Yet Another Rider Down
 

Long story short:
My father wrecked on the highway at approx. 70 mph.

Long story long:
My father (Triumph Street Triple), my buddies Kevin (Kawasaki ZZR600), Wesley (Kawasaki ZZR600), Wes (Yamaha FZ6), Brandon (Yamaha R6), and I (SupaChikn) decided to make a trip out to the Tail of the Dragon to hang out for the day and get some good knee draggin' shots. We decided to hit the highway instead of taking all the backroads to get there a little quicker. We were two exits away when I looked back only to see my friends Wesley and Brandon. My first thought is that I missed the exit somehow or a backroad, so I promptly found a u-turn and turned around. I look through the trees separating the road to see my buddies Wes and Kevin off their bikes on the side of the road...and running towards something. My heart all of a sudden sinks and thoughts start racing through my head. As I get to the next u-turn area, at the end of the trees, I see an ambulance racing towards the side of the road. As I pull up, I see a torn up Triumph and my father on the side of the road.
...So as it turns out, my dad apparently blacked out and when he regained focus, he was in the grass. He tried to get back onto the road and was inches from making it when the front wheel caught a dirt hump and sent him and the bike flying through the air...at 70mph. The guard rail was 4 feet from the road and he somehow managed to flip, with the bike, four times and slide a good ways without getting caught in the guard rail.
...But where did he get really lucky? An ambulance was a mile behind us and stopped almost the second he wrecked. Medicare on the spot! :)
Broken finger, rashed wrist, bruised ass and sternum, ticket for unsafe speed and expired driver's license, and a messed up bike. We were able to bend things back enough that he could ride it back home...and he managed to get up the strength the hop on and ride.

50 years old...been riding for over 30 years and this was his first wreck. :(

So...Tail of the Dragon was not meant to be today.

Man, hope he's okay... Good luck to you and your family.

That is seriously lucky. Glad he's relatively ok, that could have been pretty bad.

Any idea what caused his blackout?

No idea. He has no history of things like this. He thinks between the consistent sound of the engine and wind...he just zoned out...and when he regained focus, he was in the grass.

That's happened to me numerous times over all the years I've been driving. I would suddenly notice where I am and wouldn't remember the last couple miles. I've heard it's a condition that's not uncommon, but it's only happened to me on frequently traveled roads, usually when driving home from work. And it's NEVER happened to me while on 2 wheels,

glad things turned out ok, hopefully he will be up and going soon

glad your Dad's not seriously hurt...

I hope he stops riding. If that were to happen again he might not be so lucky! yikes!

Glad to hear he's not too messed up.

70 mph, bike flips 4 times, he goes flying - and he gets up and rides home. Your dad is hardcore, bro.

blacks out is different from zoning out or what I refer to as auto pilot. I'm assuming he was on a straight road and maybe just closed his eyes(fell asleep) enough to lose control. If he really passed out, it's doubtful that he would have awakened before the end point. Falling asleep is easy to do on straight boring roads. A tough, costly lesson, but thankfully he's OK and he'll be riding with you guys again.

Apparently your dad & the Street Triple are both very crash-worthy. Missing the guard rail made for a happier ending. Cool deal that he rode home.

Maybe see you at the Gap this week. We'll be down Wed. thru Sun.

I do this quite often. Just thinking about shit and not focusing on the road. When you come out of it, it's almost like you slept through the last few miles....but normally you are subconsiously watching the road; hence I never ended up in a ditch.

Glad your dad is ok.

That's the thing...the highway was curvy.

Somebody was looking after your pops, learn from this. Glad he's ok.

I just might...I think we are gonna try again...but with better luck.

Wow, that was a close call! I'm glad you all made it out okay. Please be careful on the Dragon - it's taken its share.

It has...but it's not as bad as it's cracked up to be. As long as you are safe, you'll be just fine. There are more wrecks and deaths on other curvy roads here in Western NC than at the Dragon.

maybe your Dad should get an MRI, you never know what may have caused his "blackout"...

FWIW, if his blackout goes on the police report, he could lose his drivers license temporarily, and that lapse in licensing can seriously effect his insurance rates, or even make him uninsurable with some companies (car or bike!).

Sometimes that's for the best, but you should at least know the consequences of being too honest.

I'd rather give them a different reason for crashing and then decide between me and my doctor what needs to be done to prevent it from happening again, rather than leave it to the DMV to decide.

whoa, that's not good. that would lean toward passing out and not falling asleep. Sounds like it's time for an in-depth check up to define the problem before it ends in a catastrophe. Well, maybe it's a wake-up call. Let us know.