Coming home this morning I ran into the teeth of the nasty little storm that dumped rain, freezing rain, and snow on the Baltimore/DC metro area. The last I checked the weather, it wasn't supposed to have started when it did nor was it supposed to be as much snow+ice, but hindsight and all that...
Anyways, I was on the inner loop of the Baltimore Beltway coming from Glen Burnie and trying to get to Towson before the storm got too bad. I realized about 5 minutes out that the rain wasn't just rain, but was freezing to my helmet and me. Not good, but traction wasn't an issue so I soldiered on. About halfway home, it turned to snow. Traction... not so much.
Forget the exact reason, but I drifted out of the clear tire grooves into the slush that started to accumulate in the center of the right lane, got into a mondo tankslapper, and got suplexed into the pavement (basically a throw-me-down low side) on my left side at about 40mph. I ended up sliding face down feet first up the highway before slowly coming to a stop on the shoulder. Wiggled my fingers, then my toes, and took an inventory... my left knee hurts and my shoulder feels funny.
Stood up to assess the damage and assure the small crowd of motorists who stopped to check on me that I was ok. Helped me lift the bike up, took two quick pics:
before trying to limp home. Nothing was terribly damaged so I thought I might be able to make it paddling along with my feet out, but no dice. Everyone was in a big damn hurry this morning, traffic was easily moving its regular 60+ mph pace in a berkeleying SNOW STORM. Cagers are i n s a n e, and as I was preoccupied with not getting run over I lowsided again, this time at maybe 15mph on the right side. Threw in the towel, called my family to come get me, and left the bike on the side of the highway until I could get a truck to come get her.
Here's the total:
Hand guards (GYTR flaps), gone. Both pegs bent. Both bar ends ground down, possibly ruined heated grips as well. Bars are probably bent. As you can see, the end of the Driven shifter was ground down pretty good too.
As for me, I have a small bruise on my left knee and a very stiff and sore left shoulder, but no lasting damage. I was wearing my Teiz Motorsports Lombard suit (which held up admirably, only a small scuff on the left knee), Tourmaster Solution boots, inexpensive Olympia winter gloves, and my Shoei RF1000 helmet.
To top it off, the bike's gone missing. 
Called teh state police to see if they picked it up, but they have no record. When they call me back, I'll either know what impound lot to go to or be filing a stolen vehicle report.
Cold? Buy warmer gear and get out there!
