Well the drugs are starting to wear thing so before I get hopped up on medicine again I'll try and post a somewhat coherent post about my reality check.

Let me start by saying, IF I HAD NOT BEEN WEARING MY FULL LEATHER SUIT I WOULD BE DEAD RIGHT NOW

Hopefully that sinks into some newbies heads...what ever does really...

Im on a nice ride up on one of my favorite mountains to ride...Im getting back into the groove, getting my form back, draggin my knee through a couple of the usual good spots...I see the first SLOW hairpin comming up. I drop down to second gear, around 60 mph. I kiss the mirrors and drop my knee, I hear the scraping sound of my knee puck, I figure ok good stuff. I grab a hair of throttle...just before the apex of the corner, this was my mistake. Bike leaned over another .5 inches and I run out of rubber...this is followed by a much louder sound than my knee pads scraping, thus being the bike, 60mph across the road....following by another loud cracking sound as the bike hits the concrete baracade on the side of the road.

First instinct. get the bike off the road. I go to try and pick the bike up, BAM off comes the handlebar...yes thats right. So im like humm, ok grab the subframe and try again, crack off comes the subframe. At this point im beyond sweating bullets, its more like buckets.

A few guys comming running around the corner (from the sceneic viewpoint around the corner). They come over and the 3 of us get my bike up and off the road. They are asking me a million questions trying to make sure Im not going into a coma, i answer their questions all the while worrying about my bike.

I look down to realize my leathers are trashed, nothing hurts (yet) but my gear is toast...I start kicking peices of my bike off the road. I call a towtruck while the guys are insisting they call an ambulance. I refuse an ambulance. One of them suggests driving me to hospital. I agree to that. The other guy tells me he will wait with my bike untill the towtruck shows up and then call me and let me know where my bike is gone too.

I sit in emegency for 8 hours, going through various x-rays and crap to make sure im not internally bleeding. By this time my knee is the size of a cantalope and my ankles are so swollen I cannot walk.

Turns out I have a broken hand, 3 bruised ribs, torn ligaments in my right knee, and 2 severly sprained ankles. The Dr. said he is amazed im not in worse shape. My leathers are absolutly trashed and if I had not been wearing them I would not be here to tell this story. I slide across pavement for about 60 ft, burning holes in 3mm thick leather and then boucned off a concrete baracade at probably 40-50 mph, my knee being the fast part to hit. literally tearing the knees right out of my leathers.

Thats it. Im taking a break from riding for a few years. I don't care what anyone thinks. call me a ***** for backing out because of one crash. I call it a reality check. There will be no more sportbikes in my near future. Im going to try enjoying the journey of life instead of the destination. It made me realize I have more things valuable in life than my ever so frequent adrenaline rushes...

Maybe I'll start skydiving more frequently or something....j/k

Heres some pictures of the wreck.

The baracade I hit.


A rearshot of the bike (tail section is totalled, exhaust is broken off)


Closer tailshot (no more footpegs)


The rear wheel as you can see is shread into peices (it was first part of bike to hit)


The handlebars and instrument cluster at totalled (notice I am holding handlebar)


Another side shot



Frontal shot...


My gear, which is completely covered in roadrash obviously, this is where my knee hit first. This could have been my kneecap

 

FACK. Sorry to hear man. Accidents do happen, and I'm glad you stayed in one piece. Props for wearing your gear. Good luck with the healing process.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by marmaladeboy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">FACK. Sorry to hear man. Accidents do happen, and I'm glad you stayed in one piece. Props for wearing your gear. Good luck with the healing process.</TD></TR></TABLE>

That they do, and I look of this as my one get out of jail free card, i walked away with nothing more than a broken hand and some serious full body pain, it could have been much MUCHH worse...Thanks for support marm.

 

LoL...."current ride: wheelchair"

Good positive attitude.

 

That sucks...heal up fast man


This is a reminder to everyone...the street is not a racetrack. Keep the knee dragging at the track

 

damn sucks to hear that . 60 through a hairpin is pretty fast . my front almost tucked going 50 on one of my favorite hairpins...after that incident i ride through that hairpin a lot slower now.

 

glad you're still here to tell the story.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by big pete &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
This is a reminder to everyone...the street is not a racetrack. Keep the knee dragging at the track </TD></TR></TABLE>

Normally I would tell you to get bent...but after this incident I think theres some wisdom in there...

