Today in motorcycle history, July 29, 1966

                     

                                 

 

  On July 29, 1966, Fourth Street goes positively nuts when word gets out that Bob Dylan wrecked his treasured Triumph on Striebel Road on the outskirts of Woodstock, New York.

 

  After achieving his early stardom and moving to Woodstock, New York from Greenwich Village in 1963, Dylan bought a 1964 500cc Triumph Trophy T100, much to the dismay of his manager, Albert Grossman.  It was his first bike since a Harley-Davidson 45 when he was 19 and the Trophy soon became his main form of transportation for the next several years. 

 

  Nobody really knows what caused the wreck other than Dylan and his wife Sara Lowndes, who was driving behind him after leaving Grossman's house in nearby West Saugherties.  Whatever happened, the crash ended up cracking a vertebra and giving Dylan some serious road rash.  With the whole thing shrouded in secrecy, the rumor mill went batshit, with fans churning out gossip that said everything from Dylan lost a hand and could never play guitar again to he hit his head and suffered permanent brain damage to he was just plain dead.

 

  In her autobiography, Joan Baez recalled, “He used to hang on that thing like sack of flour (huh?).  I always had the feeling it was driving him, and if we were lucky we'd lean the right way and the motorcycle would turn the corner.  If not, it would be the end of both of us.”

 

  In his memoir Chronicles, Dylan wrote, “I had been in a motorcycle accident and I'd been hurt, but I recovered.  Truth was that I wanted to get out of the rat race...."