Hopefully this will get this thread going again....
Many, many years ago I was riding with a group of guys up in the mountains. We were on this road that is similar to Deal's Gap, that's about as long, but not as many curves packed into the same amount of space. Anyway, it is twisty and very little traffic.
The guys I was riding with were a lot older, but they were still fast. It was a warm late winter/early spring day, so we were making the most of it and moving a long at a pretty good clip. I was second in line in the group and me and the guy in front pulled away from the rest. Everything was going great until the front tucked exiting a sharp left hander. I saved it, but I was now headed off the road, so I leaned her back into the corner and she tucked again and I was down! The bike went down the mountain (no guardrails), but luckily it is very wooded, so it only went about 20 - 30 feet down the embankment. Even luckier, I stayed up top on the 3-4 feet shoulder, narrowly missing a large rock.
Anyway, I stand up and could hear the other guys coming. I run back toward the apex so they can see me and motion for them to slow down. The guy that was only 5-10 feet in front of me, never saw me go down and kept on a gettin' it down the road. Everyone else stopped and dismounted. As we stood there and contemplated how to get my bike back up the road, we heard the other guy (who was in front) coming back to us. One of my friends says, 'Quick, lay down in the center of the road and I'll act like I'm giving you CPR'. Granted, he's 50 years old plus and I'm just some naive kid, so I do it. I couldn't see it, but when the front guy rides up, I heard his eyes were as big as SAUCERS!
I didn't want him to freak out too much, so when I sat up, everybody just roared with laughter... eventually even the front guy.
Turns out a hit some slag in the center or the road on my corner exit (tiny pea gravel the DOT puts down for ice to give traction - TO CARS) and the front tucked. You could see where the tire pushed the gravel all the way to the edge of the road, where it ran into another line of slag on the outside of the road, which was the proverbial icing on the cake.
We got the bike back up the hill with the help of some rock climbers and their rope that were in the area who heard the carnage. They had a good laugh too.
--xTalon