The ride up, Thursday July 7, 2005.

The ride started well at 8:50 am for me.  I was to meet Michael at the Mobil station in Gorman.  I arrived a bit early, 9:45.  Michael ended up being a bit late.  His battery was dead.  He had to add electrolyte and charge it for a bit.

We got going sometime after 10:30.  I was moving along Lockwood Valley road at a good pace.  I knew about the big dip with the water in the valley, and the dirt section from the trip with the ZRXOA about a month before.  I even expected snow melt water in the tight section.  I wasn't prepared to tuck the front end and go down, highsiding over the left handlebars.  Ouch.

Michael rounded the corner and saw me getting up.  He helped get the bike upright.  It took a bit of cranking, but the engine finally sputtered to life.  I remounted and continued.  The engine would sputter and cut out often during the next few miles.  My left hand hurt badly and I could only use the 2 fingers closest to the thumb.

We stopped at the junction with CA-33.  I took my glove off for the first time and saw that the fingers were pointing in odd directions.  What to do?  I popped some Advil and headed north on CA-33.  It was the flattest direction.  When we got to CA-166, I made the decision to go to Santa Maria.  We did have to stop and tighten the left mirror in New Cuyama.

Along CA-166, the engine stopped giving me any problems and was going quite strongly as ever.  I fiddled with the GPS and discovered that San Luis Obispo was not too far north of Santa Maria.  I decided to head north on US-101 to SLO instead of south to Santa Maria.

In SLO, we found an emergency room at the Sierra Vista Medical Center.  I had gone about 120 miles from where I crashed.  After some x-rays, the doctor shot my fingers full of novacaine, stretched them and popped the joints back into place, and wrapped the fingers up with some metal splints, leaving 2 fingers free to work the clutch.

On to Cambria.  I rode barehanded.  We got there around 4:00.  Total damage:

bullet1 dislocated finger
bullet1 fractured and dislocated finger
bullettorn palm on left glove (I later cut 2 fingers off)
bulletscratched left side of face shield
bullettorn jeans
bulletscraped and bruised knees
bulletbroken left side frame slider
bulletground down pulse cover
bulletscratches on left turn signal, barend, passenger foot peg, and mirror
bulletlarger dent in tank from turn signal (a small one was already there)
bulletcracked fairing and windscreen

Here are some photos taken at the motel in Cambria:

And of my knees (the bruising got worse over the weekend, peaking on Monday):

On Friday we continued up CA-1 to the motel in Pacific Grove.  Here are some photos taken along the way:

Michael's headlight burned out, so he made some repairs before we headed out to the track for the day.

Next Page - Friday at the track