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Cuyama Ride-Part 2 By Larry Valenzuela

(President's Note- Larry was our sweeper on this ride and he had a spill. Thankfully he chose to wear a full face helmet which took a hard hit on the front right side. I have
always strongly recommend a full face helmet. Thanks to Rick Bell,Richard Sweet and Jeff Roe for helping Larry.)
Cold and foggy heading up the coast and through Los Olivos. Then it warmed up and I settled in for a great ride on some curvy country roads. All was well it was a great ride, took some more pictures along the way.

Stopped for lunch in Cuyama and then headed for the 33 through Cuyama valley and back into upper Ojai. It was hot so I ditched the jacket and decided to ride in a long sleeve Harley T-shirt. Gotta show off that symbol and give the MOCO some free advertising.
That's where the mayhem began. Coming up the 33 from the back way, I was tracking
the turns pretty well, no wide swings and at the right

speed. Kept my eyes targeting the man in front for the lines as needed.

Then I came to a left hand
turn that I have done several times, but not on the Harley. This is a broad sweeping turn and the road banks the wrong way slightly. I was probably doing 35 -40 going in. rolled
off the throttle and tracked through the middle. Right as I came around the bend I should have been closer to the inside line but wasn't, no matter, just lean a little more and the bike will track through it fine. That's when the shit hit the fan.

Now I have close to 10,000 riding miles under my belt already in about a year and a half of riding. So I am hardly a "newbie" But only about 600 on the new heavier bike. Not normally a problem, so I thought.

So where was I? Oh yeah the shit hitting the fan. So I'm in the middle of the turn and the center of the lane and getting ready to lean a little steeper to correct my attack angle when all of a sudden I feel the back wheel go a little loose. I am not talking about a total wash out, but just a subtle shift of the bike that I didn't cause. So I pull out of the lean to make sure it doesn't turn into a full on wash out. Unfortunately that makes the bike track straight when the road is turning left. The next thing I know I am looking at the shoulder
off the pavement and realizing that I am going to run out of road before I can stop the bike. I hit the brakes hard and lock up the back wheel. Ease off the brakes and start a
hard lean and try to stay on the pavement. No luck. I hit the dirt! There were deep tire tracks in the shoulder from recent rains that have now baked into deep grooves. I am
doing maybe 20-35mph when I hit the dirt. What happened with the bike after that I can only surmise because milliseconds later I was in the air and heading face and right shoulder first into the dirt. I can see the ground rushing up at me. I hit hard, my right shoulder and upper arm taking most of the impact. My head hits the ground several times as it skips like flat stone on water while my body comes to a halt. I can see the dirt moving past the visor and I think "thank God I have a full face helmet". I can't hear the motor on the Harley running. I just hear the sound of crunching gravel and scraping and banging helmet.

Then suddenly its over. I'm lying on my back with my arms outstretched staring up at the sky. It looks like a movie scene to me where the camera is in the guy's helmet looking out. About a billion things run through my mind in quick bursts. My girlfriend. I am alive. I'll see her again. Then, she's going to flip out. She'll never ride with me now. My boys, thank God he didn't go with me. My daughter and my grandkids. My dad. Then its on to the business at hand...

I'm lying in the dirt and unsure how injured I am. First order of business, Am I alone? I listen for my buddy's bike, he was ahead of me. I hear it slow down and then get louder. Ok, Someone's coming. How bad am I hurt? My shoulder feels like its on fire. Probably road rash, I think, I hope. Its throbbing and hurts. Not sure if I broke it. Neck? Hurts but not too bad. Can I move? I wiggle my toes and move my feet. Ok, I think I Felt them move. Hands and arms? Yeah they seem to move ok too. So I lay there and in a few moments I hear my buddy Rick Bell get of his bike in a rush. Whew. I see his face come into view and he looks
a little panicked.

"I'm ok." I tell him, looking for some reassurance from his facial expression. "How's
the bike?" I ask.

"It's messed up, are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah I need to get my helmet off."

Now I was an EMT and I know that I should be extremely careful. But there was very little pain and having had multiple back and neck injuries over the years I am familiar with that particular area of my body. So I took it off. My buddy helped me up and the first thing I
see is the Harley emblem from the front fender, bent and twisted, staring at me. I look,
and the bike with several pieces no longer attached is sitting 15 feet or so away from me.

I am helped to my feet and there is another member Richard Sweet that has pulled over to help out. That's one of the good things about "bikers". Whatever they ride when one goes down they're there to help. So I get cleaned up, with the aid of a borrowed rag and Richard Sweet's first aid kit.

The adrenalin is really pumping and I am probably in mild shock. So the pain hasn't truly set in. We get the bike upright and start it. Good ole American made stuff! It starts right up making that purr like it should. The windshield is hanging by a thread, the saddlebag is bent and leaning at an odd angle the forks are bent the floorboard is bent as is the brake pedal. My head lights don’t' work and are twisted to shit. But the bike starts. I get on the pavement and ride for a few feet and it seems to track without rubbing or wobbling. So we put the pieces in the bags and strap the windshield to the back and head on down the mountain to Ojai.

We stop at the gas station to get something to drink and meet up with everyone. They're all concerned, of course, it is now about 30-45 minutes after the crash and my shoulder really is starting to hurt and I have a headache, but I am not sure if the headache is from the crash or smoking too much.

The bottom Line is I am lucky! The only safety gear I had on was a full face helmet and vented riding gloves. My shoes were tore up and my t-shrit was little protection at all.

CCR

Cal Coast Riders 2006 Calendar of Events