So a little update....

Trailered to TN/NC over the weekend. Awesome riding, rode the dragon and surrounding rodes multiple times over the weekend. It was really some of the best riding I have ever done. Saturday was a beautiful day. I definitely eased into the dragon, but soon was pushing hard. My floorboards and fishtails were taking a beating. Then I woke up and it was drizzling on Sunday. So that was not going to stop us...we rode more new loops. Our ride map had us riding all day, and then finishing up on the Cherohala before we loaded up the bikes on the trailer for the drive home on monday.

So this is where i start looking back and am so pissed at myself. I had been riding cautiously due to the rain all day. In the afternoon it stopped raining, but was still somewhat overcast and the roads never really dried up too much. Halfway through the Cherohala I was getting antsy to open up the roadie a little more. Well I did........and payed the price. I think I was overwhelmed with the whole experience that I just wanted to get the most of it by riding aggresive. Anyway....i had to lay the bike down. Coming into a wide sweeper, and I hit a patch of reworked road. I was already into my lean for the corner. My rear wheel slipped, and I came out of the lean to save it. I didn't want to jack on the brakes because I was sure I was going to slide out, so I tried to ease on the brakes and stay on the road. i ran out of road too quick though. As soon as my tires hit the wet grass I lowsided. I was going down and embankment and slid for what seemed to be at least 50 yards or so before i hit a gully and that threw me off the bike. This all happened pretty quickly, but I remember having enough time while I was sliding to think to myself, this is not going to end up good. Well, the Lord was looking out for me, andby the time I stopped, I stood up and walked away with a scraped arm, and a bruised leg.

The lindby bar i had kept my bike off my lowside leg as I was sliding. I dont think I will ever ride without one again. All in all the roadie didnt take to much damage. I was able to bend a few things and ride it down the mountain. I sheared my bar-stop and aside from a few bolt ons and some tank work that was the biggest issue I saw.

I can't believe I walked away with mininal damage on both me and the bike. I picked on of the best spots on the whole trip to go down....long patch of grass (no rocks, falloffs or other dangerous things)

In the end, I was running a rear tire that should not have been challenging the difficult roads up there, and was probably riding to aggressive for the rain (take that back...was definitely riding too hard for the rain...something about cherohal screamed to drag floorboards and pipes...in the rain = bad news). I still believe that had my rear not slid on me on that rough patch of re-worked road I would have been fine, but as my dad always tells me, a true indication of your riding skills is how you can overcome things when they go wrong. I didn't do too well.

So now my question about the steering stop and insurance. Does sheering that stop mean the bike is "technically totalled"? Should I file a claim, or try to juft fix it myself if the damages are within reason? I am worried about my rates going up significantly, as I have not had my motorcycle insurance more than a couple years.