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tortus wrote: the real injury is my left hand. i have a very deep cut on it, it looks like someone stabbed me, before the stitches it was like a tunnel going into my hand. my left hand is extremely swollen and is in intense pain now. I can juuust barely wiggle my fingers and i can start to make a fist if I'm willing to accept a lot of pain.

So my hand basically has been saying "I want to operate a clutch!!!" and thus has been healing very fast. It's about 90% operational now, the cut's swelling is almost completely gone.

If I had a bike, I could totally ride it right now, no problem. (But even so, I will take it very easy at first and probably still won't ride for a while yet)

So tomorrow I'm going into the shop to see how well they are fixing my bike, OR if they do decide it's totaled (it's on the borderline) get a new bike.

I hope to be riding in a week or two, that should give me enough time to deal with the bike side of things and let my hand go (hopefully) all the way to 100%
But with a newfound respect for what the road can do to you if you fall off your ride

tortus wrote: i wasn't pushing it though, we were "done" and leisurely heading home. if it was day time this particular accident never would have happened.

Glad to heat that you came out of this relatively OK and will heal up well.


Your statement above is troubling to me for two reasons:

A) The fact that you say you were "done" and leisurely riding home. This sounds like you had let your guard down and were not really focusing on riding but kicking back. You're not "done" riding until you park your bike and get off of it - you should NEVER let your guard down when riding - as you found out.

B) It also sounds like your were over-riding your headlight if you don't think this accident would've happened during the day. And, if you don't know what's in a turn ahead, you should always ride as though there is gravel on every turn - i.e. ride at a speed which doesn't push your traction limits if you hit something unexpected, like gravel.

(My intent is not to rip on you but to get noobs who read this to think about this stuff.)

Heal quickly.

Flting Duck wrote:It also sounds like your were over-riding your headlight if you don't think this accident would've happened during the day. And, if you don't know what's in a turn ahead, you should always ride as though there is gravel on every turn - i.e. ride at a speed which doesn't push your traction limits if you hit something unexpected, like gravel.

(My intent is not to rip on you but to get noobs who read this to think about this stuff.)

I agree with you 100%, but allow me to play Devil's Advocate for a minute...

Sometimes, you simply can't see crap in the road at night. I recall riding in the CITY one evening on brightly-illuminated main streets and coming to a patch of gravel. Was right near a cross-street. Must have spilled from a gravel truck or something. I was doing the speed-limit, and I didn't see it until I was right on top of it. From the distance, it just looked like a slight discoloration on the asphalt. It wasn't recognizeable as gravel until you were right on it. It scared the hell out of me, so I just tried to maintain my speed, not give ANY turning-input to the bars and ride through it.

I came out fine.

The point of my story is, while I do agree that you should never override your headlight at night, sometimes, light and shadow across a roadway can STILL obscure dangers until the very last second. So, be careful!

Yet another thing for noobs who read this to think about...

when ya fall off the horse...ya get back on again !!!!!


with that kind of experiance under ya belt, you will be a 10 times better rider in the future !!!

ya just cant buy that sort of training !!!!


Oh and btw IMHO, you must have done something right, cause ya still here to talk about it..Well Done.

Nalian wrote:

storysunfolding wrote:

IcyHound wrote:Landlines are almost always tied into the system so they can pull your address from it. If you only have a cell try to say your address if nothing else. They will come.

Unless you have vonage...

Vonage is not a landline, and if you follow their instructions they enter your information into the system specifically for purposes like this.

tortus - I'm so sorry to hear you crashed. Sounds like you're pretty shaken up. Take it easy and take it slow..make sure you listen to your body when it tells you that it hurts!

Also with any new cell phone they can get your location within 2 feet of where you are . Same with good ol Onstar but that is expensive. I just cant see paying $300/yr for "emergency coverage"

Believe me, I learned from this event. I don't blame anyone or anything for the wreck except me. The only things involved in the wreck were a road, a guard rail, darkness of night, a bike, and me. Of those things, only one of them is capable of making decisions...

When I get my bike back I will be a much better rider for sure. I don't plan to have this expensive lesson and not learn from it.

Oh, and went to the dealer today. Saw my bike for the first time since the wreck. Not nearly as bad as I was hoping. 100% cosmetic damage. Which concerned me when they said that, I drilled them on that a bit, nothing wrong with the fork, the wheel, the engine, nothing, according to the shop. And everyone says this guy is the best in the area.

Basically the right side of my fairing was trashed.

They said at most it will be two weeks before I get it back, and should be sooner. Yay!

tortus wrote:100% cosmetic damage....And everyone says this guy is the best in the area.

Basically the right side of my fairing was trashed.

They said at most it will be two weeks before I get it back, and should be sooner.

The "best guy in the area" requires 2 weeks to do nothing but replace a fairing? That's ridiculous.

Why be without your bike for that long if everything is fine on it? Just take it home and have them call you when the fairing arrives.

Oh, and P.S., I loved your story about being so dazed and out-of-it from shock and a concussion. I was laughing the whole time going, "Yep. He's right. That's exactly what it's like!" You end up going into a freakin' dream-sequence and seeing stars and bluebirds. Weeeeee! Ha, ha!

Dragonhawk wrote: The "best guy in the area" requires 2 weeks to do nothing but replace a fairing? That's ridiculous.

He said it will take about 5 days for the parts to arrive and he won't order the parts until he's got the green light from my insurance company, which we are hoping will be Monday. That's why he gave me a 2 week estimate.

Why be without your bike for that long if everything is fine on it? Just take it home and have them call you when the fairing arrives.

I thought about that. But I guess I should have said 98% cosmetic as the right front blinker has to be replaced And honestly my hand could use the time to heal. It's going to be a long week or so waiting for my bike, I've already gone over a week without riding

Oh, and P.S., I loved your story about being so dazed and out-of-it from shock and a concussion. I was laughing the whole time going, "Yep. He's right. That's exactly what it's like!" You end up going into a freakin' dream-sequence and seeing stars and bluebirds. Weeeeee! Ha, ha!

Haha Most of my friends have never been in an accident and so they just totally didn't get it. I had no idea either, that was my first accident.

hmm ive gone almost a month without riding. damn snow anyways.

ofblong wrote: Also with any new cell phone they can get your location within 2 feet of where you are

If your department is equipped with that capability.

If the right fairing is trashed, with that type of slide, I'd expect things like bar ends, clutch, front cowl, engine housing, peg, rear fender fairing thingies, etc to be a bit scared as well. Possibly even your tank cover and seat scratched up considering you said your bike went into a guardrail.