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I have dreaded the thought of writing a post on this topic, both before I went down and since. To answer a lot of people's first questions, I'm ok (and, thanks).
It was Saturday, July 30th (almost exactly a week ago). The weather was clear, the sun was about to go down, and the roads were dry. As two of us were splitting off from a group, we pulled over, talked and then continued on; I lagged behind, as I continued to talk a little longer. The onramp turn was posted at 30 mph, and it was a sharp turn. What's worse than that was the road dropped/sank right at the apex and there was sand on the road after that. I entered the turn a little fast, probably 40, slowed to 35-ish for the turn, and leaned the bike for the sharp corner. At the apex, the unweighting road caused the bike to "jump" to an upright position. After that, I was slightly outside the center of the lane and there was sand on the road. I instantly knew I could not resume the lean or I would lose traction and slide the bike, possibly in front of traffic on the highway. I kept the bike upright and was forced to ride the bike through some sand/gravel, across the highway lanes, and into a cement barrier.
I was unconscious until my friend came back and a nurse from one of the nearby cars first found me. The nurse had me talking long enough to tell her my name and where I was going (heh, she couldn't get the digits that quick
), then I lost consciousness until the next day in the hospital.
The bike was fully insured, and it is a total loss. People who spoke with my friends, when they went to see the bike at the tow company, asked if the rider actually lived. Yeah, it was ugly. All plastics trashed, forks only slightly bent, tank seriously bent up, wheels in tact, gauges and electronics trashed, seat torn off, etc. I haven't seen the bike in person.
I spent a week in the hospital, about a half in Intensive Care. I am still healing from a concussion, broken collar bone, muscle trauma to shoulder, partially ruptured spleen, collapsed lung, many bruises, and minor road rash. I was wearing a full-faced Scorpion EXO-400 helmet, leather riding jacket, leather/padded gloves, double-knee jeans, and over-ankle leather boots. All but the boots are no longer usable, partly because they cut everything off my body.
I have spoken with friends from the area and re-visited the accident scene. Many people have told me that they have crashed cars there; the guard rail that I hit has tons of scrape marks for over 50 feet, from cars crashing. To top it all off, I got a citation in the mail from the officer who oversaw the accident. My copy does not contain his notes, but my parents spoke with him about the details. He claims I was going 60-70+ mph(!!) and there is no mention of the sand and debris around the turn. My forks are barely bent and I did not even fly into the lane opposite the barrier. That alone tends to imply that I could NOT have been doing 60 mph or faster!
I figured there was no good done if I didn't share my story with the people who could make the best use of the information. I would gladly offer pictures, but my camera was destroyed in the crash
Maybe I can get some from friends.
Ride safe!
It was Saturday, July 30th (almost exactly a week ago). The weather was clear, the sun was about to go down, and the roads were dry. As two of us were splitting off from a group, we pulled over, talked and then continued on; I lagged behind, as I continued to talk a little longer. The onramp turn was posted at 30 mph, and it was a sharp turn. What's worse than that was the road dropped/sank right at the apex and there was sand on the road after that. I entered the turn a little fast, probably 40, slowed to 35-ish for the turn, and leaned the bike for the sharp corner. At the apex, the unweighting road caused the bike to "jump" to an upright position. After that, I was slightly outside the center of the lane and there was sand on the road. I instantly knew I could not resume the lean or I would lose traction and slide the bike, possibly in front of traffic on the highway. I kept the bike upright and was forced to ride the bike through some sand/gravel, across the highway lanes, and into a cement barrier.
I was unconscious until my friend came back and a nurse from one of the nearby cars first found me. The nurse had me talking long enough to tell her my name and where I was going (heh, she couldn't get the digits that quick
), then I lost consciousness until the next day in the hospital.The bike was fully insured, and it is a total loss. People who spoke with my friends, when they went to see the bike at the tow company, asked if the rider actually lived. Yeah, it was ugly. All plastics trashed, forks only slightly bent, tank seriously bent up, wheels in tact, gauges and electronics trashed, seat torn off, etc. I haven't seen the bike in person.
I spent a week in the hospital, about a half in Intensive Care. I am still healing from a concussion, broken collar bone, muscle trauma to shoulder, partially ruptured spleen, collapsed lung, many bruises, and minor road rash. I was wearing a full-faced Scorpion EXO-400 helmet, leather riding jacket, leather/padded gloves, double-knee jeans, and over-ankle leather boots. All but the boots are no longer usable, partly because they cut everything off my body.
I have spoken with friends from the area and re-visited the accident scene. Many people have told me that they have crashed cars there; the guard rail that I hit has tons of scrape marks for over 50 feet, from cars crashing. To top it all off, I got a citation in the mail from the officer who oversaw the accident. My copy does not contain his notes, but my parents spoke with him about the details. He claims I was going 60-70+ mph(!!) and there is no mention of the sand and debris around the turn. My forks are barely bent and I did not even fly into the lane opposite the barrier. That alone tends to imply that I could NOT have been doing 60 mph or faster!
I figured there was no good done if I didn't share my story with the people who could make the best use of the information. I would gladly offer pictures, but my camera was destroyed in the crash
Maybe I can get some from friends.Ride safe!
Sorry man .
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