Our Mortality (part two)

**beyond** · 30th November 2006, 20:45

Part 2.... See part 1 first: http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ad.php?t=39808

The T250 Hustler was running well. You're up to your old
tricks and it's slightly quicker with the straight bars
you bought with all the other new bits to repair what would
have been a writeoff.

Time to break my older brothers record around Opahake Roundabout
in Papakura. The right angle part of the roundabout can
be taken at 90kmh. That's the record set by my brother and his mates.
I come towards the roundabout at 95kmh and get ready to drop her
over and around and a car pops out of nowhere right where I need to go.
I have to gun the bike and enter at 105kmh to get in front of
the car. No one's going to beat this speed, I think to myself as
the bike is thrown over into the tight right hander. I'm going to
make it,sweet. The right peg is biting hard and all's going well,
the rear twitches slightly as the weight goes on the older bikes,
fixed peg and then it's all over as the right handlbar digs into
the asphalt. A couple of 360's later, see's me nearly through
the door of the corner dairy.

I feel like a dick, kick the bike into life and head up the road
to survey the damage at my mates house, leaving several concerned
motorists standing in the middle of the roundabout. The sleeves
gone off my dad's rugby jacket, my right boot is paper thin, the
helmets got a few more gouges and the bikes got bent levers and
pegs and oh well. Out with the crowbar and I'm away again.

I finish work one Friday at the Papakura Courthouse and head down
the road to the Papakura tavern to have a few drinks before riding home
down Willis Road. A couple of hours later you decide you better
stop drinking and head home. It's August, cold and wet and
now dark. Get home before the plonk really hits home. Well,
I made it.

An hour later my older brother rings and asks me to pick him up
from town as it's wet and he doesn't want to walk home. I tell him
no way, I've been drinking but older brothers have a way of getting
what they want.

He told me later that after he jumped on the back, he knew we would crash
as I left the kerb with the back end spinning, motocross style down
the road. Entering Willis Road, the throttle was pinned. The T250 could do
140kmh two up with the throttle jammed wide and that was what we were
doing. A few hundred metres before our house a white Ford Falcon
pulls out of a side road from the right. I go to slow down but realise
I'll miss him anyway so pin the throttle again and plough into the unlit
trailer he was towing at 140kmh. The trailer is totalled and it spins
on the towball, writing off an Austin A40 waiting to pull out of
the opposite side road.

It was too dark to see the sky beneath my feet this time. Streetlights
seem to flash after that horrendous noise and I felt like I was flying
endlessly until I hit the ground harder than I ever have before, some 50 metres
away from the intersection. I had just missed a pole several metres back.

I must have been out for a long time. Shock is a weird thing. I didn't know
where I was but lots of people were milling around and shouting including our
parents who heard the smash over the TV hundreds of metres away. A siren could
be heard approaching. I hurt all over, badly and it seemed to be getting worse.
It was then I heard the screaming. It was my brother. They had to shoot him
up with drugs while they carted us off to Middlemore. It was a long night before
they got to me, but once again, I was lucky. Smashed collarbone, mangled left foot
with broken bones and numerous deep bruising. The chin bar on my helmet was gone.

My brothers leg had hit the side of the trailer and it had nearly been
guillotined off. He was in hospital for nearly 10 months while they managed to
save his leg. It's two inches shorter than the other but at the time,
it was real touch and go as the doctors were not sure they could save it.

The bike was sold as a wreck and the motor used in cart racing for several years
before eventually popping.

It was a while before I had another bike. In fact, I was married to that same
girlfriend at 21 and needed a cheap commuter. A Suzuki T350 became my ride for
a few years and at one stage, our only transport was a Honda SL125. But that's another
story......

Part three:
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ad.php?t=40711

**Brett** · 30th November 2006, 21:04

That is a bloody good write up mate, bling duly awarded! It is good to hear the experiences of someone who has been riding since before i was anything. Seems boys will always be boys, and for all of our yapping on about good safety gear, you did survive quite a few smashes

- not saying that good gear isn't vital mind you.

**terbang** · 30th November 2006, 21:08

A great story there Paul. Your voice also has a heavy message that we should all have a think about.

**gijoe1313** · 30th November 2006, 21:08

... gibber ... urble ... gleep! Does your brother still talk to you? Crikey - serious need for speed there, amazing you're still here able to get this down

good read! Keep 'em coming!

**MattRSK** · 30th November 2006, 21:24

and people complain about the youth of today...

Thanks for that Beyond a great read.

