BwanaDik
Well-known member
This is the recount of the adventures of a very good friend of mine in Santa Barbara. Just spoke with him, he's fine. Some minor road rash but probably won't have to have a butt-ectomy. A 75 MPH get-off usually doesn't end this well. Annoying as he usually is, we're all much happier that he's still here to tell the tale. Also, he's "young like us" (or most of us) so he's got 30+ years riding experience under his belt. He's an excellent rider, this just goes to show you what can jump up and bite you.
[SIZE=18pt]ATGATT[/SIZE]
Hey Buds,
Ok, a little too much fun yesterday.
Here is the story.
Setting:
Temp was about 68, sky broken/overcast, visibility good, dry. I was riding on Hwy 101 North near the El Sueno road exit, in the #1 lane.
Traffic was moderate to heavy, fast lane speed was about 75 mph. I had a car about 4 lengths in front of me, and I was near the inner fog line, to allow seeing out in front of the car ahead of me. The road way is straight in this section.
From what a witness says, and what the CHP officers said, we think that a car in the middle lane(next to me or somewhat ahead) hit a large piece of truck tire carcass ( about 60 lbs.), the chunk seems to have been thrown into my path or even into my front wheel ( I am unclear about this, it was really fast, I do recall a flash of something coming at me, I think from the right side) The chunk of tire probably hit my front tire, and we ( my rider buddies and I ) think that I may have had a fast wobble before going down on the left side.
It was really fast, next thing I know, I hear a big bang and am sliding along the road, on my back and stable, feet forward, no rotation. I had a good riding jacket on (armour on the elbows and
shoulders) a full coverage helmet, Levis and hiking shoes. So I was well protected above the waist and less so below.
The slide was a long one, I was trying to look over my shoulder back at traffic, but did not get much of a look, and the back of my head was hammering the pavement pretty hard ( in the helmet) Gretchen (the GS) was out in front of me sliding straight down the middle of the lane on her left side, and she ended up about 150 feet beyond where I stopped.
My slide ended right next to the crash wall ( from 75 it is a really really long slide when you don't hit anything), I just turned my back to the wall and sat there for a few seconds trying to collect my thoughts( wooo **** what the fcuk just happened, do my toes and hands work? Anything bleeding or broken) Amazingly a CHP patrol car was about 6 cars behind me, he had stopped traffic, so I did not have cars going by my toes at 75, nice I must say. The cop pulls the tire chunk out of traffic then walks up to me ( maybe 200 feet) to see how bad off I am ( Three days before in the exact same spot there had been a motorcycle fatal accident) He was pretty amazed that I seemed to be OK. He ask if I could walk, I thought I probably could, so he stopped all traffic, and let me saunter across the freeway to the shoulder, he then went and got poor old Gretchen, who was bleating like a stuck pig ( not sure how to get the horn to go off like a theft alarm, but she was beeping away, laying on her side).
So now I am on the side of the highway, bike is too and one amazed cop is checking my eyes and mumbling about really good luck. All the emergency services show up, 5 cop cars, the fire trucks, and an ambulance. Everybody wants to see if I am OK, and for some reason I seemed to be able to pass their operational tests, go figure. Finally the emergency responders head back to there lunches and doughnuts, and the AAA truck shows up to give the old and wounded girl a ride back to 767. My roomate has shown up by now too, (Thanks bud, a bunch) so we drive back to the house, unload the bike and I have a look at the damage.
My damage:
Not much, a nice 2 inch raspberry on the butt cause I am an ***** and was wearing levis instead of riding pants.
Gretchens wounds:
Left side valve cover worn thru, left front turn signal is trash, both mirrors are done, both levers on the bars are slightly bent, some scuffs on the nose/fairing, and a slight tweak to the back sub frame, and a nice dent in the tank.
My butt/wound was a little dirty as you might guess so a friend gave me a ride to the emergency for a clean up, where the staff were all shaking their heads in amazement that my damage was not much greater.
The nurses said I was the "miracle guy". Interestingly one of the EMT's at the hospital was old friend, who kept coming in shacking his head and reiterating that I am one lucky guy.
Yea, I am really really lucky. This could have gone much worse, like I could have been killed pretty easily. Thanks to the person behind me for being alert and getting slowed down and guarding me as I did the big slide, and I think it was just dumb luck that I was not thrown from the bike too. To just get dropped on the road, on my back made a huge difference, and that there was not anything to hit during the slide allowed me to slow down leisurely, again really lucky.
