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MRiddle has encouraged me to share my story, so I guess I will. I haven't said anything as I've been rather embarrassed and figured somebody would come along and give me the business for doing something so stupid. It's something I should have known better than to do, yet did it anyway. I've coughed it up as a "lesson learned" and will forever ride differently.
I have a modified Jeep Wrangler. It doesn't really have much to do with the story other than being the reason I was going on this trip. A friend of mine was selling bored out throttle bodies and I just had to have one. As he's an hour and a half drive and the weather was perfect for biking (enter gas prices, too), I just had to ride there and back. What was intended to be a joyous Sunday afternoon spent riding with my father-in-law turned into more of a nightmare than anything.
We were an hour into the ride with just 30 minutes left to our destination. After gassing up, I called my friend to get exact directions to his in-law's house and proceeded to enjoy our afternoon ride. That joy ended about 5 minutes later.
We were entering IL Route 3 from IL-158 via an on-ramp. At first, this ramp seemed like a smooth and somewhat long, sweeping entrance cutting around a small rocky bluff. Rather beautiful, to be honest. Unfortunately, you can't see the other side of the bluff when entering the ramp....and it takes a reduction in radius right around where the bluff would intersect the road. I found later, by my friend, Chris, that this on-ramp is the source of many accidents.
I did my best to slow down, but taking the ditch seemed imminent. As the bike ran off the road, it must've hit something as it nosedived and threw me over the handlebars. I landed on my head and right shoulder and rolled. I don't have a clue how many times, only that I ended face down. I heard something as soon as I hit and felt a very hot sensation in my neck. I thought I'd broken it....so I just laid there, not moving.
Other than Bev's Dad, there was a van with a couple guys (later found them to be riders, too) that saw the accident and stopped, running across the highway to get to me. By now, I was freaking out. It's wierd how many things flash through your mind in such a short amount of time. I figured if I could move my hands and feet, I likely hadn't broken my neck. Fortunately, I was able to. All were surprised to see me get up and take my helmet off, let alone walk away. My father-in-law said it was pretty ugly....and that if he were in front, it would have been him and not me. However, I was more worried about the bike than myself. I'd noticed fuel running out of the carbs and instantly grabbed it to lift it. All three took it from me and set it on it's stand.
There was still thirty minutes left to our destination. As the bike looked more cosmetically damaged than anything, I wanted to see if it would start up and, sure enough, it did. I searched high and low for scratches and couldn't find even one on the paint. The only conclusion I can come up with is that it just laid over after the nosedive as the gauge cluster was shattered, the left mirror was bent, as was the left side of the headlight bracket and the rear turn signal was busted up. Other than that, no damage. Ditch was mainly grass.
I was in severe pain, but able to ride....so we continued on to our destination. Spent half an hour or 45 minutes at Chris' house while he transfered parts from my existing throttle body to the new one, then headed back home.
So, 2-1/2 to 3 hours after the accident, I finally get home. This time, we took the interstate the whole way....which, in hindsight, should have been what we took to begin with, but I thought the two-lane trip would be more enjoyable.
Bev, my wife, has no idea what's going on and starts giving her Dad the business for not having wore a jacket. It was pretty chilly by then (got home around 8:30pm). Bert heads home and I'm trying to get my bike into the garage. Bev notices my struggle and asks if I'd like some help. "Sure honey, that would be nice." I've had back problems for some time (two surgeries in the last year and a half), so she figured I was having difficulty pushing the bike due to the pain I deal with from that.
That's when I tell her what happened....and she lit into me, telling me I was done riding. I asked her to take my jacket off as I couldn't move my right arm. When she did, I literally screamed from pain. My twin daughters heard me and came running. When they found out what happened, I was getting it from all three at the same time. Krisha's boyfriend just grinned at me from the background. I could tell he was glad it was me and not him.
I proceeded to put the new throttle body on the Jeep with Bev's help....practically in tears from pain, but I got it done.
