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It finally happened to me (CRASH)
I had mapped out a 3-4 hour ride yesterday into the wooded hills of western IA but only made it about 30 miles one way. As I was coming in to Denison past their nice golf course a pickup truck pulled out of their parking lot on my left and offered me very few options to avoid a collision. The speed limit there is 45 and I was doing right at that as I had just checked my speed in response to the sign. I hit my brakes but was carrying too much speed to be able to do anything to avoid him but aim off the right side of the road. At about that time my front tire locked and I fell over to the right, sliding on my right side to the edge of the road where I think I went airborn as the ditch is pretty steep there. After bouncing and rolling for what seemed like a ridiculously long time I came to rest on my back and thought I would just stay there for a minute and take inventory. People rushed over from the golf course and were all telling me not to move and that they had called 911 and there was a doctor there who had been playing golf. I told them I didn't think that I had any serious injuries but they wouldn't let me get up and then the ambulance was there and they were putting a collar on me and strapping me to a back board and I figured it was probably best to just let them do their thing.
They took me to the emergency room where the nurse on duty told me that she rides, too but never wears a helmet- seems she has seen too many people that are all mangled up and only survive because they were wearing a helmet. Sounded like a pretty good endorsement of helmets to me rather than a condemnation but you know her brain may have been rattled loose by V twin thunder. She also made it a point to be sure I knew that she and her hubby go to Sturgis every year. Whoopee.
To make a long story short I seem to have jammed my left thumb (not sure how) and got a spot of road rash on my right elbow (again not sure how since my jacket and armor seem to be intact there) and have a swollen and bruised right hip where I hit the pavement pretty hard. My new white HJC CL-15 has the shield missing and pretty good rash on the forehead and right side. I'm sure it fared better than my scalp/face would have under the same circumstances. The toe of my right boot is worn down a bit; the knee of my River Road mesh pants held up surprisingly well and the Alpinestars leg armor under those kept my lower legs and knees from being injured in any way. First Gear gloves have the carbon fiber knuckles of the right one worn nearly through and that's really the extent of damage to the gear and body.
On to the bike: by the time I got out of the emergency room and my fiance came to pick me up they had towed my bike to a local shop. I was able to see it and it appeared that the only damage was to the Vetter fairing and Vetter hard bag on the right side and the case guard on that side had rash on it but didn't really even appear to be bent. I'm sure a closer examination will reveal more but I haven't gotten the bike back yet as I am taking it easy today. My camera is actually in one of my saddlebags so no pic's but I'll try to get some when I get it back.
It's kind of ironic that my mission this year so far has been to make my self more visible; in addition to the white helmet I was wearing a hi-vis yellow mesh vest over my jacket but I guess none of it helps if the cager doesn't look your way. It was a situation where I didn't make the assumption that he hadn't seen me and was going to pull out at the last instant and I definately should have. I'll certainly be trying to avoid that error in the future! He was cited for failure to yield so I suppose I'm going to wind up fighting his insurance company for all the medical costs and damages.
All in all I feel extremely lucky and thankful that I have adopted the ATGATT attitude as I'm sure this saved me from a lot of pain and suffering.
Oh, I almost forgot; when we went back to the scene it looked like I left a skid mark about 20 ft long with my tire and then the bike left scrape marks about another 40 ft down the road before it went off the side. These distances surprised me as I would have thought the whole thing happened in the span of about 20 ft but I guess at 45 mph you go more than 20 ft before you can even reach your brake lever if you don't already have it covered. Kind of gives me a new appreciation for just how dangerous it all is.
They took me to the emergency room where the nurse on duty told me that she rides, too but never wears a helmet- seems she has seen too many people that are all mangled up and only survive because they were wearing a helmet. Sounded like a pretty good endorsement of helmets to me rather than a condemnation but you know her brain may have been rattled loose by V twin thunder. She also made it a point to be sure I knew that she and her hubby go to Sturgis every year. Whoopee.
To make a long story short I seem to have jammed my left thumb (not sure how) and got a spot of road rash on my right elbow (again not sure how since my jacket and armor seem to be intact there) and have a swollen and bruised right hip where I hit the pavement pretty hard. My new white HJC CL-15 has the shield missing and pretty good rash on the forehead and right side. I'm sure it fared better than my scalp/face would have under the same circumstances. The toe of my right boot is worn down a bit; the knee of my River Road mesh pants held up surprisingly well and the Alpinestars leg armor under those kept my lower legs and knees from being injured in any way. First Gear gloves have the carbon fiber knuckles of the right one worn nearly through and that's really the extent of damage to the gear and body.
On to the bike: by the time I got out of the emergency room and my fiance came to pick me up they had towed my bike to a local shop. I was able to see it and it appeared that the only damage was to the Vetter fairing and Vetter hard bag on the right side and the case guard on that side had rash on it but didn't really even appear to be bent. I'm sure a closer examination will reveal more but I haven't gotten the bike back yet as I am taking it easy today. My camera is actually in one of my saddlebags so no pic's but I'll try to get some when I get it back.
It's kind of ironic that my mission this year so far has been to make my self more visible; in addition to the white helmet I was wearing a hi-vis yellow mesh vest over my jacket but I guess none of it helps if the cager doesn't look your way. It was a situation where I didn't make the assumption that he hadn't seen me and was going to pull out at the last instant and I definately should have. I'll certainly be trying to avoid that error in the future! He was cited for failure to yield so I suppose I'm going to wind up fighting his insurance company for all the medical costs and damages.
All in all I feel extremely lucky and thankful that I have adopted the ATGATT attitude as I'm sure this saved me from a lot of pain and suffering.
Oh, I almost forgot; when we went back to the scene it looked like I left a skid mark about 20 ft long with my tire and then the bike left scrape marks about another 40 ft down the road before it went off the side. These distances surprised me as I would have thought the whole thing happened in the span of about 20 ft but I guess at 45 mph you go more than 20 ft before you can even reach your brake lever if you don't already have it covered. Kind of gives me a new appreciation for just how dangerous it all is.
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