took me 30yrs of street riding to finally post in here; crashed last night- thought i only dislocated my left shoulder-ouch- turns out i broke off a chunk from the top of my arm bone at the socket, and also my left hand. left-arm now braced in a sling, right hand in a cast. i've managed to pee so far. anyone wanna come and wipe my butt for me in an hour or so?:huh
I'm thinking...............................................................get a dog, they do that all the time. Sorry to hear you bit more than the dust. Where can I send the duct tape? Sounds like you being broken up has not affected your spirit. Hang in there....not much else to do. Oh almost forgot...got any pix of the other guy or at least your scoot. Something about sharing your pain & all that....make you feel better.
I know what would make you feel better. But I'm not saying it cause this is a family forum. Heal up quick bud. and no, I'm not wiping yer butt.
first morning i had my daughter here to put on some socks and a shirt. slept in my socks last night, took a while to get a shirt on,can't brush teeth or hair. couldn't eat till a friend's wife brought me some blendered chicken soup and a sammich cut into little pieces, prepped my coffee maker for me. pouring is hard.
i fucked up. since i got my miata the desire to ride had faded some. hadn't ridden in a few months. charged the battery and aired the tires on my pc800. rode off to work. having sat for a while the fluid level on the clutch had gone down making shifting hard -not impossible- and finding neutral almost gone. i had dealt with this b4 and didn't have/take the time to top it up. i should have, or just jumped in the car instead but i was already dressed and moving. 6 miles in, headed for the fwy on a busy road that typically travels at around 60mph. had one car in front of me as the light turned yellow. i was planning to stop and started slowing and downshifting while the car in front of me kept going, then at the last second he decided to stop hard. i had room, but my attention was on getting to neutral to avoid the clutch drag while stopped so it caught me off guard. when i saw the car in front change his mind my rusty skills had me grab too much of the good double disc brakes and i locked the front wheel which turned to the left -i think i was contemplating taking the lane to my left but hadn't checked my 6 so i didn't. i went down hard in the blink of an eye, not the usual slo-mo in these situations. my shoulder smacked the pavement, followed by my head. as i was rolling in the left lane i thought about getting run over which seems happen often here in socal. got up out of the road and sat on the curb. i knew i had dislocated my left shoulder so i pulled my helmet off with the other hand. the kid got out apologizing for changing his mind. we picked up the bike and moved it to the curb. i watched as the cars pulled off from the light and crushing various pieces of the bike's tupperware. a couple got out of their with a 1st aid kit but firetrucks showed up quickly.
the EMT's were good, they gently helped me off with my jacket and checked me out. i asked them to put my arm back in but was told they weren't allowed to but they put my arm in a sling and tried to make it as comfy as possible. i turned down the high-priced ambulance ride knowing a hospital wasn't too far away. i asked the kid in the car if he'd drop me off and he agreed to help me. the police came and interviewed him, then me. i was afraid i'd end up with a 'following too close' or 'careless driving' ticket but the cops were pretty cool about it. the cop mentioned that he hadn't started writing anything down yet and asked me if i wanted him to write a report. i said no please, and considering i was really the only one involved he's skip report if it was ok with me. i was all for it. luckily i crashed within about 4 block's of a friend's work and called him up. he came over and because my helmet wouldn't fit on his head the cops surprisingly let him ride the bike back to his work without a lid. I didn't care much about the bike at that point so i didn't look too closely at it. the crash bar covers were gone as was the left mirror and signal but it was still rideable. i really don't know what it looks like as i haven't seen it since. I was wearing a nolan x-lite helmet and it did it's job. i know the lid and face shield were gored up but my bell was rung for only a short while. I don't seem to have any cranial repercussions in the 40-odd hours since so i'm pleased with it's performance. the joe rocket perforated leather jacket didn't come apart anywhere, but i added a few scrapes to it. it has soft foam armor without a hard outer shell and i wonder how much impact it helped absorb considering the shoulder break and dislocation. i've always been suspect of short, non-gauntlet style gloves and the quarter-sized rash at the bottom of my left palm seems to indicate my suspicions may be correct though i left them in the bike and haven't seen them yet. my shoulder brace keeps contacting it, and it keeps getting stuck to it. yuck. 95% of the time i get on a bike i wear overpants, unfortunately this was one of the 5% days. I've got some rash on my knees. this part sucks cause as it's already scabbing up with lots of vitamin e applications if i sit still for 5 minutes they crack when i move. i was wearing boots, and the sole area of one toe is ground down a bit but my feet and ankles are fine. WEAR GEAR!
Heal fast, it's gonna be hard for the first days. Locking the front is one of my worst fears, that's the main reason my panic braking is actually worst than normal breaking... ABS would have probably saved your ass I reckon... Do you actually have to pay for the ambulance? :huh
i'm usually pretty good with panic braking due to practice. 3 months out of the saddle sure cost me. as for the ambulance i'm pretty sure my hmo coverage would have left me on the hook for a bunch of that bill.
