I came around this bend where there was a bit of wetness on the road, I had passed plenty of such moist crossings and this was nothing new. Well as soon as I made the turn and had to speed up a little to climb up the slope the bike's rear tire slipped and all I knew was I was on the pavement on my left side, the bike sliding over my right leg and we were dragging up the road for a good 10 to 15 feet. The bike slid off of me and kept going another 5 feet but my right ankle was in excruciating pain!!!
In the back of my mind was "My trip is Over". But I stood right up and felt that my ankle was wobbling which I first thought I had broken it since it was in pain, just wobbling and also numb to some extent. I finally was able to put it down on the ground and I put some weight on it to try and walk to assess whether it was broken or just severely sprained. I was able to put my foot down, and walk a step this way and that way in pain and came to the conclusion that it was not broken.
The bike still lay ahead of me and I noticed that it was still humming, tire spinning and there was a bit of petrol now dripping from its tank from the cap. I walked over to shut off the bike and took out the key. In the mean time a local walking down the road came around the bend from above and after seeing me and the bike he rushed over trying to lift the bike up. I told him it would not lift as its really very heavy. I could be of no help since I was unable to put extra weight on my already damaged foot. So he tried to lift it and I also assisted but he could not hold it and it fell the other way to the left.
So I told him I would help him but he must pull out the kick stand as soon as it comes to the top and then let it stand on the stand.
We were able to get it up right after which I told him to take it out of gear and push it to the road side since although there was no traffic I didn't want it to be a safety hazard for other cars or bikes driving by.
My main concern now was with WHAT THE HECK DID I SLIP ON???? I did not accept in my mind that I slipped over a wee bit of wetness on the road. He pointed to scratches on the side saying two to three bikes slip here daily. I asked why and how? He then walked over to the wet spot and said there was fungus/algae in that wetness that made it very slippery.
As I was already in pain I could not walk over to look at it or complain why has anyone not done something about cleaning this mess up.
He asked where I was coming from and where I was headed. When I told him I am going to Muzaffarabad he said I was heading the wrong way, this road led to Abbotabad and I would head back up for 12 kms and then just keep going straight.
I had turned left when I should have turned right.
Now I kept thinking my trip is over, but on the other hand I also kept thinking its NOT over till its OVER. So thanked the man, started the bike, checked the breaks, gears and then got back on the road to head back.
The 12 km ride back to the road was a defining moment, "should I keep going or head back to Islamabad?"
By the time that army/air force base came, I stopped. Got off the bike and tried walking a bit trying to assess the level of injury and decided that it was numb and in pain but I was able to put weight on it.
So I decided at that point to carry on with my journey and not to put too much weight on it.
I drove on towards Muzaffarabad. But I drove carefully to avoid any bumps in the road.