Quit our jobs, sold our home, gone riding...

[lightcycle]

Update from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/14.html



This is how it all starts

In Michael Crichton's book "Airframe", about an airplane crash, he documents that a disaster like that is never dependent on one single cause or event. Rather, a sequence of events have to occur to contribute to a crash. Here's my sequence of events:

Somewhere in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia, my air compressor stopped working. It was one of those large 12-volt jobbies with the light, the attachments for volleyballs, air mattresses, inflatable dolls, etc., but the part that screwed into the valve stem started leaking so I junked it. I decided we needed something a bit smaller and less dependent on electricity, in case something went wrong with the electricals. So at a Walmart, $9.99 later, I picked up a foot operated pump.

Which promptly FAILED the first time I stepped on it... So we were now without an air compressor. Event #1.


Just taking a nap... after having the wind knocked out of me...after a huge speed wobble and lowside in deep gravel

After visiting Castle Butte, we headed out to find the Sand Hill of Saskatchewan. We had been doing fine on street pressures in the lightly graveled road of the Bug Muddy Badlands, so we were feeling over-confident that we didn't have to let out the pressures since we were without our own air compressor and gas stations were few and far between. Event #2.

I check the Google, online maps and my GPS and can't figure out a way to get to the Sand Hills. so I opt for the most direct route and force the GPS through several unpaved roads. Normally this yields good results. Not this time, though. The road turns from unpaved to deeper and deeper gravel. I'm sure the Sand Hills are just a few kms away. We don't turn back. Event #3.

We're traveling at 70km/h, much too fast for the road conditions, and waaay to fast considering we didn't let the air pressure out of our tires since our stupid Walmart foot pump broke. In my rear mirror, I see Neda slow down by a lot, and then the speed wobble hit my bike. The handlebars violently shake left and right, wrenching my arms in both directions. The motorcycle starts to weave left and right, as the front wheel moves side-to-side, each oscillation getting worse in amplitude. Logically, I know what needs to be done: I need to relax my grip on the handlebars, grip the bike with my knees, and roll off the throttle slowly. But my natural instincts kick in and I do none of that. In fact, I do the exact opposite, and that is the final event that led to this:


Aeroflow windscreen is not flowing air too well anymore

The motorcycle slides into the left ditch, resting on it's right side at a 45 degree angle, and I get bucked off into the middle of the road, I put my arms out to brace myself on impact and feel a searing pain in my right shoulder and my left ankle. It takes me a second, but I get up and signal to Neda that I'm relatively ok, I don't want her to worry too much, but she comes on over the intercom, and her voice is shaking with concern and fear anyway.

Although the bike is not laying entirely on it's side, the ditch is about 4 feet lower than the road, so we have to get it upright and ride it back up. That's when I notice I can't raise my right arm more than a few inches. This is not good. Neda struggles with the bike while I can only stand by helpless. Somehow, she manages to get the 600lb bike upright, almost all by herself and I can get on the bike in the ditch. Using my left hand, I grab my right hand and place it on the throttle and start the bike up. It fires up without a problem and I ride it up and out of the ditch. There is considerable pain in my right shoulder but I still am able to handle the controls properly.



Maybe I should get engine guards... On a ride, Gadgetboy from ADV once looked at my guardless jugs and asked me, "What are you, some kind of tough guy?". I don't feel like one anymore...

We rest at the side of the road and I lie down, exhausted by the effort and adrenalin is starting to leave my body, leaving me lightheaded. My pain in my ankle is actually a bruise right on a spider bite I got the night before, lot of pain but nothing serious. I still can't raise my right arm though which is worrisome. Neda does a survey of the bike, the Aeroflow windscreen is toast, the handguard's mount is broken, so is the right front turn signal but other than that, the bike is still rideable. A few trucks (carrying fresh gravel!!!) stop to make sure we're okay, and when we tell them where we were headed, they all look at us puzzled, "We've never heard of no Sand Hills around here...", and "We're bringing fresh gravel to the end of this road, it goes nowhere right now...". Crap! All this for nothing...

We let the air of our tires for the ride back, it felt much more stable. As it turns out, the riding position (after I manually put my right hand on the throttle) is the most comfortable one for my shoulder, as we ride away from our aborted mission to find the Sand Hills of Saskatchewan. I know the first thing I want to do right now is buy a large electrical air compressor, you know: one of the 12-volt jobbies with the light, the attachments for volleyballs, air mattresses and inflatable dolls...

I'm guessing I'll need a few days to fix the bike and figure out what's wrong with my shoulder, so we stop at Cypress Hills provincial park for the night. Two extra strength Advil dulls the pain as I feel sorry for myself in the tent for messing up our trip, and right at the beginning as well!

