My life 1 year later. (long)

I'm guessing A) so you don'r RUN OVER a body you may not have seen with visibility issues, and B) so you can see smaller details you may other wise miss driving up, like the handgun, not quite a corpse, etc.

Glad your alive bro

Way to go, Dan!

Glad You survived. Just had to post this.

I am glad that after that horrible accident you are still among us life is like getting better.

This is a very encouraging story and the humility is much appreciated and enjoyed. And I must admit this life has much to understand. I think what we fail to understand is that this life is all of grace.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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We don't know what it is to receive free life as we don't understand how to give with out reproach of for free wanting nothing in return.
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We must suffer before we truly understand or appreciate this life. Unfortunately not all will learn from their sufferings or life past it to appreciate or learn from their mistakes or selfishness.<o></o>
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This is my take. But this story was great to read!<o></o>

Wow you are lucky!!!
I have to ask a question, and I am not trying to start a war here but if you could explain this quote "From what we have been able to piece together a tractor trailer merged over and punted me off the highway. Why I say pieced together, is that I have no memory of the crash. In fact I lost 20 minutes prior to the crash and the whole rest of the day. I remember waking up the following morning in the trauma ward."
In my experience in driving tractor trailers I have seen one, "bike vs big truck" sideswipe crash. The bike and rider were not punted, but sucked under the tandems when the left end of the bar contacted the RFO tire It was not a visual I like to recall, and to this day gives me pause when ever I am near a rider.
If you could share with us how you determined a tractor trailer was involved, it would help me learn from this. I have been over that hill lots of times and it is sad how many trucks try and pass one another when they are only going .01 mph faster then the truck they are trying to pass. They jam up traffic for the people with the trucks (and torque) to go the limit or better up the grade.
Again, glad to see you are still riding after all you have been thru.
Be safe out there, especially around big trucks.

Concourse is correct. We had an officer do a U-turn in the middle of a crash and ended up running over the legs of the driver that had crawled free from the wreckage. It also has the potential to destroy valuable evidence for the reconstruction. The fire department destroys enough on their own, so we try not to do it ourselves.

Sorry this has been so long without an answer. I just read this now. The marks on the road at the crash site was indicative of an acceleration to the tires and force being applied from above. The only thing higher then an almost 6' 2" rider on a KLR650 would be a commercial vehicle. That would also explain why no one saw it as it would have shielded everyone's view. All subjective of course. No one knows for sure. While it is possible for a bike to be pulled under the tandems, during my reconstruction training we did run over bikes with trucks and I clearly recall some of the bikes being shot from the travel lanes by the truck. That scenario is the only one that fits all the evidence at the scene. Thank you for the question.

A recap for everyone else, I will never be 100% again, but I'm doing well. I still have to have surgery on my left ankle, but I'm putting it off as I don't want to take any more time off of work right now. Plus I'd lose 3-4 months of riding, so it's looking like January 2015 to get that done. I still ride and as often as I can. The Ducati and aprilia are gone, replaced by the R1200ST and I'm possibly going to be moving the XChallenge for a KTM 350EXC. I just want something lighter in the woods. The XChallenge is an amazing motorcycle. Thanks again to everyone for their kind words. I have made some life changes and am happy to have survivved. Those that are regulars in the pics forum know I have myself a hot 28 year old girlfriend to keep my just turned 43 year old body warm on those cold northeastern nights! Keep the rubber side down brothers and sisters. Godspeed to us all.

I too was curious about what your were wearing.

Braggart! Glad to hear things are going as well as they are.

Here's to continued healing. Blessings, Mark H.

Hey glad things are looking up

Sent from my Stream using Tapatalk 2

(hopefully) final update.

On April 10th I finally had the surgery on my left ankle. Both ligaments were torn, the talus still had hairline fractures, and there was as the surgeon called it, "loose bodies in the ankle".

Both ligaments were repaired, they drilled holes in the fractures "to stimulate bone growth", cleaned out the floating bits, and since I was already getting the knife, I had him scope the minor damage and arthritis I had in the left knee.

I'll be out of work 4.5-5 months this time. Work is still being good about it all. I left the traffic division in December 2012 to "temporarily" go back to my old patrol shift as they were short a Sergeant. I turned down going back to traffic 6 times after that as I really do enjoying being on the street. I made Lieutenant in January 2014 and have my own platoon now.

I still have my ST. Great bike! Although if a new R1200RS ends up here, I'm not sending it back!!!! The girlfriend has the XT and loves it. I think I'm leaning more towards the WR250 to replace the now sold XChallenge. I like the KTM (and I like the Husky clone FE350 even more!), but riding with her off road is about going her speed and ability. Plus the WR is already set up for a passenger so I can take her and my daughters for rides.

Thanks so much everyone. It's closing in on 4 years, and I'm still dealing with the damage and pain. But I can ride. I can walk. Everyday is a gift. And I was rewarded with the best thing that ever happened to me; my awesome girlfriend. Stay safe everyone. Love you all.


*EDIT* - Here's a pic from the pics forum of my angel:

Oh how I just love a HAPPY ending.
You and your story truly are an inspiration,,,,,wishing you continued peace and happiness.
THUMPER

Soooooo, how's the Sig P239?

lol

It's still my primary off duty gun.

Dan,

Glad to see you posting man.

Garrett.

Best wishes for full recovery.

Thanks Garrett. I guess you saw my X Challenge is gone. She promised me a new bike in the fall, so I'm excited. No riding until I go back to work, even if I'm able, but I have a nice incentive! I really, really like the Husky FE350S, but I'm fairly certain I'm getting the WR250R. It's just a better fit for what I'll use it for.

I do have to get my girl to pose for some more pictures for the bikes & wifes/girlfriends thread. She's been crazy busy herself. The Corvette Convertible is gone but she wants a Camaro convertible. Her first car was a Camaro and she likes them better then Corvettes. I told her it has to be a SS, and she said OK!

Her she is in the Vette:


Hope all is going well with you. Didn't you buy a Husaberg? Take care G.

Dan,

Picked up a 2010 Husaberg fe570 after totaling the xchallenge. Great for the trails, but on the street...bleh. It's my only bike and knowing what I know now I would have gotten another xchallenge. Every time I see one on the market for 5k I think about selling one of my kids and picking it up. On the xc I could do a 500 mile day no prob. I've done a 300 miler before on the berg and it weren't fun.

Then I take the berg to the trails and I realize just how well it shines there. Always a compromise.

I dig those wr250rs. Always wanted one.

We still gotta ride together some time.

G.

Wow! I should be at SBN more but I'm not. I had no idea, but glad you are doing well.

To all the people that didn't stop.... karma sucks.

You should have bought my XC. I only got $5k for it as I was needing to sell it at the time. I saw it posted on here last month for $5500 I think, but the thread disappeared.

I just sent you a text. Talk to you soon.

Thanks!