A personal example of how full gear can save your ass!

[DLIT]

On the 11th of this month I had a nice, high speed off and met a curb at the lake out here. A road I've been on probably close to a hundred times. They had just repaved a new section and this was probably my 10th time hitting it.

So I'm going through this left sweeper and transitioning into a right sweeper. With me, sweepers mean high speeds. My limits are higher than most, but I always stay within them on the street. I honestly believe my speed had nothing to do with the initial part of the wreck, when I lowsided. While transitioning, my front end just said PEACE! No feedback...nothing. I was initiating my lean to the right and it just went out from under me.

Now, my speed played a role in what happened next. I lowsided and started slidng. I was on my back and lifting my head to find out where my trajectory was gonna take me. I've always wondered how it felt to slide in leathers, after seeing the pros do it for years. It actually wasn't bad at all. Then I saw the curb I was heading to. All I could do was lift my head so it wouldn't hit it and shut my eyes. I opened my eyes at the bottom of the hill, tried standing up but I started getting dizzy and layed back down.

I was riding with one dude I had met that day. Luckily, a couple in a truck stopped after they saw the dust from my R1 flipping around and whatnot. They had Onstar and called the paramedics for me. The cell reception is shit out there.

Here's some pics and morte description...

Here's the point of impact shot. You can see I was no where near the apex when the bike lowsided on me. You can follow the marks where the bike went. The part where there wasn't a curb. You can kinda see the sliding marks from my leathers too.


Here's another angle. You can see my sliding marks...heading towards where the two angled of the curb meet. Hit it with my right side. My shoulder grazed it and my upper hip took most of the impact. Probably the reason why I have three fractured vertebrae in my lower back.


I hit the curb, went over it and came to rest here, about 25 feet from the road. Fully concious the whole time, just being still.


Another angle from the road.


Here's a headlight from the R1. Look how far away from me it is. I,m where the person wearing white is.


The bike I'm impressed with the damage. This was just after it was picked up and put on its stand.




And I had just put the black forks on it the week prior. Some dude traded with me.


Got a flight to the trauma center because it was so far away, it woulda taken an ambulance about an hour to get there,


As she sits in my garage.



The damage to me?
-Abrasion on my right shoulder blade where it hit the curb. The scab is pretty much gone now
-Jammed pinky pretty good. Able to fully move it now.
-A couple abrasions on my legs. Most likely where the hard parts of the bike got me when I was lowsiding. My suit has shin protection, but one big abrasion was on my right shin.
-Three fractured vertebrae in my lower back. Still suffering from it. Getting around on crutches just fine. Took some steps without the crutches. Possible, but still sore whenever I transfer weight from leg to leg. Laying down in my bed, no pain at all.