tangman99
Active Member
My wife and I were up in North Carolina last week riding some twisties in the mountains. We did about 400 miles in 3 days and had a blast. We went out for an easy ride the last day before loading up the bikes and coming home and I went down hard. I have no recollection of the crash other than the corner I was on was in bad shape and my front tire starting chattering and jumping to the outside. I left the road about 40 mph and the only thing I remember is a sharp pain in my left shoulder, seeing light and dark over and over and coming to a sudden stop.
My wife was riding right behind me at a slower pace and said nothing looked out of the ordinary. The bike low sided, dug in and pitched me causing me to crash into the ground on my left shoulder. She said I tumbled as bike parts exploded all around me. I finally stopped when I hit a guard rail with my right arm and helmet.
I was tremendously lucky. If I had crashed a bit ealier, I would have been thrown into a burm with some huge trees. A bit later, the bike would have hit the guardrail and I would probably have been throw about 100 feet down the mountain. I was wearing full racing leathers and walked away with a seperated shoulder, broken clavicle and some serious bruises on my left hip. No road rash thanks to my gear. Just a small friction burn on my left elbow from my leathers when I hit the ground. My Arai helmet hit the ground several times and left some nice paint on the guard rail. It no doubt saved my life as I was sliding and tumbling over rocks.
I was lucky to literally walk away from this. Here are a few picture I took at the crash site.
This is the road surface that got my front tire to sliding.
This is the front of my bike completely ripped off.
This is the left side of the bike pretty much sheared away. Shifter bent, foot peg ripped off, passenger peg bent, clutch cover and swing arm ground down and slider ground.
This is some of the paint I left on the guard rail off my helmet.
My broken and separated shoulder:
I haven't filed a claim yet as I'm dealing with the injuries and going to find out if I need shoulder surgery on Friday. I don't know if the bike is totaled or not but it's pretty close.
To all you riders, please be careful and wear your gear. It took me 35 years to go from the "those that are going down" to the "gone down" club and all I can say is crashing sucks and hurts like hell. Pain killers are your friend though if you ever do.
My wife was riding right behind me at a slower pace and said nothing looked out of the ordinary. The bike low sided, dug in and pitched me causing me to crash into the ground on my left shoulder. She said I tumbled as bike parts exploded all around me. I finally stopped when I hit a guard rail with my right arm and helmet.
I was tremendously lucky. If I had crashed a bit ealier, I would have been thrown into a burm with some huge trees. A bit later, the bike would have hit the guardrail and I would probably have been throw about 100 feet down the mountain. I was wearing full racing leathers and walked away with a seperated shoulder, broken clavicle and some serious bruises on my left hip. No road rash thanks to my gear. Just a small friction burn on my left elbow from my leathers when I hit the ground. My Arai helmet hit the ground several times and left some nice paint on the guard rail. It no doubt saved my life as I was sliding and tumbling over rocks.
I was lucky to literally walk away from this. Here are a few picture I took at the crash site.
This is the road surface that got my front tire to sliding.
This is the front of my bike completely ripped off.
This is the left side of the bike pretty much sheared away. Shifter bent, foot peg ripped off, passenger peg bent, clutch cover and swing arm ground down and slider ground.
This is some of the paint I left on the guard rail off my helmet.
My broken and separated shoulder:
I haven't filed a claim yet as I'm dealing with the injuries and going to find out if I need shoulder surgery on Friday. I don't know if the bike is totaled or not but it's pretty close.
To all you riders, please be careful and wear your gear. It took me 35 years to go from the "those that are going down" to the "gone down" club and all I can say is crashing sucks and hurts like hell. Pain killers are your friend though if you ever do.
