- This topic has 19 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 1 month ago by Ben.
My first Crash… it hurts!
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March 25, 2010 at 7:54 pm #3798paulurmstonParticipant
Hi there everyone, sorry for not being able to be here for a while, but I have been in the clinic for around 2 months. That, plus earthquakes, has made life somewhat difficult here.
Well, my last post was that just before I left Santiago, Chile to go touring on my black ninja 250r…. well the good news is that DIDN’T crash during that, but instead was hit the day after the famous earthquake here in Chile.
It was a terrible night, I mean… I am sure it was on every news channel around the world, it was the worst earthquake I have ever experienced in my life… anyway. Next day and there are no landlines, mobile lines, food, gas, electricity… you name it.. it was down. And please don’t think Santiago is some washed out city… it is a HUGE city, skyscrappers, underground, the works.
So, I get out in the morning, to go help a friend of mine in Vina del Mar who’s house was literally shock to its foundations… so seeing as though it is an hour drive normally, and now there was no working highway to get there, I plotted a route on a map (yep, even the GPS failed on me) and suited up.
THANK GOD I SUITED UP.
I let me apartment, and was driving onto the nearest highway entrance (around 4 miles from my building). I’m just before the ramp to get on the highway, I’m at the light’s, signaling a left turn. The light goes green, I throttle back, 20mph, 30mph, 40mph, take the curve… and then the lights went out… completely.
Turns out a dick in a huge Dodge Dakota was freaked out about the Earthquake, and was trying to get on the highway so fast that he thought he’d jump the red light.
I woke up 3 days later in hospital. broken rib, fractured shoulder… multitude of bruises… but nothing else… Oh. Except a 1.5 year old Black ninja… completely destroyed.
The worst joke? He didn’t even have a valid license.
So yeah, Chile has been pretty rough to me recently. Good news is that I’m fine. Feeling much better/stronger, and most importantly still alive.
You know, in 6 years… never dropped my bike, never scratched, never even hit a mirror driving in between cars… but BANG! and it wasn’t even my fault.
You know, someone one said something that stayed with me the very first time I came to this Forum and those words still stuck with me. It was simply ” There are 2 kinds of motorcyclists. Those who have crashed, and those who haven’t crashed yet”.
I am glad to say that I now find myself in the second group… and why glad? Because I am still here, able to talk about it. My bones will heal, and already I find myself looking at bikes flying past me as I sit in a taxi on my way to the office thinking… that should be me.
Anyway, just wanted to share that with you, and to the new people. God, take the Introductory course, or whatever the name is in your country. Get a helmet, not a cheap one, but a GOOD one. Get a jacket, not a nice looking one because you wanna lok like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible.. but a good one, with protection.
I rode so many times to work without any protection at all… thank god it was on a day that I did have something on.
Now… to pick things up a little here…. I am looking at the new 2010 Kawasaki Versys. Looks awesome in black, tall which is great for my 1m95cm height.
Anyone rode one?
: )
March 25, 2010 at 8:31 pm #25183TrialsRiderParticipantSo glad to hear you are vertical Paul
And welcome back, I’m not one to normally worry but you even had me scanning the Chilean obituaries lately ! Wonderful to hear you’re still into riding, sorry to hear that guy made a hood ornament out of your baby Ninja. I trust you get to buy the new bike with insurance company money ?March 25, 2010 at 9:45 pm #25184Jeff in KentuckyParticipantMotorcyclist Magazine rated the Kawasaki Versys the best new bike for 2008. It is a little tall- when I sat on it with my 36 inch inseam, just my toes were touching the floor.
The same magazine rated the Kawasaki ER6N (pretty much the same engine as the Versys) as a best budget bike for 2009.
Cycle Magazine will have their best of 2010 list out soon, and Motorcyclist magazine waits until the fall for their list of best bikes for 2010.
March 25, 2010 at 9:52 pm #25185JackTradeParticipantThat’s a hell of a story, and quite sobering for the rest of us.
A really good reminder of the importance of risk management when riding; you did everything you could to stay safe, and because of that, though you didn’t come out unscathed, you lived to tell the tale.
Also glad to see how fast Chile is recovering from the quakes…an amazing country.
