January 3, 2004 {

A beautiful day - Days really don't get any more perfect than today. I headed out to Patterson Rd, a very popular twisty haunt nearby. I've run Patterson at least a dozen times, and my roommate Frank has seen it about a half-dozen. Today we introduced our friend Forge and his recently-bought Shadow 1100 to the road. The ride there was fantastic, until my bike started doing the 'growling' thing again, losing power, sputtering... we missed the turn to Patterson and pulled off into someone's driveway. As soon as I grabbed the clutch, the bike stalled. Well damn! whatever is causing this problem is still happening, even after tinkering with the sliders, removing a shim from each needle, replacing the fuel shutoff vacuum hose, adjusting the pilot jets and doing a carb sync! I went from great mood to straight-up pissed off in about 2 seconds flat. I start the bike again, rev it a couple times in neutral, and it's fine again. During this time, the frendly people who own the driveway we're on sick their dogs on us! well, it's time to get the hell outa dodge, and we haul back to Patterson and start the run. Since my bike is being so finicky, I ride in front (in case I stall out, they won't go on without me) with Frank behind me and Forge in the rear. I'm running the curves between 4/10ths and 6/10ths, just trying to enjoy the ride and keep the bike running smoothly enough to not cause any trouble. In the middle of the 4-mile or so run, there's a straightaway about 3/4 of a mile long, followed by the sharpest blind curve on the road. I'm varying speeds, going between 40 and 80 as I play with the carbs, then slow down to about 35 to take this curve. Frank does the same. As I try to roll deep into the throttle after the curve, the growling, dogging and sputtering comes back. I mash the throttle around a bit to see if it will come back nicely, but no luck. I have to pull off into the nearest driveway a quarter-mile down the road. Frank pulls in, already knowing why I'm stopped. I put it in neutral and start revving it slowly up and down again to make it happy, when I realize that Forge (who was 1 car behind us, taking the curves slowly, wasn't behind the car anymore. And he wasn't behind the next one. Or the next. A car stops and tells us that our buddy went down, but looks to be okay. Frank hauls out immediately while I rush to get my helmet back on. Forge went down at the apex of the sharp blind curve, bike flipped into the most bizarre rotation considering the turn, with his leg under the rear fender. Frank and I grunt and yell and pick up his bike from the sand just off the shoulder... Forge is awful dirty but looks to be in one piece. Turns out he broke his right wrist, but that was it. Forge was going into the curve behind an older white import. The car went in around 35 and Forge followed back at about 30. At the apex of the curve, the car decided he wanted to slam on the brakes and go about 10. Forge, at full tilt to the left, tried to straighten the bike and stop straight. Problem is, it's a 2-lane country road with an 8-inch shoulder, followed by about 15 feet of sandy grass and then a ditch. There's just no way a 250lb man on an 1100 Shadow going 30 can straighten and stop in 25 feet of pavement. Father Physics just shakes his head at that formula. So he caught a nice sand patch with the front wheel, the wheel took off to the right (basically back where he came from) and the rear send slid left, high-siding him while his leg got caught on the rear fender. The driver in front of him never realized what happened. He drove off and no one managed to get his license plate or the make of his car. An accident report was filed by the Hillsborough County Sheriffs and Forge was taken to the E.R. in an ambulance. Frank and I hung around for 3 hours, reporting the accident to his insurance and getting a tow truck to take the bike back to our house. We got it home without incident (my bike ran fine all the way home- about a 15 mile ride). The damage to the bike is surprisingly minimal. The headlight casing snapped, the left front turn signal stem broke, the left rear signal stem bent, a knee-dent on the right side of the tank and a small scuff on the front fender. The handlebar risers twisted (they're rubber- mounted to the triple tree) but we bent them straight so we could get the bike on and off the tow truck. We picked him up at the hospital - slightly sprained left ankle, some bruises, and a broken right arm just behind the wrist. He's expected to be fully healed within 6 weeks. Once all is worked out with the insurance company, we'll fix up the bike in an afternoon. My bike is still acting up, but I'll save that for another log.