TheAxeman
Well-known member
This was posted by another member on the VFR forum but I thought it was appropriate to cross post here because it shows that even with the right gear and experience things can happen real fast.....
"And first off, I know this gets discussed a lot on here, but, this story happened last Friday(22nd)with up-dates continuing through this morning. Last Friday a friend of ours from Memphis and his wife were staying at the same motel during the Honda Hoot. All of the rest of us decided to ride over to Maggie Valley and visit my friend Dale's Wheels of Time Motorcycle Museum and hike up to Clingman's Dome. Kurt and his wife decided to sleep in and take a leisurely ride across the Gap and Cherohala. We were all gonna' meet out at Norris, Tn at the Museum of Appalatchia for the provided Bar-B-Q supper at 4:30 pm. After a great ride and super fun day, the rest of us arrived on time at the museum. After getting our food we called their cell phones to see what the problem was....no answer, over and over. Then around 7:00 pm Kurt's wife called and said they were in an accident on the Dragon and were at the Maryville Hospital. We went immediately there. Wife OK except scrapes/ bruises.....Kurt...both bones in left leg smashed and protruding through in four places, seperated knee, shattered left ankle, chipped pelvic bone, four broken ribs, seperated right shoulder and collar bone. Story goes: they were cruising around a left hander at about 20mph all the way to the far white line side of their lane(already been waving faster bikes by, and Kurt is an advanced MSF instructor in Memphis), when a Gold Wing came out of the bottom of his lane with the brakes locked skidding after coming into the curve way faster than he could make it. T-boned them right into Kurt's left side(2001 1100 Shadow Ace cruiser). His body took the full impact of the Wing. As of this morning this has turned very serious. Amputated left leg at the hip, will only have 30% usage of right arm if "full" healing is achieved. Now, the really bad part....he has spiked a 103-105 degree fever and gone into a coma due to infection that set up from the smashed bones. This is a 44 year old rider with vast experience and mileage. The Gold Wing rider was ruled totally at fault(He and his wife completely un-hurt. Kurt's gear(for you always wanting these facts) HJC F/C helmet, J/R leather jacket, Cortech leather pants, Alpine Stars race boots, Held race gloves. Wife dressed similar except jacket and pants were J/R vented textile, and boots were 3/4 length ICONs. No matter how careful you are, these things can always happen. When you are aggressively riding it all happens even faster. This is (IMO) why you need to always leave "quite a bit" on the table when doing any riding on the street. I never remotely approach what I might find out is my full potential, skill, or riding level. Needless to say, this has definetly not speeded up my wife's decision to go back to riding her own bike. She is becoming more resolved to the back seat behind me again. Keep it safe out there friends, I like you all, and still haven't got to "putt" around with all of you personally yet..... "
Here is the link to the entire thread CLICK
"And first off, I know this gets discussed a lot on here, but, this story happened last Friday(22nd)with up-dates continuing through this morning. Last Friday a friend of ours from Memphis and his wife were staying at the same motel during the Honda Hoot. All of the rest of us decided to ride over to Maggie Valley and visit my friend Dale's Wheels of Time Motorcycle Museum and hike up to Clingman's Dome. Kurt and his wife decided to sleep in and take a leisurely ride across the Gap and Cherohala. We were all gonna' meet out at Norris, Tn at the Museum of Appalatchia for the provided Bar-B-Q supper at 4:30 pm. After a great ride and super fun day, the rest of us arrived on time at the museum. After getting our food we called their cell phones to see what the problem was....no answer, over and over. Then around 7:00 pm Kurt's wife called and said they were in an accident on the Dragon and were at the Maryville Hospital. We went immediately there. Wife OK except scrapes/ bruises.....Kurt...both bones in left leg smashed and protruding through in four places, seperated knee, shattered left ankle, chipped pelvic bone, four broken ribs, seperated right shoulder and collar bone. Story goes: they were cruising around a left hander at about 20mph all the way to the far white line side of their lane(already been waving faster bikes by, and Kurt is an advanced MSF instructor in Memphis), when a Gold Wing came out of the bottom of his lane with the brakes locked skidding after coming into the curve way faster than he could make it. T-boned them right into Kurt's left side(2001 1100 Shadow Ace cruiser). His body took the full impact of the Wing. As of this morning this has turned very serious. Amputated left leg at the hip, will only have 30% usage of right arm if "full" healing is achieved. Now, the really bad part....he has spiked a 103-105 degree fever and gone into a coma due to infection that set up from the smashed bones. This is a 44 year old rider with vast experience and mileage. The Gold Wing rider was ruled totally at fault(He and his wife completely un-hurt. Kurt's gear(for you always wanting these facts) HJC F/C helmet, J/R leather jacket, Cortech leather pants, Alpine Stars race boots, Held race gloves. Wife dressed similar except jacket and pants were J/R vented textile, and boots were 3/4 length ICONs. No matter how careful you are, these things can always happen. When you are aggressively riding it all happens even faster. This is (IMO) why you need to always leave "quite a bit" on the table when doing any riding on the street. I never remotely approach what I might find out is my full potential, skill, or riding level. Needless to say, this has definetly not speeded up my wife's decision to go back to riding her own bike. She is becoming more resolved to the back seat behind me again. Keep it safe out there friends, I like you all, and still haven't got to "putt" around with all of you personally yet..... "
Here is the link to the entire thread CLICK
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