Goodman4
Pressing on
Tammy and I had a low-side Thursday on the second day of our Ohio trip on the Goldwing. We didn't even make it out of Kentucky.
We both have broken wrists that need surgery. Tam got it a lot worse than I did, which I can't figure out. I have no other injuries except the wrist. She had a level 5 liver laceration that has already settled down, which was #1 concern at first. She took a hard hit on the right shoulder and has a brachial plexus injury to where she can't lift her right arm. She has feeling and can move fingers so they think it will come back but they say it is slow and could takes weeks. With the break in her left wrist, she's pretty helpless with no arms. I only have my left arm which is not dominant. She has no breaks in shoulder and no broken ribs, but they are bruised. Gear made a huge difference here and they say saved her life.
We both had good gear on and I believe it made a huge difference. The only two areas we did not have top protection types of gear was on our wrists. We wore short-cuff instead of gauntlet and that is the only place we have broken bones. Zero road rash, too.
I have first appt with hand doctor tomorrow. She is still in Lexington and has left hand surgery Wednesday then goes to rehab for the right arm. Prayers appreciated.
So to the part I don't want to talk about... My stupidity. We've been almost 100,000 miles together on our bikes without an accident. I've had lots of training and this last year I've done 6 track days. I should know better than to override a blind curve when it's wet. I'm so disappointed in myself. I've had accidents before. Thankfully none till now since starting rider education 12 years ago. Hurting yourself or your bike sucks. But hurting someone you love is a whole different game and it is brutal.
I can't remember how fast I was going, but I wasn't riding hard. We were just getting to some twisty areas between Danville and Berea Ky. With the rain, I almost decided to skip the twisties and take main roads over to Barboursville, WV, but pushed ahead since we came for the twisties. Ugh.
When I saw the curve I said to Tam, "I don't think I can make this curve." I've had it drilled into my head to always make the curve so I didn't lock up or we would have launched into a fence and it would've been bad. I think I was smooth and lightly squeezed the brakes before the curve and then leaned into it. We made it most of the way through and lost traction on the back. It's pretty fuzzy. The bike took out a fence post. She was laying face down with her head under the fence.
I should not have been riding at that level on an unknown wet road. I really thought I was not taking any risk at the time until I was in it. Maybe I panicked and did something else wrong I don't remember. Maybe it had been too long since we had ridden a curvy road on that bike. It makes me sick when I look at the area on google maps because it's not nearly as a tight of a curve as I remember it.
Anyway as of now there is a 90% I'll be back to riding as soon as I can, but an 80% chance the special time of our lives taking these trips together is over. That's really sad for both of us, but I can't imagine she will be comfortable again, and I can't ask her to take that risk. Thanks to this forum for getting us into it in the first place. It's been awesome.
We both have broken wrists that need surgery. Tam got it a lot worse than I did, which I can't figure out. I have no other injuries except the wrist. She had a level 5 liver laceration that has already settled down, which was #1 concern at first. She took a hard hit on the right shoulder and has a brachial plexus injury to where she can't lift her right arm. She has feeling and can move fingers so they think it will come back but they say it is slow and could takes weeks. With the break in her left wrist, she's pretty helpless with no arms. I only have my left arm which is not dominant. She has no breaks in shoulder and no broken ribs, but they are bruised. Gear made a huge difference here and they say saved her life.
We both had good gear on and I believe it made a huge difference. The only two areas we did not have top protection types of gear was on our wrists. We wore short-cuff instead of gauntlet and that is the only place we have broken bones. Zero road rash, too.
I have first appt with hand doctor tomorrow. She is still in Lexington and has left hand surgery Wednesday then goes to rehab for the right arm. Prayers appreciated.
So to the part I don't want to talk about... My stupidity. We've been almost 100,000 miles together on our bikes without an accident. I've had lots of training and this last year I've done 6 track days. I should know better than to override a blind curve when it's wet. I'm so disappointed in myself. I've had accidents before. Thankfully none till now since starting rider education 12 years ago. Hurting yourself or your bike sucks. But hurting someone you love is a whole different game and it is brutal.
I can't remember how fast I was going, but I wasn't riding hard. We were just getting to some twisty areas between Danville and Berea Ky. With the rain, I almost decided to skip the twisties and take main roads over to Barboursville, WV, but pushed ahead since we came for the twisties. Ugh.
When I saw the curve I said to Tam, "I don't think I can make this curve." I've had it drilled into my head to always make the curve so I didn't lock up or we would have launched into a fence and it would've been bad. I think I was smooth and lightly squeezed the brakes before the curve and then leaned into it. We made it most of the way through and lost traction on the back. It's pretty fuzzy. The bike took out a fence post. She was laying face down with her head under the fence.
I should not have been riding at that level on an unknown wet road. I really thought I was not taking any risk at the time until I was in it. Maybe I panicked and did something else wrong I don't remember. Maybe it had been too long since we had ridden a curvy road on that bike. It makes me sick when I look at the area on google maps because it's not nearly as a tight of a curve as I remember it.
Anyway as of now there is a 90% I'll be back to riding as soon as I can, but an 80% chance the special time of our lives taking these trips together is over. That's really sad for both of us, but I can't imagine she will be comfortable again, and I can't ask her to take that risk. Thanks to this forum for getting us into it in the first place. It's been awesome.
