.png "Powered by vBulletin")
When I bought my bike 5 years ago, a lot of people raddled off statistics like "80% of new motorcycle riders crash within the first year", or something similar. Over the years I've had a few close calls....nothing crazy, just a few moments when I thought things could have gone much worse, but didn't. Today was one of those days. I'm counting my blessings.
I've been moving from state to state for medical school rotations. My most recent move brought me to Oklahoma. The hospital where I work is 11.2 miles from where I live. I've made the commute nearly ever day for the past 4 weeks in my 1978 MG Midget 1500. My 81 GS650 was in storage and needed a little TLC, as well as insurance/registration before getting back on the road. Getting the TLC out of the way in the last few weeks, I was able to get the insurance and registration taken care of yesterday morning. I was excited for my morning commute.
The 11.2 mile commute would no-doubt be more enjoyable on my motorbike than my 36 year old car(which, despite having more than double the displacement of my 650, produces 10 fewer HP). I put on my padded riding jacket, riding gloves, helmet, and headed out the door at 7:15 am. I left my apartment complex parking lot with a grin as I headed out onto the quiet country road. The grin grew bigger as I appreciated being able to get to 60 twice as fast as I was used to. Within only a few minutes, I had reached civilization, and several dozen commuting drivers. My primary objective in these types of situations is to get away from the cars as fast as possible, so as to not encounter them...if you know what I mean. I stopped at an intersection and waited in the left lane for the light to turn green. I was sitting at the front of the line in my lane. To my right was a black 2007 Dodge Ram 1500. When the light turned green, I accelerated at my normal rate (which is usually much faster than people in their cars/trucks). To my surprise, the Dodge to my right beat me off the line and continued his hard acceleration through the intersection. Having traveled another 75-100 feet (going about 40-45mph by now, the trucks rear bumper was in line with my front tire. I was watching carefully, as I always do, for any erratic behavior. In that moment, the truck turned abruptly into my lane...
In the last 5 years of riding, I've had a lot of cars pull in front of me because they didn't see me (or so I'd like to think). In those instances I've been able to swerve or brake in time to avoid anything scary. Today, I was not so lucky.
The preceding events/actions took place in maybe a second or two, but time seemed to slow down a little for me. As the truck swerved into my lane, I moved as far to the left side of my lane as I could, where there was a steep 8" curb/median. I applied the brakes as evenly as I possible, but the rear tire locked up and I began fishtailing. I released my foot from the rear brake as quickly as possible and re-applied, only to fishtail again. During the first lock up, I was able to keep the bike pointed straight, but the second fishtail was more drastic and forced my front tire into the curb on my left. Time all of a sudden sped back up as I realized I was going down. I'm not really sure how the bike and I hit the pavement, but I do know that it was less than pleasant. My first thought after realizing I was going to crash was, "I hope I make it". My very next thought was, "get out of the road before you get run over". As soon as my tumbling and sliding halted, I jumped up to get out of the road. "I'm not dead", I thought. "I didn't get run over, I'm not dead, I was able to get up off the pavement and jump into the median...so I must not have broken anything".
I stood there in the median for a second or two just looking around at the headlights staring at me in amazement. They had just seen, probably for the first time in their lives, a motorcycle crash at 40mph. Time slowed back down for some reason, despite my surging adrenaline. I realized I might not be feeling everything that could be wrong and thought I'd better lie down and stay still.
Within a few seconds, I was surrounded by witnesses. I tried to stay calm, but they all looked terrified. I began asking them if I was okay and if all of my limbs were attached. I saw everyone's mouths moving, but couldn't hear their replies. I turned my head (still wearing my helmet) to my right and saw the perpetrator. He was standing 10 feet away with his hands in his pockets. His mouth wasn't moving, but his eyes were fixed. He stood there motionless and emotionless for what seemed like several minutes. I'll never forget the look on his face.
The firefighters arrived and began asking me a long list of questions and assessing the damage. I was still in shock and didn't feel much pain, so I told them not to let the ambulance come. I was relieved to hear that I seemed to be in remarkably good condition. Having received good news, I mustered the manpower to call my wife. I downplayed the situation as much as possible and asked her to come pick me up so I could get to work. When she arrived, I could see the look of horror on her face. She jumped out of the car and gave me the warmest embrace of my life. I found myself fighting back the natural emotions as I hugged my sweetheart and saw my two young children sitting in the back seat of the car. All I could do was be thankful.
Over 12 hours later now, the pain is really starting to set in. X-rays of my left foot/ankle and right hip came back negative. An x-ray of my right knee showed fluid accumulation laterally, but no fractures. After treating me for road rash and a subungual hematoma (blood build up under the nail) of my right big toe, I left the ER and headed home for the day. I can feel exactly where my head impacted the pavement. Thankfully, my helmet did what it was designed to do. The bruises, road rash, and soreness will heal with time. My right knee seems to be my worst injury at this point and I'm worried it may end up being one of those injuries that plagues me the rest of my life. I'm seeing an orthopedic guy on Monday to have it checked out. What a ride.
I'm thankful for life lessons that teach me what's important. I'm thankful that God protected me and allowed me to stay with my wife and two beautiful children. I'm thankful for the man on the cell phone who had the firefighters there within a minute or two. I'm thankful for the woman in the SUV behind me who didn't run me over, and who knelt by my side telling me everything was going to be okay.
I know this isn't the worst crash story out there and that things could have gone much worse for me. Riding my bike over the last 5 years has yielded some of the most fun I've ever had. I knew the statistics going into it. I knew it was dangerous and that "it only takes once". I understand (really I do) that for many people who have crashed, they still want to ride. But for me...once was enough.
