You are lucky to be alive geoff. To come off and get back on the bike as you have, is too many times for me!
I've only had one crash. 27 years ago I had a head-on with a Range-Rover. Broke a leg and totalled my brand new 125 that I owned for 3 months.
My crappy lawyer couldn’t prove the driver was on the wrong side of the road!
I never rode again until 2½ years ago.
Ronnie
my ex was given the green 'GO' sign at roadworks round a bend & set off through. Trouble was the guys operating the 'STOP/ GO' signs weren't really giving the job their full attention & gave the woman in a range rover coming the other way a green 'GO' sign too...so head on collision & it's pretty predictable who came off worse. Broken collar bone & bike written off 3 weeks after getting it
"You are lucky to be alive geoff. To come off and get back on the bike as you have, is too many times for me!"
Nahhhh! What I've learnt is that the human body is incredibly resilient and can take a lot of punishment and still keep going. That doesn't mean though that I've learnt to loon about like a nutter ... because what I've also learnt is that crashing your motorcycle hurts! In fact it hurts quite a lot lol! Indeed, quite the opposite, what I've learnt is to take my riding very seriously and get as much training as i can.
As for "too many times", I'm a biker. It's in my blood. As Chumbawamba would say ..... etc. Besides, I've always been a stubborn bar-steward and half the reason I kept getting back on bikes is because everyone around me told me not to because "they're dangerous".
But, it is amazing at what the human body can go through and still work fine. I've got a bad right knee because of biking, but this wasn't from my big crash, this was from my first ever crash on my 100cc machine.
Besides, this permanent injury is as much the fault of an incompetent and impatient doctor as the crash, who refused to accept that when I said "I can't stand up", I really meant that "I can't stand up"!! He decided that because there was no signs of broken bones in my x-rays that I must be perfectly fine and in the end snapped and told a nurse to bandage me up and send me home with a pair of crutches.
Two months later on and I still couldn't stand up at which point my physiotherapist decided that maybe there was a problem! One chat with a specialist and he concluded that I had ripped one of the cruciate ligaments from it's footings (can never remember which one) and medicine wasn't advanced enough to reconnect it back then. Over twenty years later on and my knee has adapted to the missing ligament, but does hurt sometimes.
What I've learnt is that the human body is incredibly resilient and can take a lot of punishment and still keep going.
I'll second that Geoff. All it takes is time, and more or less of that depends on the injury. My hospital patient notes were over an inch thick, and my X-ray file was almost double that. I had CAT scans, MRI scans, ultrasounds, X-rays up the wazoo, 3D focussed x-rays, nerve conductivity tests and allsorts going on. ECG's, EEG's, naso-gastric tubes, intra-venal lines, arterial lines, thoracic drains, abdominal drains and some serious venal tissuing to contend with. Broken bones, ruptured internals, a pneumohaemothorax, nerve damage and even a mild case of death didn't stop me. 2 months in hospital and I walked out under my own steam, albeit on crutches right enough.
No matter how bad you get banged up, you pick yourself up and carry on, you deal with it and move on. You just can't stop the will to live and ride again
On road bikes I've had 3 allmost stationary sidestand falls, one was while backing a Deauville down a hill and round a left hand bend on the Moors near Egton. Nice flat mown grass verge, with a sharp stone kerb,.. all was well until my next step found thin air, 3' of it! After 20 mins of swearing and trying not to let it down onto the sharp kerb I got the thing pushed far away enough to get it onto its wheels again.
I dropped my 2nd ST1100 doing an ambitious slipping clutch U-turn on a single car width gravel track, no damage that time.
Next one was on my New Varadero, (60 miles on the clock) again turning round and allmost stood still, but in a Industrial site,.. just embarassing that one. But a week later (March 02), a 17 yr old in a Micra managed to do a good job on me and the Vara by pulling a 3-pointer, 30' after a blind bend on a A road,.. result, bike shortened considerably, and my right upper arm broke near the socket and pushed out through my back.
My full MX armour (except boots), that I allways wear under my touring gear, stopped any other injuries apart from a sprained wrist and a bruise on the top of each foot.
10 days waiting to have the shoulder pinned, (then surgeon pinned it in the wrong place), about 1/4" out of line, so it rubs against the collar bone side when I move it, (I took pics of the x-rays). 6 months of work, and been on various painkillers ever since! It took 6 years to get it sorted out in court,.. that was worse than the crash itself!!
Sharkey..........after reading your posts on here, your very lucky to still be here, glad to know that you are.
I too have been in an accident last June thanks to a car driver.
I was aproaching a well lit crossroads, the lights were green, the road totally clear, i slowed up on aproach, as I went over the lights, a car coming in the opposite direction, turned right and side swiped me and took me out.
In the split second i realised the car was going to hit me there was nothing or nowhere for me to go and I then took the full force of the car on my right leg. I remember the impact then nothing till I opened my eyes n i was on the road on me side unable to move.