Didn't go to the doctor 'til Thursday. I've never been one to use the emergency room for something I thought was superficial. I was walking and talking, so figured the pain would subside in a few days. I've seen far too many people abuse the hospital system....and won't go on my own. Somebody will have to carry me in to the emergency room to get me to go. However, by Wednesday I was hurting so bad, I couldn't take it anymore. I made an appointment with the family physician. She tought I'd fractutred my clavicle, at least, as she thought she could feel it through the skin...and sent me for Xrays. They took them of my clavicle, right shoulder, and right rib cage. Xrays came back good....nothing broken. Doctor gave me some pain medicine and wanted me to give it a couple weeks to see if pain would go away....and if not, order an MRI.
So, here I am. It was three weeks yesterday and I'm still hurting pretty bad. I have a doctor appointment on Wednesday to have my neck and shoulder checked out. Hoping for an MRI right away. I've had a pinched nerve for 8 days that just will not stop. Sometimes my arm feels like it's going to fall off it hurts so bad. And the pain in my neck is severe. I'm wondering if I haven't ruptured a clavicle disc.
The Thursday before the accident, I'd just had a cortizone shot in my right knee and it was feeling wonderful on Saturday. Due to the accident, though, I banged it up and it was hurting more than before I got the shot. *sigh*
I'm putting the bike back together. I designed a new gauge cluster bracket, ordered new signals and a MikesXS speedo and have received them within the last two weeks. I'll be ordering the tach, next. Then bar-end mirrors. I'm hoping to have it rideable in a couple weeks. With these new parts, you'll never know it was laid over. I just don't know that I'll be able to ride real soon....especially with being on pain medicine. No way will I ever ride or drive while on it. I'll never take a risk like that.
I'm adamant about ATTGATT. I believe had I not been wearing my gear, my injuries would have been much worse. The jacket looks great. You can't even tell it was involved. It certainly did it's job...as did my helmet and boots, though I believe I sprained my ankle pretty good in the process.
My wife has since changed her tone and given me the green flag to continue riding. She's not happy about it, but she's not refuting it, either. Her stance is that, if we don't do some of the things we enjoy because of fear, than we may as well quit living. There are dangers all around us....and she accepts that fact. We just have to do what we can to lessen the risk....and my future riding habits will be even more refined because of this incident.
I'm not sure what sharing my story will do for the community. If it means that just one of us (besides myself) enters ramps with more caution, then it was worth writing every letter.
I have a modified Jeep Wrangler. It doesn't really have much to do with the story other than being the reason I was going on this trip. A friend of mine was selling bored out throttle bodies and I just had to have one. As he's an hour and a half drive and the weather was perfect for biking (enter gas prices, too), I just had to ride there and back. What was intended to be a joyous Sunday afternoon spent riding with my father-in-law turned into more of a nightmare than anything.
We were an hour into the ride with just 30 minutes left to our destination. After gassing up, I called my friend to get exact directions to his in-law's house and proceeded to enjoy our afternoon ride. That joy ended about 5 minutes later.
We were entering IL Route 3 from IL-158 via an on-ramp. At first, this ramp seemed like a smooth and somewhat long, sweeping entrance cutting around a small rocky bluff. Rather beautiful, to be honest. Unfortunately, you can't see the other side of the bluff when entering the ramp....and it takes a reduction in radius right around where the bluff would intersect the road. I found later, by my friend, Chris, that this on-ramp is the source of many accidents.
I did my best to slow down, but taking the ditch seemed imminent. As the bike ran off the road, it must've hit something as it nosedived and threw me over the handlebars. I landed on my head and right shoulder and rolled. I don't have a clue how many times, only that I ended face down. I heard something as soon as I hit and felt a very hot sensation in my neck. I thought I'd broken it....so I just laid there, not moving.
Other than Bev's Dad, there was a van with a couple guys (later found them to be riders, too) that saw the accident and stopped, running across the highway to get to me. By now, I was freaking out. It's wierd how many things flash through your mind in such a short amount of time. I figured if I could move my hands and feet, I likely hadn't broken my neck. Fortunately, I was able to. All were surprised to see me get up and take my helmet off, let alone walk away. My father-in-law said it was pretty ugly....and that if he were in front, it would have been him and not me. However, I was more worried about the bike than myself. I'd noticed fuel running out of the carbs and instantly grabbed it to lift it. All three took it from me and set it on it's stand.