A sincere thank you to all the members of this forum who have been genuine and helpful. You have been incredibly kind to this rookie and I sincerely appreciate your help.
I've been moving from state to state for medical school rotations. My most recent move brought me to Oklahoma. The hospital where I work is 11.2 miles from where I live. I've made the commute nearly ever day for the past 4 weeks in my 1978 MG Midget 1500. My 81 GS650 was in storage and needed a little TLC, as well as insurance/registration before getting back on the road. Getting the TLC out of the way in the last few weeks, I was able to get the insurance and registration taken care of yesterday morning. I was excited for my morning commute.
The 11.2 mile commute would no-doubt be more enjoyable on my motorbike than my 36 year old car(which, despite having more than double the displacement of my 650, produces 10 fewer HP). I put on my padded riding jacket, riding gloves, helmet, and headed out the door at 7:15 am. I left my apartment complex parking lot with a grin as I headed out onto the quiet country road. The grin grew bigger as I appreciated being able to get to 60 twice as fast as I was used to. Within only a few minutes, I had reached civilization, and several dozen commuting drivers. My primary objective in these types of situations is to get away from the cars as fast as possible, so as to not encounter them...if you know what I mean. I stopped at an intersection and waited in the left lane for the light to turn green. I was sitting at the front of the line in my lane. To my right was a black 2007 Dodge Ram 1500. When the light turned green, I accelerated at my normal rate (which is usually much faster than people in their cars/trucks). To my surprise, the Dodge to my right beat me off the line and continued his hard acceleration through the intersection. Having traveled another 75-100 feet (going about 40-45mph by now, the trucks rear bumper was in line with my front tire. I was watching carefully, as I always do, for any erratic behavior. In that moment, the truck turned abruptly into my lane...
In the last 5 years of riding, I've had a lot of cars pull in front of me because they didn't see me (or so I'd like to think). In those instances I've been able to swerve or brake in time to avoid anything scary. Today, I was not so lucky.
The preceding events/actions took place in maybe a second or two, but time seemed to slow down a little for me. As the truck swerved into my lane, I moved as far to the left side of my lane as I could, where there was a steep 8" curb/median. I applied the brakes as evenly as I possible, but the rear tire locked up and I began fishtailing. I released my foot from the rear brake as quickly as possible and re-applied, only to fishtail again. During the first lock up, I was able to keep the bike pointed straight, but the second fishtail was more drastic and forced my front tire into the curb on my left. Time all of a sudden sped back up as I realized I was going down. I'm not really sure how the bike and I hit the pavement, but I do know that it was less than pleasant. My first thought after realizing I was going to crash was, "I hope I make it". My very next thought was, "get out of the road before you get run over". As soon as my tumbling and sliding halted, I jumped up to get out of the road. "I'm not dead", I thought. "I didn't get run over, I'm not dead, I was able to get up off the pavement and jump into the median...so I must not have broken anything".
I stood there in the median for a second or two just looking around at the headlights staring at me in amazement. They had just seen, probably for the first time in their lives, a motorcycle crash at 40mph. Time slowed back down for some reason, despite my surging adrenaline. I realized I might not be feeling everything that could be wrong and thought I'd better lie down and stay still.
Within a few seconds, I was surrounded by witnesses. I tried to stay calm, but they all looked terrified. I began asking them if I was okay and if all of my limbs were attached. I saw everyone's mouths moving, but couldn't hear their replies. I turned my head (still wearing my helmet) to my right and saw the perpetrator. He was standing 10 feet away with his hands in his pockets. His mouth wasn't moving, but his eyes were fixed. He stood there motionless and emotionless for what seemed like several minutes. I'll never forget the look on his face.
The firefighters arrived and began asking me a long list of questions and assessing the damage. I was still in shock and didn't feel much pain, so I told them not to let the ambulance come. I was relieved to hear that I seemed to be in remarkably good condition. Having received good news, I mustered the manpower to call my wife. I downplayed the situation as much as possible and asked her to come pick me up so I could get to work. When she arrived, I could see the look of horror on her face. She jumped out of the car and gave me the warmest embrace of my life. I found myself fighting back the natural emotions as I hugged my sweetheart and saw my two young children sitting in the back seat of the car. All I could do was be thankful.
Over 12 hours later now, the pain is really starting to set in. X-rays of my left foot/ankle and right hip came back negative. An x-ray of my right knee showed fluid accumulation laterally, but no fractures. After treating me for road rash and a subungual hematoma (blood build up under the nail) of my right big toe, I left the ER and headed home for the day. I can feel exactly where my head impacted the pavement. Thankfully, my helmet did what it was designed to do. The bruises, road rash, and soreness will heal with time. My right knee seems to be my worst injury at this point and I'm worried it may end up being one of those injuries that plagues me the rest of my life. I'm seeing an orthopedic guy on Monday to have it checked out. What a ride.
I'm thankful for life lessons that teach me what's important. I'm thankful that God protected me and allowed me to stay with my wife and two beautiful children. I'm thankful for the man on the cell phone who had the firefighters there within a minute or two. I'm thankful for the woman in the SUV behind me who didn't run me over, and who knelt by my side telling me everything was going to be okay.
I know this isn't the worst crash story out there and that things could have gone much worse for me. Riding my bike over the last 5 years has yielded some of the most fun I've ever had. I knew the statistics going into it. I knew it was dangerous and that "it only takes once". I understand (really I do) that for many people who have crashed, they still want to ride. But for me...once was enough.
A sincere thank you to all the members of this forum who have been genuine and helpful. You have been incredibly kind to this rookie and I sincerely appreciate your help.
Comment