onearmedbandit
8th February 2010, 12:46
There I was, leaving work on Sunday the 27th of December, when out of the blue I found myself doing the above. I had only accelerated away from the exit at work and into an intersection about 30m away when the back lost traction, swung around wildly and spat me off. I remember fighting to try and keep the bike upright but at some point realised it was futile, that some tarmac surfing was coming up.
After the initial impact of hitting the deck I thought I had stopped moving (I would've been doing 50-60km/h) when I felt an almighty impact. Fearing that I had been hit by a car after I came off (such was the force of the impact) I lay still for 30 seconds checking that I was not in a bad way, which apparently caused some witnesses to fear I was dead. After deciding in my expert medical opinion that I was fine I got up and after removing my helmet (stupid boy) asked someone what hit me. They told me nothing, I glanced around, saw my bike lying right beside where I got up from, and assumed my bike had hit.
An ambulance had been called but I told them I was fine, and started calling people to arrange to have the bike taken home. I had given myself a bit of a look over and really, the only damage I saw was both my knees where severely grazed up (work pants offer very little protection despite not ripping) so everyone left me to my cigarette and self pity of damaging my pride and joy.
The ambulance turned up however, and I dismissed their concern. They told me they had received two calls and both had said that I impacted a pole. I laughed it off and told them I was fine. They insisted they check me over, and then things went downhill. Before I made it to the ambulance I started to feel woozy. They checked my heart and found an irregular heartbeat and some concerning pauses, so I was transported to hospital for a check over. My girlfriend in the meantime arranged transport for my bike and then made her way to hospital, and after numerous checks etc they let me go home. By now I had gone from being able to move freely to now struggling to lift myself up from the bed.
Fast forward 10 days, my upper body is black, blue, yellow. My left arm (the paralysed one) is swollen to 2-3 times it's normal size, my lower back is still heavily bruised and my knees have finally healed. I'm thinking something isn't right here, especially with my arm. We decide to go out to the crash scene and have a look, try to find out why I'm so badly beaten up. And there we discover the reason why, gouge marks in the road lead right towards a traffic island which has a traffic pole smack in the middle. Seems the reports of hitting the pole were right, immediately after the accident I didn't even see a pole, hence why I figured I hadn't hit one.
So it's off to the doctors, they seem concerned as well, so send me off for xrays. They come back looking even more concerned, I've got two breaks in the arm and a fractured shoulder blade. Didn't realise, couldn't realise, felt a bit sheepish going into hospital with a 10 day old broken arm. I'm finally out of the cast now, but the problems are not over yet. I normally have my hand in my pocket, but my arm is now kind of locked in a sling position, and things don't sound nice when I try to extend it. So it's lots of physio no doubt to try to get that sorted. Also I think I may have done something to my right thumb. At the time I thought I just wrenched it, but it still hurts to use in certain movements. People have said it might be cracked or broken, so I might have to get that checked over.
Now the important bit. The bike is/will be fine. Mostly cosmetic damage, and thanks to some enforced R&R I've managed to get all the bits I need. Big ups to 3umph (member here) who replicated my left fairing panel (see pics below). Not only did he do an outstanding job with the vinyls, he did it within a 24hr period and at an extremely great price. However until I'm 100% (another week or two) I won't be riding.
As far as the actual accident goes, the police attended and put it down to road surface. I however put it entirely down to myself. Yes there is diesel well trodden into the intersection, and it's heavily rutted from all the trucks using it, but this isn't new info to me, I knew this before the accident. I wasn't accelerating hard, I was in 2nd at the time, doing approx 50-60km/h, and there is a rail crossing on the other side of the intersection. But I was on cold tyres, had just worked a long day, and I should've been thinking more. Like I said the police say it was road conditions, I say it was all me. Had I been more aware and on a constant throttle (as I should've been) then I wouldn't be in this situation. Despite 20yrs of riding, some lessons just take a little longer to sink in. Can't wait to get back on though, I'm suffering from a lack of riding!! Oh yeah, and from now on I'm ATGATT. Had I taken 5minutes longer and put on my leather pants my knees would've been fine, and that in itself is worth it.