There was still thirty minutes left to our destination. As the bike looked more cosmetically damaged than anything, I wanted to see if it would start up and, sure enough, it did. I searched high and low for scratches and couldn't find even one on the paint. The only conclusion I can come up with is that it just laid over after the nosedive as the gauge cluster was shattered, the left mirror was bent, as was the left side of the headlight bracket and the rear turn signal was busted up. Other than that, no damage. Ditch was mainly grass.
I was in severe pain, but able to ride....so we continued on to our destination. Spent half an hour or 45 minutes at Chris' house while he transfered parts from my existing throttle body to the new one, then headed back home.
So, 2-1/2 to 3 hours after the accident, I finally get home. This time, we took the interstate the whole way....which, in hindsight, should have been what we took to begin with, but I thought the two-lane trip would be more enjoyable.
Bev, my wife, has no idea what's going on and starts giving her Dad the business for not having wore a jacket. It was pretty chilly by then (got home around 8:30pm). Bert heads home and I'm trying to get my bike into the garage. Bev notices my struggle and asks if I'd like some help. "Sure honey, that would be nice." I've had back problems for some time (two surgeries in the last year and a half), so she figured I was having difficulty pushing the bike due to the pain I deal with from that.
That's when I tell her what happened....and she lit into me, telling me I was done riding. I asked her to take my jacket off as I couldn't move my right arm. When she did, I literally screamed from pain. My twin daughters heard me and came running. When they found out what happened, I was getting it from all three at the same time. Krisha's boyfriend just grinned at me from the background. I could tell he was glad it was me and not him.
I proceeded to put the new throttle body on the Jeep with Bev's help....practically in tears from pain, but I got it done.
Didn't go to the doctor 'til Thursday. I've never been one to use the emergency room for something I thought was superficial. I was walking and talking, so figured the pain would subside in a few days. I've seen far too many people abuse the hospital system....and won't go on my own. Somebody will have to carry me in to the emergency room to get me to go. However, by Wednesday I was hurting so bad, I couldn't take it anymore. I made an appointment with the family physician. She tought I'd fractutred my clavicle, at least, as she thought she could feel it through the skin...and sent me for Xrays. They took them of my clavicle, right shoulder, and right rib cage. Xrays came back good....nothing broken. Doctor gave me some pain medicine and wanted me to give it a couple weeks to see if pain would go away....and if not, order an MRI.
So, here I am. It was three weeks yesterday and I'm still hurting pretty bad. I have a doctor appointment on Wednesday to have my neck and shoulder checked out. Hoping for an MRI right away. I've had a pinched nerve for 8 days that just will not stop. Sometimes my arm feels like it's going to fall off it hurts so bad. And the pain in my neck is severe. I'm wondering if I haven't ruptured a clavicle disc.
The Thursday before the accident, I'd just had a cortizone shot in my right knee and it was feeling wonderful on Saturday. Due to the accident, though, I banged it up and it was hurting more than before I got the shot. *sigh*
I'm putting the bike back together. I designed a new gauge cluster bracket, ordered new signals and a MikesXS speedo and have received them within the last two weeks. I'll be ordering the tach, next. Then bar-end mirrors. I'm hoping to have it rideable in a couple weeks. With these new parts, you'll never know it was laid over. I just don't know that I'll be able to ride real soon....especially with being on pain medicine. No way will I ever ride or drive while on it. I'll never take a risk like that.
I'm adamant about ATTGATT. I believe had I not been wearing my gear, my injuries would have been much worse. The jacket looks great. You can't even tell it was involved. It certainly did it's job...as did my helmet and boots, though I believe I sprained my ankle pretty good in the process.
My wife has since changed her tone and given me the green flag to continue riding. She's not happy about it, but she's not refuting it, either. Her stance is that, if we don't do some of the things we enjoy because of fear, than we may as well quit living. There are dangers all around us....and she accepts that fact. We just have to do what we can to lessen the risk....and my future riding habits will be even more refined because of this incident.
I'm not sure what sharing my story will do for the community. If it means that just one of us (besides myself) enters ramps with more caution, then it was worth writing every letter.
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