Watching a squidwreck, up close and almost too personal

By LDBandit

My stepson and I took the 250's out for a ride around NE Georgia, but the heat got to the young man, so we headed home. Took one of my favorite local twisties home, but got behind a pick up truck, so we were taking it easy until a decent time to pass.

We were coming up on a tight left hander when a guy on a 600 came flying around the turn. His bud came through, but ran a tad wide. Seeing this I backed off, touched the brakes some and moved a bit to the right. That's when Gixxer Boy came sliding into view.

GB's bike slid right into the rear wheel of the truck, taking out the drive shaft and spinning the truck at least 140-ish degrees. The bike caromed to the right (my left) and stayed in the lane it should have been in to begin with.

GB himself (with some assorted pieces of crashed GSXR) kept going straight, right across my line and into the ditch. I was on the brakes hard at this time, otherwise I'd have hit the guy. Did run over some of the broken plastic.

Got stopped and checked on the truck guy. OK. GB was already up walking around, looking for his shoe (tennis shoes) which had flown off early in the wreck and was 30-50 yards away in a field off to GB's left. GB's right pinky was lacerated and broken. He might lose the tip of that finger. He also had some rash on his right forearm, and that was it. Pretty amazing, since he didn't have a single piece of gear on, not even a helmet (South Carolina: helmets are optional).

The bike was obviously wrecked. The front forks were pressed up into the radiator/frame. Front rim was bent all to hell. Front fairing stay (with assorted pieces) was in my lane and completely separated from the bike. The engine and rear end could probably be salvaged, but not much else. I'd like to get it as a project bike.

Oddly enough, my stepson wrecked, too. He saw what was happening and got on the brakes far too hard. Not sure if he slid the back out or tucked the front, but he ended up rolling down the road. The right wrist is damaged, not sure how much at this stage. The bike has a couple of issues, but was ridden home. (Update: The wrist problem was an aggravation of an Army injury. A couple days of Advil made it right.)

Lessons learned?

• Slow in, fast out. Make sure your entry speed is not too great.
• Don't try to keep up with buds.
• Learn how to emergency brake, and practice it.
• Learn what to do after a wreck. I'm still pondering all of this. Will probably start carrying a first aid kit with me from now on.

All in all, the stepson and I were lucky. If the truck hadn't been there, he'd have probably hit one of us instead. Would have ruined my day.

Final resting spot for Gixxer Boy's ride. Poor little thing.

Shot of the turn he was trying to make. This picture doesn't do justice to how tight the turn really is. He was coming off a relatively high speed run (70-80-ish at least), coming downhill approaching the bridge from the left. The tree that is barely visible on the left was hiding his vision of the road. There was additional foliage, but that one is critical. The bike was on the ground sliding before he was off the bridge. Dude never had a chance to make the turn.

Bike parts. Shoe.

And it may not have been a GSXR, not that it really matters.

Be careful out there.