As I sit here writing this I have a total of one butt raspberry, a little cut on the elbow, and a split finger nail. No stiff joints, no bruises.
Like I said, really, really lucky.
[SIZE=18pt]ATGATT[/SIZE]
Hey Buds,
Ok, a little too much fun yesterday.
Here is the story.
Setting:
Temp was about 68, sky broken/overcast, visibility good, dry. I was riding on Hwy 101 North near the El Sueno road exit, in the #1 lane.
Traffic was moderate to heavy, fast lane speed was about 75 mph. I had a car about 4 lengths in front of me, and I was near the inner fog line, to allow seeing out in front of the car ahead of me. The road way is straight in this section.
From what a witness says, and what the CHP officers said, we think that a car in the middle lane(next to me or somewhat ahead) hit a large piece of truck tire carcass ( about 60 lbs.), the chunk seems to have been thrown into my path or even into my front wheel ( I am unclear about this, it was really fast, I do recall a flash of something coming at me, I think from the right side) The chunk of tire probably hit my front tire, and we ( my rider buddies and I ) think that I may have had a fast wobble before going down on the left side.
It was really fast, next thing I know, I hear a big bang and am sliding along the road, on my back and stable, feet forward, no rotation. I had a good riding jacket on (armour on the elbows and
shoulders) a full coverage helmet, Levis and hiking shoes. So I was well protected above the waist and less so below.
The slide was a long one, I was trying to look over my shoulder back at traffic, but did not get much of a look, and the back of my head was hammering the pavement pretty hard ( in the helmet) Gretchen (the GS) was out in front of me sliding straight down the middle of the lane on her left side, and she ended up about 150 feet beyond where I stopped.
My slide ended right next to the crash wall ( from 75 it is a really really long slide when you don't hit anything), I just turned my back to the wall and sat there for a few seconds trying to collect my thoughts( wooo **** what the fcuk just happened, do my toes and hands work? Anything bleeding or broken) Amazingly a CHP patrol car was about 6 cars behind me, he had stopped traffic, so I did not have cars going by my toes at 75, nice I must say. The cop pulls the tire chunk out of traffic then walks up to me ( maybe 200 feet) to see how bad off I am ( Three days before in the exact same spot there had been a motorcycle fatal accident) He was pretty amazed that I seemed to be OK. He ask if I could walk, I thought I probably could, so he stopped all traffic, and let me saunter across the freeway to the shoulder, he then went and got poor old Gretchen, who was bleating like a stuck pig ( not sure how to get the horn to go off like a theft alarm, but she was beeping away, laying on her side).
So now I am on the side of the highway, bike is too and one amazed cop is checking my eyes and mumbling about really good luck. All the emergency services show up, 5 cop cars, the fire trucks, and an ambulance. Everybody wants to see if I am OK, and for some reason I seemed to be able to pass their operational tests, go figure. Finally the emergency responders head back to there lunches and doughnuts, and the AAA truck shows up to give the old and wounded girl a ride back to 767. My roomate has shown up by now too, (Thanks bud, a bunch) so we drive back to the house, unload the bike and I have a look at the damage.
My damage:
Not much, a nice 2 inch raspberry on the butt cause I am an ***** and was wearing levis instead of riding pants.
Gretchens wounds:
Left side valve cover worn thru, left front turn signal is trash, both mirrors are done, both levers on the bars are slightly bent, some scuffs on the nose/fairing, and a slight tweak to the back sub frame, and a nice dent in the tank.
My butt/wound was a little dirty as you might guess so a friend gave me a ride to the emergency for a clean up, where the staff were all shaking their heads in amazement that my damage was not much greater.
The nurses said I was the "miracle guy". Interestingly one of the EMT's at the hospital was old friend, who kept coming in shacking his head and reiterating that I am one lucky guy.
Yea, I am really really lucky. This could have gone much worse, like I could have been killed pretty easily. Thanks to the person behind me for being alert and getting slowed down and guarding me as I did the big slide, and I think it was just dumb luck that I was not thrown from the bike too. To just get dropped on the road, on my back made a huge difference, and that there was not anything to hit during the slide allowed me to slow down leisurely, again really lucky.
As I sit here writing this I have a total of one butt raspberry, a little cut on the elbow, and a split finger nail. No stiff joints, no bruises.
Like I said, really, really lucky.
:exhappysmiley: So next time anyone wants to make a wise crack about me wearing full leathers I will be pleased to say "i could have spent a couple weeks picking scabs but I didnt" :exhappysmiley: :exhappysmiley:
