 33 were just fantastic. I was confident and things were going smoothly. We had lunch at the Deer Lodge (the tri-tip sandwich was great) and headed to the coast for a bit, then turned our bikes homeward.

I split off with two others and we were going back over Balcom Canyon near Moorpark when the leader pointed out some sand in the bottom of a right hand corner. I tried to avoid it, but the sun was low and I couldn't really see where it was. I signaled to the rider behind me by pointing to the inside with my right foot, and then my rear tire skidded a bit. I planted my right foot and the bike got back in line, but then I ran wide on the left hand turn right afterwards. Off into the dirt shoulder, where I slowed to about 5mph before the bike fell over on the right side. My right mirror and turn signal popped off, and the right fairing has some pretty extensive scratches, but the bike was still rideable and I was uninjured. I righted it, we gave it a once over and I cautiously rode home.

So the bike is fixable and I'm uninjured, which is the important thing. Although I noticed I had a hard time on the tight right hand corners on the way home. I think I was just psyching myself out and it should be fine once I get the Duc put back together.

As they say, "shit happens." Who knew a Ducati superbike couldn't double as a dirt bike?