Re the Versys, I’m like Jeff, inseam-wise, and yeah, I found it to be a tall bike. Also fairly top-heavy as well. But gets outstanding marks as a great all-in-one ride. Looks cool too.
March 25, 2010 at 10:12 pm #25186Gary856ParticipantGetting blind-sided like that is everybody’s worst nightmare. I can see that after a huge natural diaster like the earthquake you had, many people didn’t have their presence of mind, and in that state of confusion being in traffic would be much more dangerous than usual.
You have a great attitude about the whole accident. Take care and get well.
March 25, 2010 at 10:30 pm #25187Gary856ParticipantWith a 33.1 in listed seat height, I’m surprised to read that you guys w/ 36″ inseam would have to tip-toe on this bike; don’t see how that can be. Usually when you sit down on a bike, the rider’s weight squashes down the suspension and the seat cushion by 1-2 inches or so. For example, DRZ-SM has a listed seat height of 35″ and I can flat-foot it with my 32″ inseam, but the DRZ’s long-travel suspension is more cushy than normal street bikes.
I like the sport-adventrue look of the Versys, but recently I read it hasn’t sold well in the US. Seems like it’s tough for a new comer to complete against the veteran V-strom and the bigger selling sport bikes and cruisers. Plus the huge down market we’re in for overall bike sales doesn’t help.
March 25, 2010 at 10:43 pm #25190eonParticipant+1 on the glad your okay sentiment. Sounds like it was a bad one but I guess anyone you walk away from (even if months later) is something to be thankful for.
I’m not really understanding the sequence of events that led up to the crash. So you were stopped at traffic lights, made a left turn once the light turned green and got up to 40mph before the guy hit you? Is that right? On hindsight was there anything you could have done to prevent it from happening (I know the other guy was at fault but I’m sure that was poor consolation after spending 2 months in hospital). Sorry for all the questions but I try to learn what I can from situations like this. See if I can see dangerous situations developing and avoid them before bad things happen.
As regards the 2010 Versys, it’s at the top of my shopping list and I have done plenty of online research on it. No-one really has a bad thing to say about it and the 2010 version has small incremental improvements over last years version. I sat on one at the bike show and found it very comfortable despite only having a 32″ inseam. It sits very upright (found the ergonomics very similar to my scooter) and felt very light (at least to me, as I’ve mentioned before my scooter is very heavy). Not ridden one though. I’ve got some cool videos bookmarked in YouTube that I’ll post later (at work just now and YouTube is blocked).
March 25, 2010 at 10:43 pm #25191owlieParticipantWelcome back!
I’m so glad to hear that you are safe and healing up. It is fantastic that you are excited to get back onto a bike after what happened. Thank you for sharing your story- that is incredible.
Owlie
March 25, 2010 at 11:39 pm #25193Jeff in KentuckyParticipantIf you are taking Vicodin pills for the pain, buy lots of Miralax laxative, unless you like the idea of giving birth to a softball covered with sandpaper, then using Preparation H cream for the next 4 months. Been there, done that about two years ago, when I fell off my son’s bicycle while doing a wheelie and messed up my back- stretching exercises helped speed the healing.
Breaking a couple of bones made me a much more careful rider. I broke two leg bones (tib and fib) in 1974 on a dirt bike, sold the bike afterwards, then did not buy another bike until 1980 for the street. I scared myself a bunch of times during the next five years with close calls, and did one high side with a big slide on my back for a few hundred feet on a very wet road, then quit riding from 1985 until 2002 (college and getting settled in my first permanent job and getting a wife and two kids and a home mortgage kept me saving money for a few years). I plan to keep riding into my 70s now, but at 50 years old I only ride 2,500 miles a year, mostly country roads with very few cars.
March 26, 2010 at 1:14 am #25196wbsprudelsParticipantSorry to hear of your accident but happy you are healing up. Thanks for sharing-hopefully it helps us all be more vigilant.
March 26, 2010 at 7:51 pm #25201paulurmstonParticipantYeah… me too.
When the police arrived I was already in the back of the ambulance on my way to A&E.
Little did I know he didn’t have a valid license. I guess, he has to pay… but if his insurance realize he didn’t have a valid license… they could refuse to pay, and that is where it starts to get tricky.
March 26, 2010 at 8:00 pm #25204paulurmstonParticipantYou got the sequence correct.