[Blader54]

I'm so sorry to hear about your accident Gene. You're right, it's often a bunch of little things that add up to make something big, as in your case. Hope the shoulder is just strained and that you'll be on your way again soon. Don't be too hard on yourself.....no one died and things are probably not as bad as they seem right now. You and Neda take care of yourselves and the bike and let us know how you're doing. We're all pulling for you!

[Snowlover]

Great experience and report. Sorry about the wreck. Heal fast.

As for the no kid comments, this RR has no lifetime meaning to me. The 11 year old with his dad from Wisconsin to Alaska and back is much more what I think has lifetime impact. I failed getting either of my boys on bikes. They had other interests and have excelled in them and I fully supported and was very involved with them, but a ride to alaska, if they would have been willing would have been the top bucket list item I could have ever had.

[100mpg]

And the adventure begins? Glad to hear you were even able to ride it! Waiting to hear more about your shoulder

Originally Posted by lightcycle

Update from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/14.html



This is how it all starts

In Michael Crichton's book "Airframe", about an airplane crash, he documents that a disaster like that is never dependent on one single cause or event. Rather, a sequence of events have to occur to contribute to a crash. Here's my sequence of events:

Somewhere in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia, my air compressor stopped working. It was one of those large 12-volt jobbies with the light, the attachments for volleyballs, air mattresses, inflatable dolls, etc., but the part that screwed into the valve stem started leaking so I junked it. I decided we needed something a bit smaller and less dependent on electricity, in case something went wrong with the electricals. So at a Walmart, $9.99 later, I picked up a foot operated pump.

Which promptly FAILED the first time I stepped on it... So we were now without an air compressor. Event #1.


Just taking a nap... after having the wind knocked out of me...after a huge speed wobble and lowside in deep gravel

After visiting Castle Butte, we headed out to find the Sand Hill of Saskatchewan. We had been doing fine on street pressures in the lightly graveled road of the Bug Muddy Badlands, so we were feeling over-confident that we didn't have to let out the pressures since we were without our own air compressor and gas stations were few and far between. Event #2.

I check the Google, online maps and my GPS and can't figure out a way to get to the Sand Hills. so I opt for the most direct route and force the GPS through several unpaved roads. Normally this yields good results. Not this time, though. The road turns from unpaved to deeper and deeper gravel. I'm sure the Sand Hills are just a few kms away. We don't turn back. Event #3.

We're traveling at 70km/h, much too fast for the road conditions, and waaay to fast considering we didn't let the air pressure out of our tires since our stupid Walmart foot pump broke. In my rear mirror, I see Neda slow down by a lot, and then the speed wobble hit my bike. The handlebars violently shake left and right, wrenching my arms in both directions. The motorcycle starts to weave left and right, as the front wheel moves side-to-side, each oscillation getting worse in amplitude. Logically, I know what needs to be done: I need to relax my grip on the handlebars, grip the bike with my knees, and roll off the throttle slowly. But my natural instincts kick in and I do none of that. In fact, I do the exact opposite, and that is the final event that led to this:


Aeroflow windscreen is not flowing air too well anymore

The motorcycle slides into the left ditch, resting on it's right side at a 45 degree angle, and I get bucked off into the middle of the road, I put my arms out to brace myself on impact and feel a searing pain in my right shoulder and my left ankle. It takes me a second, but I get up and signal to Neda that I'm relatively ok, I don't want her to worry too much, but she comes on over the intercom, and her voice is shaking with concern and fear anyway.

Although the bike is not laying entirely on it's side, the ditch is about 4 feet lower than the road, so we have to get it upright and ride it back up. That's when I notice I can't raise my right arm more than a few inches. This is not good. Neda struggles with the bike while I can only stand by helpless. Somehow, she manages to get the 600lb bike upright, almost all by herself and I can get on the bike in the ditch. Using my left hand, I grab my right hand and place it on the throttle and start the bike up. It fires up without a problem and I ride it up and out of the ditch. There is considerable pain in my right shoulder but I still am able to handle the controls properly.



Maybe I should get engine guards... On a ride, Gadgetboy from ADV once looked at my guardless jugs and asked me, "What are you, some kind of tough guy?". I don't feel like one anymore...

We rest at the side of the road and I lie down, exhausted by the effort and adrenalin is starting to leave my body, leaving me lightheaded. My pain in my ankle is actually a bruise right on a spider bite I got the night before, lot of pain but nothing serious. I still can't raise my right arm though which is worrisome. Neda does a survey of the bike, the Aeroflow windscreen is toast, the handguard's mount is broken, so is the right front turn signal but other than that, the bike is still rideable. A few trucks (carrying fresh gravel!!!) stop to make sure we're okay, and when we tell them where we were headed, they all look at us puzzled, "We've never heard of no Sand Hills around here...", and "We're bringing fresh gravel to the end of this road, it goes nowhere right now...". Crap! All this for nothing...

