And this is why we *always* wear our gear.

I ate shit for the first time Tuesday. Going around a blind left curve at 15-20 MPH with traffic coming at me, I decided to move to the outside of the lane so as not to have my head taken off by a passing mirror, and I hit sand at the apex of the curve. I had the presence of mind to get out of my lean before I did anything, so the bike didn't slip out from under me, but by the time I'd corrected, I was already up against the curb, and the tires made contact. The front tire caught the curb, and snapped to the right, dumping the bike against the curb, and dumping me onto the ground. With my leg pinned between the bike and the curb, I got drug across the ground about ten feet before my bike and I came to a stop. The curb smashed the windshield into a hundred pieces, broke the headlight bracket, bent my right foot rest backward, and tore off my rear right blinker.And I'm fine. Really sore, but completely intact. Nothing is broken, all my skin is still attached, and I still have all my teeth, because I was wearing all my gear.My right boot got fairly mangled, the right side of my armored jacket is pretty roughed up, and the right side of my helmet is scraped and caked with dirt, gravel, and who knows what else. But it all did its job, and kept me in one piece, and I just wanted to share this to help reinforce to those who think any of the gear is optional at any time, it really isn't. I was driving at low speeds through an area I'm extremely familiar with - which is exactly the sort of circumstance other riders I know will decide "nah, I don't need gear for this, I'm not going far/fast", and had I made that decision (not that I ever would) I'd be far more fucked up than I am. As it stands, I've got a small scrape on my elbow from rubbing against the inside of my jacket, and my shoulder is pretty bruised up, but that's it. If I hadn't been wearing my gear...well, I just look at what happened to the outside of my gear, and imagine that being bare skin, and I've got my answer.All the gear. All the time. All it takes is something stupid happening just once. Be safe out there, guys. via /r/motorcycles https://www.reddit.com/r/motorcycles/comments/8ya2sd/and_this_is_why_we_always_wear_our_gear/?utm_source=ifttt