Originally Posted by Conrice

I was leading a group of a few bikes and a few cars back from this great 120 miles or so loop we used to do outside of Tallahassee, FL. We were coming back into town after doing some really spirited riding (if you catch my drift), so I kind of lost perception of how fast we were actually going. It had rained in Tally, but not when we were leaving, nor while we were on the ride. It all happened while we were away, it was nothing but sunshine (but that's not uncommon if you know Florida weather).

Anyways, those 2 factors worked against me. As we were coming into the first traffic lighted intersection - the light turned yellow. I had to stop because I was leading the group and most had not been on that ride before (they would have been lost).

The white-line-of-death at the intersection that was wet, with me carrying too much speed (lost the perception of mph) locked the front tire and I was getting all out of shape.

I was still probably going 45mph or so (based on what the guy behind me said) when I binned it. I still remember the view horizontally looking over the tank with the trees in the background with the afternoon sun shining through them.

As I was sliding on the ground, I remember spinning around on my backside. I was pissed - my new Scorpion lid - only a month old - I remember trying to hold my head up as to not let it hit the ground. It eventually did, though. It was slow motion. I remember that I just could not hold my head up anymore. The back of the helmet just grazed the pavement.

Or so I thought... judging by the damage to the helmet (and from what my friend confirmed), my head slammed into the ground.

My friend said it was the coolest thing he'd ever seen. Apparently, I didn't even stop sliding on the ground before I was up running after my bike. It slid through the intersection and I do remember running after the bike yelling "I'M OKAY!!!! DON'T CALL THE POLICE!!!" to the poor lady in the car (perpendicular intersection) with a horrified look on her face. I picked the bike up, rolled it down the street, then down another street, and then finally down into another small side street. I was a little paranoid back then because I was still hiding my motorcycle from my parents. They had absolutely no idea that I was a rider.

I waited there for the BAS to reset. There was some coolant on the fairings - after checking it, it was just from the reservoir. I lost the visor on my helmet. We finally made our way home. I walked in the door, threw off my helmet, grabbed a FOSTERS oil can, smoked a cigarette, then went to a bar with my friends/fraternity brothers.

I was sore for a few days, but no real damage. I had a bit of road rash on the top of my hip from where the jacket road up. But that's it. After looking at the helmet - had I not been wearing it, I'd probably be a vegetable and not know how to walk. The gloves and jacket held up just fine.