Yes, He Crashed His Gold Wing

No. Not me. I haven't crashed my bike since, well, let's just say not in a while. But you Gold Wing riders may know a guy who goes by the name of Yellow Wolf. This is a story about HIS crash. It happened not far from the famous Tail of the Dragon. Here is how Yellow Wolf tells the story about what happened during his Super Secret Ride In.

...---...---...---...---...

We rode over near Deals Gap to do our Killboy drone shoot. It was wet with leaves and sticks on the road. We did the Killboy photo shoot and then a couple of the guys did a run on Deals Gap.

We left and did Route 28 down to Franklin and had lunch at Shoneys. The afternoon started to get sunny, and we all headed down Route 281. There are some nice sweepers there and the road was getting cleaner so the pace was faster!

We rested in Canada "the town" at the park. Afterward, we ran 281 some more and a couple of other roads. The sun was shinning bright and in my eyes. We were going into sun then into shade, and it was messing with my eyes real bad.

I could see the road edges, but I could not see the road surface. I pride myself on seeing thing most miss, but in these conditions I could not! I tried raising and lowering tinted face shield, but I still could not see well! Had I had been with my self, I would have just slowed down, but because I was with my friends on a fast ride I did not!

Well, as we were on Silversteen Road, coming into a right hand turn, I hit some unseen sand with the front tire. I was down fast. The crash tossed me hard on my right side. I was off the bike before I knew it. The bike slid on its right side, across the road and into the gravel where it dug in its tires and did a real nice flip onto its left side. I did not know it at the time but, yup, it was totaled!

Afterwards, I went back and looked at what I hit. It was sand. Then I walked back to the bike. My friends had it up by then, and it made me sick. Just about every part had some sort of damage. It was not leaking anything, so I said, "Well, its time to go home." The bike started and rode fine back to my house.

Time is a strange thing. I originally thought it was just sand and no biggie, but the more I thought about it, the more I started asking myself questions. I asked myself the questions I would have asked someone else, if they were telling this same story. When I did that, I started to see things differently.

So what did I learn:

1. My job as a Ride Leader is to warn my friends about sand, rocks, cars, dogs or what ever could cause them an issue. My job is to keep the ride as safe as possible. I failed to do that and, lucky for me, I went down and not one of my friends.
2. Had I been by myself, I would have slowed down. I did not slow down due to ... what? Ego. Not wanting to slow down. Getting to caught up in the moment. It doesn't really matter why I didn't slow down.
3. Riding is fun. Brisk riding is fun. The problem, when you get like minded folks together, is that it can become a bit more than fun. 

To my friends who were there, if you have anything to add--good or bad--please feel free to be very  honest about that day.

I guess it comes down to this:

1. If you can't see the road surface, then slow down
2. If you are leading, or following, and don't feel comfortable with whats going on, don't worry about what others may think, just do what you feel is right, even if that means to slow down
3. If you are leading a ride, its up to you to keep the group as safe as possible.

A huge thanks to the riders directly behind me for not running me over!

...---...---...---...---...

In my opinion, Yellow Wolff is a brave man, and a straight shooter, to share what happened so openly and honestly. Having ridden these mountain roads on a Gold Wing, let me second Yellow Wolf's advice: If something is not right, slow down. 

The video above does not show the crash--just a typical fun run in the Blue Ridge Mountains. For the worry warts in the crowd, the speed limit on most of these roads is 55 mph. They are so curvy, you don't need to go more than that to have one heck of a good time.