Guess who bit it again?

Lokky · Post by **Lokky** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 1:41 am

so I was out riding with a fellow club member after getting out of my TA job, scouting for a nice route for the upcoming rally when we went through a nice state park road, absolutely beautiful.

He was in front of me and I was following ~5 seconds behind. At one long swooping curve I see him squirrel a little and almost lose it so I pick a different line through. Much to my luck this new line brings me into a sea of gravel exactly the same color as the rest of the road. The bike went down before I could realize what happened and I found myself rolling but never touching the ground with my head. The crashbars left some nice lines into the ground as the bike slid, which allowed the police responders to measure a whole 40 feet of sliding!
I went back to look at the gravel and it was literally deep enough that I could bury my foot in it, apparently the road had been repaved recently and whatever they used was clearly a piss poor material. The rough nature of the road literally made it impossible to see the difference between road and gravel while moving!

I really can't beat myself up over this one, nothing I could have done to prevent it. I wasn't exactly wearing full gear tho, I had just gotten out of work and didn't originally plan to ride but the one mile home. I am now paying the price for that with extensive road rash on one knee and leg, and minor roadrash on the remaining leg and both arms. My leather-palmed gloves were shredded through, I'll post a picture of them tomorrow, but they did a great job at protecting my hands. The bike was mostly saved by the crashbars, but the front legshield is bent inwards were the mounting point is... nothing that a good hammer job won't fix! She should be rideable, or at least I hope so because I still have to commute on it tomorrow morning.

Post by **jrsjr** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 1:47 am

Sorry to hear you went down, but glad to hear you weren't hurt any worse than you were. Do you mind me asking where you were when this happened? I'd just as soon not ride that road anytime soon.

Lokky · Post by **Lokky** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 1:51 am

sure it was in the battlefield national park.

The road had been repaved recently due to gravel. They used a mixture of tar and small rocks to pave it... the rain then ate away at the tar leaving giant piles of gravel in the center of the lane.

The park rangers themselves were shocked at the gravel buildup, you really can't notice it while you are driving by in a car. Had this happened in a county road I may have been able to sue them for improper road maintenance but since it's a national park I am likely out of luck.

TVB · Post by **TVB** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 2:11 am

Lokky wrote:The road had been repaved recently due to gravel. They used a mixture of tar and small rocks to pave it... the rain then ate away at the tar leaving giant piles of gravel in the center of the lane.

I see that kind of "paving" done quite a bit. Basically they're spreading the raw materials for an actual paved road, but instead of using a steamroller to finish the job, they're counting on thousands of tires to compress it into a solid surface. When I see repaving projects like this in the city, the debris usually gets cleaned up eventually. I've run into a few country roads like this which looked they'd been done months before, but were still unfit for two-wheelers... and I had to detour around them.

Collette · Post by **Collette** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 2:22 am

Aww crap

Thats why I dont like to ride unfamiliar routes at night ; I like the roads ere I know exactly what to expect (every dip, pothole, and piece of uneven gravel) but but but so glad youre not seriously hurt.

az_slynch · Post by **az_slynch** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 2:57 am

Ouch! At least you can bend a metal bodied bike back out!

Stiff upper lip when prying the gravel out, and wishes for a speedy recovery.

skully93 · Post by **skully93** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 2:58 am

Glad you are OK!

You guys have had enough nonsense this year.

Ride safe and rubber down!

Post by **jrsjr** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 9:34 pm

Lokky wrote:sure it was in the battlefield national park.

The road had been repaved recently due to gravel. They used a mixture of tar and small rocks to pave it... the rain then ate away at the tar leaving giant piles of gravel in the center of the lane.

That sucks. I hope you complain loudly to the park folks.

Thanks for letting me know where! I'm sure other Richmonders will want to look out for that road, too.

jonlink · Post by **jonlink** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 12:02 am

Sorry you and your scoot got banged up, but I think we're all glad you're in one piece.

stASH · Post by **stASH** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 1:30 pm

jrsjr wrote:
Lokky wrote:sure it was in the battlefield national park.

The road had been repaved recently due to gravel. They used a mixture of tar and small rocks to pave it... the rain then ate away at the tar leaving giant piles of gravel in the center of the lane.
That sucks. I hope you complain loudly to the park folks.

Thanks for letting me know where! I'm sure other Richmonders will want to look out for that road, too.

That's "chip and seal" paving. It's a low cost alternative to asphalt and when it is new it is hell for two-wheeled vehicles, basically a gravel road. Over time, vehicular traffic packs it down to a solid surface. Sorry to hear you went down Lokky, glad to hear you are not hurt badly. I'll be avoiding that area for a while then...

PeteH · Post by **PeteH** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 3:49 pm

Yeah, four-wheeled traffic packs down a left and right 'rut' pretty quickly, but it takes a lot longer for the center of the lane to get packed down. They've been doing this sporadically in my neighborhood.

TVB · Post by **TVB** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 4:49 pm

It's the gravel on the sides of the road that I find the most treacherous, because it doesn't get packed down adequately in front of driveways, or at intersections with side roads.

Post by **ericalm** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 10:23 pm

TVB wrote:It's the gravel on the sides of the road that I find the most treacherous, because it doesn't get packed down adequately in front of driveways, or at intersections with side roads.

I have seen several riders spend a day cutting through twisties and canyons, only to go down when we pull over to the side of the road onto some gravel.

Another dropped her Burgman 650 while parking it on loose pine needles. Those things are very slick—put your foot down on them and it can just slide out.

Christophers · Post by **Christophers** » Sat Sep 15, 2012 1:23 am

ericalm wrote: I have seen several riders spend a day cutting through twisties and canyons, only to go down when we pull over to the side of the road onto some gravel.

Another dropped her Burgman 650 while parking it on loose pine needles. Those things are very slick—put your foot down on them and it can just slide out.

I saw exactly the same thing a couple of weeks ago. An MP3 went down right in front of me while we were saddling back up on a gravel shoulder on the Big Tujunga Canyon Highway.

Similar incident after a long run through Malibu canyons: GF pulled over onto gravel shoulder on her Buddy 125 and went down after easily managing 60 miles of twisty canyon roads.

Modern Buddy

Guess who bit it again?

Guess who bit it again?

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