**Ixion** · 30th November 2006, 21:26

Well hang on, there were extenuating circumstances. Remember, the T250 was a two stroke.

**Mr. Peanut** · 30th November 2006, 21:27

Anyone else feel sorry for the Austins?

**yungatart** · 30th November 2006, 21:32

What's taking so long... where is part three?

**beyond** · 30th November 2006, 21:34

LOL

Part three will be another night, another time, sometime soon

This fellow needs some sleep so I can work all day tomorrow and ride all weekend. Opps, better not let the missus see that.

**yungatart** · 30th November 2006, 21:39

bugger! I guess I'll just be taking my ball and going home then
Good night!

**erik** · 1st December 2006, 00:35

Originally Posted by terbang

A great story there Paul. Your voice also has a heavy message that we should all have a think about.

Yeah, this post and part 1 were both good reading. (I'm not being sarcastic, I enjoyed them).

I'm not sure what the message is though. That you can do stupid stuff and get away with it?

I'm a complete wuss, I've become even more of a nana after my last off, which was minor but caught me by surprise (I'm still not totally sure what caused it) and has left me with a sore right hand still 2 and a half months after the accident.
Not to mention the serious accidents that have happened lately to forum members.

If anything, the message I get from this post is just what I mentioned before: that you can do dangerous stuff and get away with it.
From reading your (beyond's) other posts about the coro loop, and other riders' praise of your riding, it sounds like you still enjoy pushiing the limits on the road.

There's not many people you hear about riding naked bikes that get praised by sportsbike riders. I look up to that.

It's late and I'm not really sure where I'm going with this. I guess all I've got to say is it's a good read, but I don't see a clear message in it.

**beyond** · 1st December 2006, 07:27

Thanks Erik,

Some good comments. I did buy a naked at 48 years old cos I was an old bugger and I felt that the speed and limit thing would be well out of my system. Well, people are right. My mind is still very young and I've aged reasonably well but once you have the taste for power, speed and the thrill, it never leaves you. It is an awesome feeling running a big sports tourer to the edge but recently I leave a lot of room for other drivers errors and also because all of those that I ride with regularly have had a bin of some sort, two of them quite bad involving writeoffs.

The point of my story is to share my experiences and show that we aren't really invincible but some of us are extremely lucky or have a divinebeing looking out for us. Back in those days there were very little in the way of protective clothing and even helmets weren't compulsory for some time. Yet, we had some horrendous crashes and mostly walked away. BUT, the point is, every one of those incidents could have ended my life because of my stupidity and the feeling of invincibility many of us believe we have at younger ages.

I remember a friend at school riding a kawasaki Mach 3 500 who was riding at 50kmh without a helmet (legal then). He went to pull a wheelie, the chain snapped, wrapped around his leg, pulled him off his bike, head hit the curb and cracked his nut and three days later he was six feet under.

Even with all the right gear, some die at ridiculously low speeds and others wearing hardly anything survive 200kmh offs. Work that one out, it's real common.

In my experience, it's up to the individual to realise what is not a good move and what not to do if you want to live long and healthy. i.e. as in my escapades; don't overtake cars approaching an intersection, don't drink and ride, don't try and break records etc.

I will share more of my experiences over the next week or so and in each story, there will be points to be made, lessons to be learnt, but most of all a warning about our own mortality. It is a thin thread that keeps our mortal bodies in touch with this physical world.

**terbang** · 1st December 2006, 08:14

Originally Posted by erik

I'm not sure what the message is though. That you can do stupid stuff and get away with it?

I was wondering what makes you think he got away with it? He wrecked his bike twice and damn near killed his brother. Hardly getting away with it I reckon. The message as I see it is don't push your luck because it is not a matter of IF but more definatly WHEN you take a bin if you ride hard out all the time. I suspect, very much the reason Paul is sharing his experience, is in the hope that those that think they are getting away with it will take heed. What happens to you when you Bin, on the road at high speed, becomes pot luck ranging from a few bruises to a complete splatter. Believe me no matter what you are wearing won't make much difference if you hit something at high speed.
I am a similar vintage to Beyond and his recollections parallel many of my own. I have had a lifetime of the revhead affliction myself, riding motorbikes and flying jet aircraft. Its not that things were too much different then as they are now with regard to the allure of power and speed. Its just that he's been there for a while and has witnessed more of the consequences of our chosen pastime. Basicly its a hell of a lot easier to kill oneself riding a motorcycle than perhaps reading a good novel or watching TV. Be carefull the revhead stuff is like an addiction that needs to be managed with a lot of self control.