Well, the title tells the story.
Yesterday, my brother and I were out cruising around. He was on my Buell, and I was riding my wife's SV650. Most of the country roads around here are chip seal, where the road crews lay down a layer of tar and then spread crushed rock over the tar. It is then left up to road traffic to mash the rocks into the tar. Eventually, as the road wears, spots of tar come through the surface.
It was one of the spots of tar with no rocks that got me. I was approaching a stop sign and as I applied the front brake, I unknowingly rolled over an oval shaped slick spot of tar (approx. 6" wide by 12" long, with the long axis aligned with my direction of travel) . The front wheel locked, skidded a short ways and before I could mentally register what was happening, I was sliding across the road. Judging by the marks the bike and I slid about 20'-25'. I was probably travelling about 30mph at the time I went down. The SV sustained broken brake levers, broken rt. foot peg bracket and various small scratches. Scott was able to ride it home without too much difficulty.
I was wearing a Cortech perforated leather jacket with liner installed, Held Profi gloves, Oxtar TCX boots, and Tourmaster overpants over jeans and a Shark RSi helmet. I have no road rash anywhere. My jacket shows minimal signs of road rash. The pants, likewise are barely damaged. My gloves though, are trashed. Which is unfortunate because I absolutely love(d) those gloves. I think I must've slid on my palms for a ways and the rough chip seal just chewed the palms up.
Keep in mind that I had a low speed lowside at Barbers last month that did minor damage to the gloves. So this is actually the second meeting with the pavement the Helds have had to endure.
The only injury I sustained is what I suspect to be a sprained pinky on my right hand. Its swollen and moving it is painful. Actually, the whole right side of my right hand is tender.
So, what have I learned from this incident? Wear gear, and wear quality gloves. Also, I should practice my thresh hold braking. Perhaps, had my practice been more current, I could have recognized the signs and modulated my braking. Finally, watch out for slicks spots of tar when riding on a chip seal road surface.
