My last (and final) motorcycle accident was precipitated by one golfball-sized piece of gravel in the left lane, left track (left side of the driving lane). Closest to the median strip. Hit it with the front tire. Wobbled a bit. Went off onto the shoulder, then into the median. Figured I'd just slow it down, come to a full stop and then get back on the road. Unfortunately, we had had a Georgia thunderstorm the night before and the grass was more like a wet sponge. OK, going to get wet, but no big deal. Wrong. Very slippery. The bike went down for the first time and rebounded. Knew that the next time the bike was going to go down for good. So, when it dropped the second time, I bailed out, tucking into a ball so I could roll to a stop without letting the arms and legs flop around. Ended up in a seated position, on my right side with my left arm drapped over my abdomen, and sliding face first toward an elevated manhole. Impact was belly first, at around 55 mph! Woke up in the ambulance. Two surgeries for the hand restored it to nearly full function. Unfortunately there was a permanent loss of about 50% of grip strength. That kind of brought my airborne abilities to a screaching halt. Follow-up assignments were to admin/puke-type positions (flying a desk stuff). No longer able to fully function in the Airborne/Ranger/Special Forces field pretty much ended my career advancement. Ended up retiring as a Captain after 23 years service ....
Bitter? Yeah. But, at myself for being so darn stupid !!!
..Joanne