There are a number of names attributed to this wreck. The most prevalent one is the Thoth Surfboard Incident.

The ride

This began on a charity ride on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, 2024. It was one of my first experiences in a larger group ride. I'm no stranger to group rides, but I'd never been in one quite this big. By our estimation there were anywhere from 30 to 50 people. For comparison, I was used to groups of 4 to 6.

The corner

About an hour into the ride, on a back road, I came up a hill and into a corner. The corner was a sharp left that went downhill, with the apex at the very crest of the hill.

Coming up on that corner, I saw that a good friend of mine had gone through a ditch and up the other side of it. He was on a blue 1991 Gold Wing SE, and he went over the handlebars.

I got worried and decided to stop to make sure he was OK.

The mistake

The problem was that I didn't see where I was stopping. I went to apply my brake, and I was on pea gravel. Anyone who has ridden even a little bit knows how bad a mistake that is.

The back end slid out from under me.

Going down

This next part might seem a little crazy, but bear with me. Sometimes when things like that happen, time seems to slow down. I somehow managed to twist my body 180 degrees, grab onto Bast, and lock my arms.

I went down onto the gravel. She came down on top of me, riding me like a surfboard. That's where the name comes from.

The bike wasn't through. It bounced up again, caught her boot, and pulled her halfway off of me.

Knowing when enough is enough

I don't like to consider myself a quitter, but I also have the sense to know when enough is enough. Thankfully, there was a support truck behind us that took Bast back to the house where the party was.

I rode the bike back to the house, and it was checked for damage.

The damage

After some minor repairs, Lilia was good to ride again. To this day, some cosmetic scars remain, most notably on the left rear turn signal and the primary cover.

It also put dirt and sand into the front brake light switch, which was already a problem part. That fix is here:
Iron 883 Front Brake Light Switch Fix

Photos of the damage are coming.