After the initial impact of hitting the deck I thought I had stopped moving (I would've been doing 50-60km/h) when I felt an almighty impact. Fearing that I had been hit by a car after I came off (such was the force of the impact) I lay still for 30 seconds checking that I was not in a bad way, which apparently caused some witnesses to fear I was dead. After deciding in my expert medical opinion that I was fine I got up and after removing my helmet (stupid boy) asked someone what hit me. They told me nothing, I glanced around, saw my bike lying right beside where I got up from, and assumed my bike had hit.
An ambulance had been called but I told them I was fine, and started calling people to arrange to have the bike taken home. I had given myself a bit of a look over and really, the only damage I saw was both my knees where severely grazed up (work pants offer very little protection despite not ripping) so everyone left me to my cigarette and self pity of damaging my pride and joy.
The ambulance turned up however, and I dismissed their concern. They told me they had received two calls and both had said that I impacted a pole. I laughed it off and told them I was fine. They insisted they check me over, and then things went downhill. Before I made it to the ambulance I started to feel woozy. They checked my heart and found an irregular heartbeat and some concerning pauses, so I was transported to hospital for a check over. My girlfriend in the meantime arranged transport for my bike and then made her way to hospital, and after numerous checks etc they let me go home. By now I had gone from being able to move freely to now struggling to lift myself up from the bed.
Fast forward 10 days, my upper body is black, blue, yellow. My left arm (the paralysed one) is swollen to 2-3 times it's normal size, my lower back is still heavily bruised and my knees have finally healed. I'm thinking something isn't right here, especially with my arm. We decide to go out to the crash scene and have a look, try to find out why I'm so badly beaten up. And there we discover the reason why, gouge marks in the road lead right towards a traffic island which has a traffic pole smack in the middle. Seems the reports of hitting the pole were right, immediately after the accident I didn't even see a pole, hence why I figured I hadn't hit one.
So it's off to the doctors, they seem concerned as well, so send me off for xrays. They come back looking even more concerned, I've got two breaks in the arm and a fractured shoulder blade. Didn't realise, couldn't realise, felt a bit sheepish going into hospital with a 10 day old broken arm. I'm finally out of the cast now, but the problems are not over yet. I normally have my hand in my pocket, but my arm is now kind of locked in a sling position, and things don't sound nice when I try to extend it. So it's lots of physio no doubt to try to get that sorted. Also I think I may have done something to my right thumb. At the time I thought I just wrenched it, but it still hurts to use in certain movements. People have said it might be cracked or broken, so I might have to get that checked over.
Now the important bit. The bike is/will be fine. Mostly cosmetic damage, and thanks to some enforced R&R I've managed to get all the bits I need. Big ups to 3umph (member here) who replicated my left fairing panel (see pics below). Not only did he do an outstanding job with the vinyls, he did it within a 24hr period and at an extremely great price. However until I'm 100% (another week or two) I won't be riding.
As far as the actual accident goes, the police attended and put it down to road surface. I however put it entirely down to myself. Yes there is diesel well trodden into the intersection, and it's heavily rutted from all the trucks using it, but this isn't new info to me, I knew this before the accident. I wasn't accelerating hard, I was in 2nd at the time, doing approx 50-60km/h, and there is a rail crossing on the other side of the intersection. But I was on cold tyres, had just worked a long day, and I should've been thinking more. Like I said the police say it was road conditions, I say it was all me. Had I been more aware and on a constant throttle (as I should've been) then I wouldn't be in this situation. Despite 20yrs of riding, some lessons just take a little longer to sink in. Can't wait to get back on though, I'm suffering from a lack of riding!! Oh yeah, and from now on I'm ATGATT. Had I taken 5minutes longer and put on my leather pants my knees would've been fine, and that in itself is worth it.