Almost 5 years ago I had my first, and hopefully my only, crash on a public roadway. I've gone down many times on the track, but nothing serious and that's neither here nor there.
Short version for attention-span challenged folks like myself:
I lowsided in a turn at 50-60 mph. My '04 gixxer 750 was destroyed. I was knocked out and my head hurt; but my helmet saved my life. My other gear saved my skin. The lesson: Unless you have a death wish or want to become road pizza, always wear gear, especially a properly fitting helmet.
A more complete version for those who want to know more:Some may remember that I posted my crash story here shortly after it happened; but it's been a long time since then and most members today probably haven't seen it.
I still have no memory of what happened from a few seconds before the crash until over 1 hour after. The last thing I remember before the crash was leaning way over in a tight right-hand turn on a twisty paved desert road. I remember seeing a large patch of hard-packed dirt right in the middle of my line and thinking, "Oh crap!"
The next thing I remember is sitting on the side of a ravine looking down at this:
Apparently, I had low-sided at approximately 50-60 miles per hour after my front tire lost traction going over a patch of hard-packed dirt.
When I went down, the back of my head hit the pavement HARD. I was knocked unconscious and ended up with a concussion. I actually had a patch of blood blisters on the back of my head from the impact. This is what it did to my helmet:
Fortunately, the Nevada desert is fairly barren and after my body left the roadway, I mostly encountered soft dirt and loose gravel as I slid and tumbled down a ravine. The bike slid to the edge of the pavement, then flipped, tumbled and bounced for approximately 150-200 feet before coming to rest a couple ravines over from where I most likely came to rest. I say "most likely" because I have no memory of getting up and hiking across a couple ravines to where the bike ended up. The tracks in the dirt pretty much tell the story though.
I remember feeling very confused as I "woke up" sitting there staring at the remains of my bike. I had no idea where I was or how I got there. I didn't even remember going for a ride and couldn't comprehend what had happened. Because I was near the bottom of a ravine, I couldn't see the road or anything else to identify my location. I remember wondering whether I was in Nevada, Utah or Arizona.
After a little while I became aware that I had my cell phone pressed to my ear, and I could hear my wife talking through the phone. I started to tell her that my bike was wrecked and that I didn't know what happened or where I was.
She responded, "I know honey, you've already called me and told me four times now"... 
I have no memory of the first 3 calls.
Lessons learned. This is what I hope everyone takes from my crash story:
- Always wear a helmet. Even a small impact will kill you if your head isn't protected. I'd be dead if I hadn't been wearing mine.
- Always wear the rest of your gear. I've seen road rash that required skin grafts...not fun.
- Ride within the limits of the roadway. I knew the road I was on led to a drywall plant, but I didn't slow down to account for the inevitable patches of drywall dust on the roadway.
- Use the buddy system--ride with one or more other people you can trust. If you'll be riding alone, tell someone the exact route you'll be taking and check in at regular intervals. Since I knew I would be alone that day, I had told my wife the exact route I would be taking and how long it would take. So even though I had no idea where I was when I called her, she knew and was able to direct searchers to the right stretch of road. This was crucial in my case because it was a rarely used road and even if cars drove right by me, they couldn't have seen me down in the ravine off the edge of the roadway.
- Take it to the track! Don't push it on public roads. I've lowsided at the track at 50-60 mph and only ended up with some slightly scuffed leathers and ground down pegs, sliders and case covers.
- Enjoy!
