So I initially took the car to work today cause it looked like rain again. It cleared up later so I stopped home to switch to the Savage on my way to a conference. Left the conference to go to HQ for a meeting, which is in rural Quaker Hill CT. Nice twisty road, that two semi's could not pass on, to get there. There was a car about 50-75 yards ahead of me that I left out that far. I slowed down before the last corner before the campus and accelerated into the sharp rh turn. Halfway through the turn I saw a kid on the left side of the road, walking toward me. Just before I came out of the turn I saw the car that was ahead of me stopped dead in the road- no stop sign on that road for 5 more miles. I was doing about 30 give or take. Fool in front of me, trees and rocks to the right, oncoming car / people to the left. Hit the brakes, started to slide and lowside through the turn and into the oncoming car (a$$ to the left) - somehow managed to bring the back around to the center - then it kept on going to the right side and caught.
Of course I have heard of the highside, and seen it on TV, but I'll be darned if I didn't fly off that bike like superman. I distinctly remember looking at the car in front of me, flying at it head first. I landed on my right shoulder in a roll in the middle of my lane, log rolled a few times and (I swear) popped up on my feet, like a good slide into second, looking back at the bike. I thought it was going to land on me but it was about 20 feet back.
Turns out the kid was a resident of my agency's (we have troubled kids in residential care) who was running away. The car in front of me was a secretary who recognized the kid and the staff following her, and had stopped to talk. I also managed to land in full view of former coworkers and kids at a shelter that is also on our grounds. They didn't realize it was me until I took off my helmet. Then they appropriately laughed at me and helped move the bike. I was also wearing a $100 mesh jacket that i just bought a few months ago - $ well spent.
No scratches on my helmet, lots of marks on the right elbow of the jacket. No scrapes on my leather shoes, not a mark on my jeans. The bike lost the right footpeg-sheared off, rear turn signal broke and hanging, right mirror bent upside down -under the grip ( I think it landed on that mirror), bent rear brake pedal, scrape the size of a nickel on the slash of my Hard Krome, torn back rest, scraped chrome on rh grip, cylinder cover took a beating but didn't leak.
I went to my meeting with a sore wrist and knee. Drove the bike about 15 miles home- resting my foot on the gear box.
The worst part is I broke a bone in my left wrist - the ER said it'll take 6-8 weeks in a cast. I'll be lucky to ride again in July - we don't have a long biking season here.
I also have a big bruise on my left knee but it works fine.
I've seen them around here before but - if anyone could recommend some nice bolt up after market rear turn signals- its a good time to change. I need to take a closer look at the footpeg - Theres not much left- it may need some welding. Mirror and some bending should be easy.
Lastly - I'm not looking for any sympathy - I am fine and surely could have found a better way to stop - I just wanted to share. I would advocate a helmet (which is optional in CT- I wear one about 75% of the time - will be 100% in the future) and the cheap jacket definitely saved me some road rash.