Ended up with a complex tibial plateau fracture, and lots of bruising, a bad neck , bit like whiplash.
9 days in hospital, 2 operations, 9 weeks non weight bearing on me leg, a further 3 months on crutches.
Nearly 9 months off work
A year later and i have had 1 further operation, still have to wear a knee brace due to the fractures collapsing and me leg being bent out of line under me knee and the joint moving in ways that it shouldnt.
In 5 weeks im booked in to have operation number 4, total reconstruction of me knee, so willl be back on crutches for a few months and off work again.
What the driver said................I DIDNT SEE THE BIKE TILL I HIT IT!!!
@geoff “As for "too many times", I'm a biker. It's in my blood.”
It can’t be in mine then lol. No. I go with the saying; “If at first you don’t succeed skydiving is not for you.”
But I do agree with your philosophy what I've learnt is to take my riding very seriously and get as much training as i can. Yes definitely. The more training I do the safer biking becomes.
By the by, change your doctor!
had one when i had not long passed my test in 1980.
i was giving a mate a lift back to the pub where he lived.
was on a honda 250 G5.
it was about 11.30 on a mid november night. it was very cold.
i was'nt traveling very fast because i knew there could be ice.
while going around the roundabout (the one under spagetti junction)
we hit some black ice.
from then on it was all in slow-motion.
my mate went one way,i went another like a rag doll,loosing my helmet along the way(i stupidly didnt fasten it)and my bike went another smashing every light on it as it bounced off the barrier
all i could here was my mate shouting"your head,your head"
i looked up and he was collecting my helmet off the road.
you should have seen the look on his face when he turned to me
and i still had my head on my shoulders.
i know it sounds funny,it kinda was. and i admit i couldnt stop laughing at the time.
that was untill he turned around.
i said to him "never mind my head,just look at your knee cap!! its gone"
so he did and then fainted.
ambulance arrived within minutes,thank goodness
luckily,he didnt have any other injuries and recovered fully after 9 months.
as for me,i only had a few scratches and a sick bike.
i still think back now and again and laugh about it.
but thats my sick sense of humour.
as for blame. i would say i was partly to blame because of lack of experierence.
i should not have been out in such freezing conditions.
and should not have carried a pillion.
colin
T67... glad you ok and hope your pillion recovers v soon
I had a nasty smash about 15 years ago now, yes i was on L plates so there for i didnt count because she didnt see me
I had a TZR 125 in Marlborough colours... obviously bright orange wasn't bright enough turned out to be a magistrate who was just leaving court!! pulled straight out whilst looking the other direction. hiway code lady?? broke 3 ribs, my wrist and made a four inch dent in the petrol tank!!! ( lucky for me i did martial arts) but couldn't walk for three months...But i didint drop it, i wedged my big in her wheel arch HA!!! stupid lady tried to get away with it so i had to fight her in court.. nice shiny new bike ta!!!
It taught me to watch out for prats on the road and i come across a fair few.. been told to sell my bike after losing my younger brother in a rta but im sorry no can do... love my bike and always will..
Had 3 now!! Beginjing to feel like a bloody target. First one was 11 years ago when I had only been riding for 6 weeks and someone pulled out of a side road without looking and i didnt have time to stop. Bike fell on my leg and broke it.
Second time I was overtaking and the idiot at the side of me didnt look in his mirror and decided to turn right into a lay by on the other side of the road. No real injury other than my pride and a knackered front end.
3rd was a couple of years ago and I was on the back of a mate having a nice day out in Lincoln when some w**ker drove into us because he didnt see us at a junction. Broken leg in three places amongst other things and has so far put me off getting back on my own bike. Also feel like the bionic woman, and a bit like someone is trying to tell me something. Now looking at getting a trike :)
wi-ccan.............i know how you feel as far as getting back on a bike, i feel the same and am also looking to get a trike once ive had me next big op and me leg is finally sorted out
Wow some nasty crashes above.
First crashes where off road for me from 12 onwards, usual stuff riding into a ditch at 50mph on Canford heath - usual somersaults and butt landing (when I had a butt), ridden off a few steep hills to fast and nutted myself and fallen over in pain on landing.
many slides on the xl125/185 for riding with knobblies on the road, usually over covers of one sort or another.
First proper one - s bend in the road, cars parked either side, me on my side going to fast and a car decided he could make it too. Bounced off the side of him, embeded knee in tank then droppped it.
Second - lady kindly pulled out so I could park my bike into her front wing while I took flying lessons - somersaulting over her bonnet I landed on my now thinning bum. Got up, pulled the bike out of the car and rode home.
More recently - highside on a trackday - hmm how embarassing!!! broke my first bone !! and I was so pissed I wasnt allowed to ride for the rest of the day, mind you I was in agony after the six hour drive home.
Are these my fault? Most definately for not anticipating how stupid some people are ( including myself).
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