So I decided to try out the saddlebags that came with my bike instead of the backpack that I normally use. I ride up to Green Bay Wisconsin which is roughly a 2 hour ride from my house and I do this almost every weekend. I was 30 minutes in and about to get on the freeway when I did something pretty stupid. This was one of those on ramps that has you go in almost a full circle and my stupid self thought that would be the best time to check if the saddle bags came loose. I look down, they're holding just fine. Look up and say yo myself oh nuts. Going about 35-40 headed straight for the ditch. I could have attempted to make a hard swerve and brake but that would have ended up with me on the gravel. So instead I just ran it into the long grass. Get up, I know I was 100% okay, tell the nice man that stopped that I'm fine and can handle it, get the bike out of the ditch to assess the damage and calm myself down. The bike was just covered in wet grass the only damage was a bent mirror and the right side of my headlight mount is cracked. The forks and handle bars seem straight  and everything seems to be working fine (I finished the rest of my ride with no problems). I'm not afraid to get back on the bike as it was nothing but my own stupidity and I'm glad nothing else happened to me or the bike. is there anything I should look at closer? I dont want to make things amy worse on the bike as I rely on this thing as a car. It gets me everywhere I need to go. So after close to 4000 miles I finally had my first accident.

Glad you didn't get hurt.
It's easy to pull a stunt like that.
Looking at your load,, might wanna stop first.

You are wiser today than yesterday [/quote]

Well let's hope , l would like to believe he learns from his screw ups !!

If you're like me, the dumber the mistake the more likely you are to learn from it.

Glad you're OK.

Collinjet, it's good to know it all came out good. Thing is, it's a motorcycle, so you have to be extra diligent. You can't get distracted and need to focus on the ride. It's often the momentary lapse that gets you, like you learned.

It's the reason I stripped my bike of all the extranous add-ons (saddle bags, highway pegs, etc.) before ride one. Didn't need to think about it, and it's install, to distract from learning what was what about bike. Learned that from a lifetime of sailing, it's what folks added to the boat before you got it that breaks and gets you in trouble.

You got up and rode away, that is really what is important here. Best to you going forward, lesson learned.