Ow.

Well they say there are two kinds of riders. Those that have and those that will. Move my peg to the other side.

Broken left shoulder (at the ball), broken left hand and broken right wrist. Helmet saved my life. The bike, and I will ride again.

Wow that's good to hear!...well kinda. Hope if I ever have a big fall I live to post about it. Live and ride on!

sorry to hear of your misfortune. glad your upbeat about riding again. i have a friend that went down a couple of weeks ago, and she says shes finished. its too bad really. good luck on a fast recovery.

Here's a breakdown of what happened in the wreck:

My riding partner was about 200 yds. behind me. He came around a curve and was sure I was dead. He saw me flying in the air. I think I slid on gravel, but the trooper didn't see any. She said I wasn't speeding nor being reckless.

The road's speed limit was 55, but the curve had a safety rating of 25 mph. It was a down-hill, left-hand curve and I was braking from 35-40. I figure I was doing about 35 when I crossed over the single yellow line at the edge of the road, and went into a ditch about 2-3 feet deep.  I was focused on a culvert running under a gravel driveway at the apex of the curve, and that's where the bike came to rest. I think maybe I needed to have kept my eyes in motion, sweeping through the curve.

There were a lot of factors that added up here:

- The road surface was sort of grooved and was causing the bike to wobble a little, like riding on a mesh bridge or when a tire is starting to go flat. I had had a flat in the rear tire a few weeks prior while riding and was kind of uneasy.
- I had worked a lot of days in a row and while I felt well rested, I may not have been. the wreck happened about 1/2 an hour into the ride, about 10:30 am.
- When I locked onto the culvert, I also noticed I was leaning over the double yellow line. I started to drift toward center, in case there were and on-coming cars and just kind of started heading straight at the culvert.
- I found myself fighting to get the bike back into the turn, panic had started to set in and I forgot to counter-steer.

My line of memory is, seeing the front tire going over the line, into the ditch and thinking "!@#$...this is gonna suck!" to - eyes focusing on gravel coming to a stop an inch away on the OTHER side of my visor and thinking "Thank !@#$! I'm not wearing my skid lid."

I managed to roll over on my back and get my helmet off my head before the pain set in. Then I discovered I couldn't use my arms to sit up. I looked myself over best as I could, and didn't see any blood anywhere so I laid back down. The guy in whose driveway I landed was an ex O.R. orderly, and was working in his front yard. He was there in moments, saying all the right things.

Other the the few moments of trauma blackout containing the impact and 20 yard flight off the bike, I experienced no real loss of consciousness or dizziness. I had a little scratch on my nose where my visor collapsed on one hinge and smacked into my nose, and a few sratches on my left shoulder. It seems I landed on my head and left shoulder, upside down about 4-5" above the steel culvert running under the guy's gravel driveway, and flopped over on my stomach and slid to a stop.

The result of all that is I broke my right wrist, my left hand, my upper humorus on the left side and I'm pretty sure a rib on the upper right side of my back.  Both forearms were in casts and my left arm was in a sling.  

I used some voice dictation software for sending e-mails and voice-activated my computer.

The back of my helmet was destroyed and the windshield on my bike was shattered.  I've got the bike back, and there seems to be no frame damage. It needs new handlebars and mirrors, the plastic thingy around the headlight is all cracked and I need to replace a couple of turn signals.

This really the first time I've written the whole string of events down. I'm a little exhausted mentally!

All in all, I feel lucky. The Dr.s and physical therapy folks say I'll get 100% range of motion back.

I hope reading all this helps!

Thanks, and I love sock butt monkeys. I have a couple. Great for encouraging the cats to be off whatever it is they are on and shouldn't be.

Oh And Bleemus...my folks live in Mount Pleasant, over near Boone's Hall. I love that area!

Good to hear you will be ok. It is scary how fast accidents can happen.

Thanks for sharing your experience. It helps to keep us all from being too complacent, and to continue to ride safely.

Here's to a speedy recovery and riding again.

Mark

Good luck & heal fast, `tho I`m sorry you had to `join the club' so hard. I used my down time to cogitate my place in the universe.

You`ll ride again.

Bill

What Justin says is so true -- I took a really serious crash-and-bang course a few years ago and they drilled that into us:  If you look at it, you will hit it.  The instructors had conducted an experiment with some relatively inexperienced drivers.  The drivers were told that their only objective was to proceed at moderate speed and STAY IN THEIR LANE, NO MATTER WHAT.  As the drivers rounded a blind curve, there was a cardboard box in the other lane.  The box was attached to a line and when the drivers came into view an instructor yanked the line and the box moved.  Yup.  Over 50% of the drivers crossed to the oncoming lane and ran over the box.   If you look at it you will hit it.

Windrider:  I'm in the next county -- when you are up to it, give me a PM and I'll come over and help you bend some metal.