We let the air of our tires for the ride back, it felt much more stable. As it turns out, the riding position (after I manually put my right hand on the throttle) is the most comfortable one for my shoulder, as we ride away from our aborted mission to find the Sand Hills of Saskatchewan. I know the first thing I want to do right now is buy a large electrical air compressor, you know: one of the 12-volt jobbies with the light, the attachments for volleyballs, air mattresses and inflatable dolls...

I'm guessing I'll need a few days to fix the bike and figure out what's wrong with my shoulder, so we stop at Cypress Hills provincial park for the night. Two extra strength Advil dulls the pain as I feel sorry for myself in the tent for messing up our trip, and right at the beginning as well!

[Bluebone]

you had me at "Quit"!! ok, i'm in and dreaming of being able to leave it all behind some day.

[Bluebone]

Originally Posted by Patrick46

My business is in a big multi-shop building, and my neighbor at the shop is also a bike rider...but he comes at it froma completely different angle then I do...that's for sure!!

He said he can live as cheap as $200.00 A DAY when he's traveling on his bike! and he doesn't always motel it either!!

$200 a DAY???

My Gawd....I could live like a fat king for that much!! (Am I the only one who eats Ramon noodles??? )




WOW....now this is the 'real' question!!


(can I QUOTE this???)

i could live like a fat king on 200$ a week!!! but a day?!?! holy crap!!must be stopping for new chrome an awful lot.

[bigdog99]

If you didn't hear a big -pop- when your shoulder hit the ground (collarbone), you probably have a mild separation (and it is most comfortable resting on the grip).

When you have a GS loaded on the seat and top box like yours, I'm not sure that tire pressures will make that much difference, don't lull yourself into a false sense of security. When that much weight up that high starts to oscillate in sand or gravel, you're going to have trouble saving it. I sure wouldn't want the hassle of screwing with tire pressures all the time, and I wouldn't haul around a big ol' compressor just so I could fool with them.

As many of us tried to tell the Corporate Runaways when they were hauling tires and all kinds of unnecessary crap, LESS IS MORE.

[zgfiredude]

Wow, take care!!

Rest, Ice, compression and elevate..........rest and ice are the biggies here!!

[Forde]

Originally Posted by Patrick46

My business is in a big multi-shop building, and my neighbor at the shop is also a bike rider...but he comes at it froma completely different angle then I do...that's for sure!!

He said he can live as cheap as $200.00 A DAY when he's traveling on his bike! and he doesn't always motel it either!!

$200 a DAY???

how much would you spend on gas in a day>?


anyway you guys rule id love to quit my job and go travelling

also " a sequence of events" lol i think the one event of riding too fast on a new gravel road contributed to that crash and tyre pressure didnt really matter

[thumpididump]

Subrcribed. This is awesome.



Sent from my Galaxy Tab 10.1 with TapaTalk

[ShaftyNZ]

Congratulations on your adventure - way to go!

Sorry to hear of your spill, as someone else said, dont beat up on yourself, stuff happens - hope you heal blindingly fast

Plenty of Kiwi's would love to have you visit here!

Cheers

Pete, New Zealand

[Berryhollow]

COAF: Combination of adverse factors. I can usually start feeling it happen. When I start to feel the pressure to continue on, despite things starting to go wrong, I need to stop and evaluate. Thank you for bringing us along on your journey.

Todd

[Merlin III]

Originally Posted by Blader54

I'm so sorry to hear about your accident Gene. You're right, it's often a bunch of little things that add up to make something big, as in your case. Hope the shoulder is just strained and that you'll be on your way again soon. Don't be too hard on yourself.....no one died and things are probably not as bad as they seem right now. You and Neda take care of yourselves and the bike and let us know how you're doing. We're all pulling for you!

I couldn't have said it better. Hope the shoulder is okay. As for the GS, as they say, a GS without scuff marks isn't a GS. Take care!

[Bluebone]

if its 'just' a brief dislocated shoulder than it will be hurting for about three days but shouldn't hinder you much as long as it popped back in right after it happened but if it is still dislocated then ur gonna need help getting it back in unless Neda knows how to do it. sadly i have some experience in loose joints, 4 shoulder dislocations and 11 knee cap dislocations. shoulder i can deal with, kneecap is scary.

[TxLoneRider]

Sorry to read about your down, I really hope it is nothing that wil keep you off the bike for more than a day or 2!

Originally Posted by lightcycle

Update from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/14.html



This is how it all starts

As far as the pump, on my AK trip a few years ago, I lost a bad that had my electric pump, and after having a flat Dawson, I picked up the exact pump in Dawson. Luckily I did not need it, when I got home, I tried to use it, and I don't think it could have blown up a beach ball.

take care, and thanks for the RR!