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bustdesenuts &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">damn sucks to hear that . 60 through a hairpin is pretty fast . my front almost tucked going 50 on one of my favorite hairpins...after that incident i ride through that hairpin a lot slower now.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeh, aparently 50 should have been fast enough...

thanks guys

 

damn, thats gotta suck. At least u live thru it. Hope u have full coverage and be able to get some money out of it. I remember 2 yrs ago when i had my first and only crash so far, didn't have full coverage on my bike(2002 R1). That was 7k down the drain.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Honda600RR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">damn, thats gotta suck. At least u live thru it. Hope u have full coverage and be able to get some money out of it. I remember 2 yrs ago when i had my first and only crash so far, didn't have full coverage on my bike(2002 R1). That was 7k down the drain.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeh Im fully covered insurance wise...I don't think I'll make money off the accident but it will defenantly cover all my medical bills and stuff. I can't imagine if I had said no to collision coverage, the thing was, it actually crossed my mind Id be in serious trouble...all and all I came off preatty damn scott free for the possibillites of what could have happened

 

Man, you should have got the Monster like you were considering.

This sucks...At least stay in the forum, I like having you around.

Were you wearing gloves/boots? I am assuming so.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ross &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Man, you should have got the Monster like you were considering.

This sucks...At least stay in the forum, I like having you around.

Were you wearing gloves/boots? I am assuming so.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeh i was wearing full gear, my leather suit, my sidi boots, my gloves, and my arai helmet...everything is toast, the boots defenantly held up the best. If you replaced the removable armor on the boots they would look very slightly worn.The leathers shreaded, i guess thats cheap leathers for you, at least they saved my ***...or more importantly my knee...The helmet isn't in terrible shape, but its hit concrete so its garbage.

 

Wow. glad you are alive.

 

Really sorry to hear this because I know you had been out of the groove for a while and were really excited about th F4i, but like everyone is saying it's wonderful you are still here to tell about it. Heal up soon man

 

Yeh i missed the first couple months of this summer, sold my R6 in october of last year....didn't get the f4i till end of july this year...
**** happens....

 

well I don't think it was anywhere near a life threatening wreck. Even without gear you'd have just real bad rash and a pretty messed up knee but you'd live... Glad the damage isn't as bad as it could've been though. You'll get better and I think in less then a year you'll wanna be back on. I don't think anyone here can blame you for wanting to take a break though. Just like Big Pete said though yeah knee dragging is for track. you could just slow down a lil. Heal up fast though


fyi. my bud who lowsided into a guard rail on Easter and broke his femur, shattered his pelvis, broke some ribs, and ruptured his stomach is riding again. Has been at this point for about month and a half or more. He was real shaken up and swore he'd never ride again. But here he is back on again

 

Well no it certainly wasn't life threatening but it easily could have been, My knee would have needed reconstructive surgery and i would be covered in rash, had it been the corner previous to this that I went around close to 105 mph, i probably would not have survived... Im sure your buddy was in a world of pain im nowhere near and kudos for him to be riding again.

Slow down? well yes i could, but ive tried that, and I find it boring to ride slow, if im going to ride im going to push the envelope and it should have been done on a track but can't do much now.

 

Sorry to hear man, glad youre relatively ok though!


<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Duster &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Slow down? well yes i could, but ive tried that, and I find it boring to ride slow, if im going to ride im going to push the envelope and it should have been done on a track but can't do much now.</TD></TR></TABLE>

hopefully youll be able to get back on and take it to the track i plan on tracking as soon as im in the black and not the red

 

well I'm not saying slow down to the point of it being boring. but where you're not dragging knee either...

 

dude, glad you're alright. heal fast, and get as many drugs as you can :D i know you're not a noob, so no lecutres from me

to everybody else....if oyu want to ride fast, ride the track.

 

damn, glad to hear you're ok man.

which ligaments did you tear? i'm presuming MCL's? count your lucky stars that your ACL is ok, if it is (i hope )

 

A good story for a newbie to read, thanks for sharing. I dont have full leathers yet, but is an investment I plan on doing. I broke a rib snowboarding, that sheeet hurt like h3ll. Wish you a speedy and healthy recovery. When you come back to bikes, be carefull and get some new leathers for sure

 

This is what happens when everyone jokes on people for having big chicken strips. No but for real man im glad its no worse good luck on healing keep your head up.

 

Best wishes with your healing process. I always cringe when people drag knees (ride fast) on public roads. Its a risk we take. Its a risk you took and you crapped out. Cashing in your chips is probably a great idea. At least you know when you stop while you're ahead. Good luck man.

 

so glad you survived the crash. Lucky that barracade was there man. Good luck on the recovery man!