Interview - 'I Came Off Of The Bike At About A 110MPH. I Broke 7 Ribs, Punctured A Lung And Had A Concussion'

Leslie Porterfield, shares her thoughts on going fast and what goes wrong when it is just not your day

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Bitten by the motorcycling bug

It happened by accident. I bought my first motorcycle at 16 as a cheap mode of transportation, fell in love with it. So, it was something that wasn’t planned, I hadn’t even ridden a motorcycle before as I bought my first one. It was the Yamaha Virago 1000 and it was in a box. It was a very big bike for a 16 year old and I had to fix it to be able to ride it. Many people said that I wouldn’t be able to get it running let alone be able to ride it.

First attempt at the Bonneville Salt Flats

In 2007 conditions were a little rough, very wet. It is very slippery on a good day but it being very wet, it was very sludgy. I had problems with the bike, with the handling of the bike and the back end came around when I was doing about 227mph (365kmph). That’s when it started getting out of shape and then the back end came all the way around and I came off of the bike at about a 110mph (177kmph). I broke seven ribs, punctured a lung and had a concussion. So, it was a crazy time, it was not exactly as planned.

Motivating to get back on the bike