First Hard Crash - Rocks Hurt

[leeo45]

Glad you're OK.   I ride by myself in the boonies a lot too, even though I know it's not the safest thing to do.   I do ride a very conservative pace in any rough areas if I'm on my own; and tend to file a "flight plan" and call in before dark when I get back to the pavement and have cell service.

You need to put the Metzlers back on the bike if you're going to ride the technical trails.   The Scorpions are fun on pavement and are OK for getting around on fire roads, but you're probably safer walking through any tough, muddy areas if you don't have some real knobs.    

[kurtw]

That looks like a gnarly route to be riding solo. Glad you and bike crashed fairly well. Time for some flush mount turn signals  

Do you have a SPOT or ACR? That plus a lifeflight membership is a good investment. I recently had to deploy all the tech to call in a heli for a busted friend in the mountains (he's healing well btw). It works.

[R Doug]

When the wifey saw my bashed up bike and the holes / rips in my jersey, she told me I'm allowed to ride solo anymore without a spot.  

[1moreroad]

When the wifey saw my bashed up bike and the holes / rips in my jersey, she told me I'm allowed to ride solo anymore without a spot.  

That's probably just because your life insurance policy requires a body before she can collect.

[DNA]

Doug - glad you are all right.

I was at Hatfields last year and had a little biff - slight rain and a hard right turn. Greasy surface and the slightest bit of front brake had me sliding across the trail and into he ditch.  The little 250 crashes well (and often) but this time i managed to seriously break my right pinky.  Stupid little crash, silly little bone.

I set it on the trail myself while waiting for the others to catch up (or turn back) and then had a 6-8 mile ride back to camp and then a 6 hour drive home.  I had assistance and needed it - riding with a broken hand really hurt and I almost crashed it again many times getting out -no throttle control, no break - and the ride out was really easy 4 wheeler trails.

My point is something silly and stupid ended putting me in a cast for 6 weeks, and could have been tricky had it occurred a few miles back were I alone.

A tree limb in the eye, sliding wide on a fast stretch, etc. Stuff happens.

I will probably never ride without another adult along ever - too many things go wrong too quickly.  This from a guy that does many LD rallies and rode solo 7000 miles around the country with no worries.  Dirt is just different - at least for me.

[Mr Sunshine]

The key over those rocks is 100% speed.  Stand up, keep the throttle on and hold on for the ride.

[mugwump58]

I've learned my lesson, I hope. Last year I highsided the 250 on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, apparently I'm not Joe Kopp. When I regained consciousness both  me and the bike had missed the trees but we were over the embankment and out of sight, not that anybody came by in the 2 hours it took me to get my head together and the bike out of the upland swamp and up the embankment.

Good gear is essential, cheap insurance, but is only helpful up to a point.

It's better to be lucky than good. But you need to know when you've used up your luck.