SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – A couple was riding along Ortega Highway when they couldn’t negotiate a curve and crashed their motorcycle onto the guardrail, authorities said, throwing the woman over the rail.

The woman’s husband continued riding for a distance while witnesses to the crash followed behind him, officials said, trying to tell him his passenger was no longer riding with him. The 63-year-old woman was found dead after a search.

The bizarre crash Sunday afternoon prompted a response from the California Highway Patrol, the Orange County Fire Authority and the U.S. Forest Service, which searched for the woman for about 20 minutes by foot and helicopter.

Coroner officials identified her Monday morning as Sharon Ryan of Rancho Santa Margarita.

The fatal crash was reported by witnesses behind the motorcyclist at 4:35 p.m., who saw the woman being ejected from the black 1997 Honda motorcycle, said CHP Officer Aaron Rothberg.

They were headed west and approaching a left-hand curve, he said.

Investigators think the couple was riding at about 40 mph when they couldn’t negotiate the curve, Rothberg said.

The couple rode on the shoulder and gravel of the road before hitting the guardrail, he said.

The impact seemed to have been strong enough to eject Ryan from the motorcycle, but her husband was able to continue riding, Rothberg said .

The crash is under investigation by the CHP, he said. No arrests or citations have been made.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7949 or shernandez@ocregister.com