1. Light changes to green.
2. I go to first, and let the throttle out.
3. I lean to the left to take the turning….That’s it.
I will add that I was crossing a mail road which has 3 lanes on each side. So I had to cross all 3 lanes, before I could start to turn (hence the speed I was going) and remember… there had passed around 5-10 seconds AFTER his light had turned to red, before he hit me. I am sure you all know on dual carriage ways there is quite a long pause before the lights to from one direction to the other, just to avoid things like this.
What could I have done to avoid it….. good question.
Maybe checked AGAIN his side of the road (I had checked as I left, and he was no where to be seen at that moment.. I guess he was around 30 meters from arriving at his lights still).
Maybe not have gone first, and followed a car around the curve (therefor the car would have got hit and not me)… but then again. Why should I be scared and hiding behind a car all my life. It is my right to drive (within the legal limits) how I want to.
Maybe… took a cab?
I think I did everything as I should of, and I am the WORST critic of my own driving that I know. I am always getting angry with myself when the bike slips or something, then go back and repeat it over and over again until I correct my flaws. I honestly can’t see what I could have done to avoid the hit. All I can say is please WEAR your PROTECTION and remember… not everyone drives as well, or as cautious as you do.
March 26, 2010 at 8:08 pm #25205paulurmstonParticipantI am terrified of getting on a bike again.
I went down to my local Kawasaki garage a few days after getting out of the hospital… I felt I needed to see what had happened to my bike.
Believe me, seeing it there, in pieces… and thinking…
I am truly terrified. I think maybe I should never get on a bike again and just buy a car, with airbags, etc…
But then I relax a little, and I think back to driving on a bike, to feeling it vibrate under me, to responding to my wishes, taking curves and just keeping my knee above the concrete… that feeling of freedom which I am sure if I asked any of you… we have all felt and still feel sometimes when riding.
I simply can’t give that up. It is as simple as that. Yesterday, after I had wrote the post, I decided to go again to Kawasaki. I took the Versys for a test drive. The guys there were really kind, and they all know of course what happened to me.
I sat on the bike, and I swear it took 4 minutes just to get the courage to turn the key. As I moved onto the road (a dual carriage way) I was in AWE how fast the cars were flying by… was I really overtaking THEM before, surely they were all just driving faster than normal.
Well, I took the bike out, I think I got up to around 100kmh (like 60mph) and I started to get a weird kinda… something is going to happen feeling. I took the bike back, got off, and smoked around 5 cigarettes in a minute jajajja.
I know I HAVE to get over my fear. Maybe it IS because the Versys is so high, that I feel more protected… but not once did I drive it with aggression, it was more a pleasant drive around town.
March 26, 2010 at 8:09 pm #25206paulurmstonParticipantThanks for the tip. I’ll nip out to the pharmacy later tonight.
: )
A question… was it tough to get back in the saddle after the first fall?
March 26, 2010 at 9:11 pm #25211eonParticipantBeing first at the lights is no bad thing, and some would say safer (you have an escape route to get away from someone coming up from behind). When I’m first at the lights I take my time to get underway to give any red light jumpers a chance to get through before I’m in harms way, and I certainly look both left and right.
But I rarely have to cross intersections like the one you describe. After crossing 3 lanes would I still look to my right before entering that road? I don’t know but I would hope so (and am even more likely to now after reading your story). I get nervous when crossing over fast moving roads as the consequences are more severe and cars can appear from nowhere.
Could you have avoided the hit? I would say yes. If you were really doing 40mph (or anything like it) after crossing over 3 lanes then you were in a hurry. If you were going slower and looked to the right before entering the lane then it could have been avoided. I’m not trying to be a dick or to claim I would have done any better but I think it’s important to know it could have been avoided.
As to getting back on the bike after a spill, I think it just takes time. As I mentioned I read crash reports in an effort to learn and it’s common for people to be understandably nervous after what you have gone through. I believe time is the best healer and just take it easy and not try and force anything. From personal experience I had a low drama low side on damp roads 6 months ago. I was not hurt at all but 5000 miles later I am still nervous on damp roads. I swing between it is all in my head to my front tires are shot and have no grip (truth is probably somewhere in the middle).
Take things easy and I hope to be reading your ride reports on that Versys sometime down the road.
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