teerex51
The Italian Scallion
Last Sunday we were riding down an almost unknown mountain pass some 60 miles south of Milan when I hit a patch of crumbling road surface on a sharp right bend and I went down hard.
The bike's rear end skidded left, I tried to compensate but I don't recall much else.
The Forum guys that were following me say I skidded, went down hard on the RH side at a by then considerably reduced speed. My Yammy top case broke its mount and flew off, thereby removing all back support for my wife who was flung off face first.
I stayed with the bike and hit the road hard with my righ side. The bike crushed my right foot, flipped and went down wheels up into the brush and trees on the mountain slope (somehow managing to hit an old-fashioned granite milestone and dislodging it) and I followed it into the ditch.
The next thing I know I was being helped out of the roadside slope by a friend and I saw my wife standing up. So she was OK.
It turns out she has a suspected fracture of the RH wrist and a concussion, having hit the road with her helmeted face.
My RH boot had been carved into (was it the brake pedal?) but not sliced open. Inside was a banged up foot (one toe was split open -- by the impact alone it seems). 2 broken toes (one will need surgery later this week to be straightened out) and another whatchamacallit bone also kaputt.
I have a broken RH rib and my right hip also hurts a lot but nothing more.
My head hit hard on the RH side and a chunk of a 3-inch diameter is missing from my Shoei helmet's temple showing the fibers inside. The visor and chin are badly gouged too.
Now, for the poor Feejer. A friendly guy with a winch-equipped Jeep pulled it out, not without some difficulty, as she was wedged upside-down in the brush.
The RH side obviously took the brunt (RH Moko nearly ripped out but valiantly still attached), RH mirror mangled with attendant fairing and mounting frame damage.
Scratches and gouges on the saddlebags (which did not come off!) and the top case (that did) and virtually everywhere else.
The old Feejer started up immediately (belching some white smoke for a while) and was actually ridden into a farmer's shed a couple miles down the road to await extraction.
The moral of the story is A: clearly stay away from bare patches. We had dealt with them all day successfully enough. This one was trickier and it got me.
B: protective clothing and a good full-face helmet make a helluva difference.
Both helmets showed deep scratches and gouges in the chin area. Need I say more? Our knees and shoulders are intact thanks to the inserts and we show no road rash anywhere. I just have a dent in my left shin, probably from a tree down the mountain side. We were also both wearing Dainese back protectors.
Some guys in our group were wearing jet-type helmets, blue-jeans and sports shoes. I reckon they did not sleep too well on Sunday night. They must have thought: there but for the grace of God go I...
Stef
The bike's rear end skidded left, I tried to compensate but I don't recall much else.
The Forum guys that were following me say I skidded, went down hard on the RH side at a by then considerably reduced speed. My Yammy top case broke its mount and flew off, thereby removing all back support for my wife who was flung off face first.
I stayed with the bike and hit the road hard with my righ side. The bike crushed my right foot, flipped and went down wheels up into the brush and trees on the mountain slope (somehow managing to hit an old-fashioned granite milestone and dislodging it) and I followed it into the ditch.
The next thing I know I was being helped out of the roadside slope by a friend and I saw my wife standing up. So she was OK.
It turns out she has a suspected fracture of the RH wrist and a concussion, having hit the road with her helmeted face.
My RH boot had been carved into (was it the brake pedal?) but not sliced open. Inside was a banged up foot (one toe was split open -- by the impact alone it seems). 2 broken toes (one will need surgery later this week to be straightened out) and another whatchamacallit bone also kaputt.
I have a broken RH rib and my right hip also hurts a lot but nothing more.
My head hit hard on the RH side and a chunk of a 3-inch diameter is missing from my Shoei helmet's temple showing the fibers inside. The visor and chin are badly gouged too.
Now, for the poor Feejer. A friendly guy with a winch-equipped Jeep pulled it out, not without some difficulty, as she was wedged upside-down in the brush.
The RH side obviously took the brunt (RH Moko nearly ripped out but valiantly still attached), RH mirror mangled with attendant fairing and mounting frame damage.
Scratches and gouges on the saddlebags (which did not come off!) and the top case (that did) and virtually everywhere else.
The old Feejer started up immediately (belching some white smoke for a while) and was actually ridden into a farmer's shed a couple miles down the road to await extraction.
The moral of the story is A: clearly stay away from bare patches. We had dealt with them all day successfully enough. This one was trickier and it got me.
B: protective clothing and a good full-face helmet make a helluva difference.
Both helmets showed deep scratches and gouges in the chin area. Need I say more? Our knees and shoulders are intact thanks to the inserts and we show no road rash anywhere. I just have a dent in my left shin, probably from a tree down the mountain side. We were also both wearing Dainese back protectors.
Some guys in our group were wearing jet-type helmets, blue-jeans and sports shoes. I reckon they did not sleep too well on Sunday night. They must have thought: there but for the grace of God go I...
Stef
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