The 2nd time I tipped my bike over...clay-like mud, 5" of rain, and a 1/2 mile long driveway

Tip Over #2 happened at around 80,000 miles. Pretty solid track record of remaining upright considering the length of time and mileage in between!   I was on my Victory Cross Roads in the middle of BFE Texas. It was April. Our destination (a friend of a friend’s house) was in the countryside of Texas, with tons of acreage on either side of the mobile home. While it is likely an amazing view in nice weather, in storms, it just offered better insight of the beating that was about to occur. 

So as the clouds turned darker and darker, and as the wind picked up faster and faster, we were all moving our bikes under whatever cover we could find, which included a mini-shed, and a lean-to on the side of a horse barn. Good enough! With sirens blaring, our phone alerts going off like crazy, it was obvious we weren’t going to have a campfire. Amid tornado warnings, high winds, and blaring alerts, we all hunkered down inside the house,  cranked the tunes, cracked a beverage, and busted out the blow torch and marshmallows. It was a classy scene. 

Fast forward to the next morning, when the rain finally subsided, there was now not only a ½ mile long driveway to tackle on the way out… but it was now MUD. Slippery, thick, sticky, clay-like mud. And a LOT Of it. The daunting driveway (this was taken on arrival.. no mud, yet)

 I walked the entire half mile long driveway to figure out where the best path of action would be- aka where the least amount of thick mud was located. Mud and motorcycles are not the best combo, so I thought I would walk it to see with and less slippery as part was and then hope for the best. Yes, I was shaking my head the whole way, knowing the odds were against me.  I put on all my leathers because I just had this feeling that it wasn’t going to go well.   I make it down the middle, then to the far left, then up the lip to the grass, (feeling good so far!) but as I was coming back off the grass, onto the mud driveway to cut to the right before the sink hole, my rear tire didn’t like the angle at which I returned to the mud, and instead of having full control at 5 mph, I foolishly decided to CRANK the wheel a little tighter. So instead of dodging said mud hole, I managed to throttle into it and crank the wheel right as I got there. I probably could have driven through it, but all I could see in that moment of tunnel vision, was a tightly knit, rusty barbwire fence 5’ ahead of me, with a whole herd of cows on the other side. I lost all control and I dumped the bike over. I was within 20 feet of making it to pavement and on the road scoff free. Standing up half covered in a thick layer of mud, I realize quickly that there is a 0% chance I was going to get this bike up right by myself, wearing cowboy boots, which as you may know, offer ZERO traction.  The other girls came running to help, laughing hysterically of course, while also saying “YOU WERE SO CLOSE!” With the bike back upright, my nerves on edge, and the remainder of the driveway taunting me, I made it out.  As I hit the pavement, and I hit the throttle, big chunks of mud were slapping me in the back (and in the back of the helmet). Stiffy was behind me and backed off quite a way, apparently not wanting to resemble the Orbitz gum commercial.  Lesson Learned:  Thick clay-like mud, with several inches of rain on top, is an obstacle course not meant for cruiser bikes. See my skid marks below ~ lol