Accident - Rimutaka 8th March

[ed-r6]

Well it was a month ago to the day that I had my accident and I just wanted to say a huge thanks to all who stopped to help, hope some of you are reading.

It was Sunday 8th March, had been out for a ride with a few others, had a brilliant day, beautiful weather, countryside etc. Just on the way back to Wellington coming over the Rimutakas, approaching the last corner before the summit on the Martinborough side, I saw what appeared to be gravel or loose debris on the road and ended up overcompensating for this by not leaning into the corner as much as I usually would, this had the knock on effect of pushing me wide on exit which is where I came off. By this point I'd slowed the bike up a fair amount but I skidded along for a bit and the bike came to rest on my left ankle. I tried to push the bike off but honestly you don't stand a chance

Thankfully another biker pulled over and set about getting the bike off my leg, it was at this point that I realised my foot was pointing the wrong way but thanks to a healthy dose of addrenaline it didn't feel too bad, just numb. He then helped take my helmet off and straighten out my leg, generally making me as comfortable as possible. By this time there were two or 3 others offering help and making sure I was ok, a woman came and sat with me and kept me talking which was a welcome relief to the gradual onset of pain. People were running up the hill trying to get a phone signal to call the ambulance.

The ambulance turned up after about 45 minutes which wasn't a bad time considering where I was. I've had a pin and some screws put in the align the bones and a month on everything feels pretty good. Looking forward to getting back out there, I've been riding for 5 years and not so much as dropped a bike before so I'm not going to let this put me off. Luckily a couple of friends who i was out with that day (we were heading home separately hence they weren't with me when I first came off) saw what had happened and arranged for my bike to be picked up. I've not seen it since as it's being stored about 30ks away but apparently it's just a bit scratched up, no real damage so hopefully won't need too much cash throwing at it.

Anyway, the point of this post is purely to say a big thanks to everyone who helped me out that day, it really is much appreciated. I wish I had have taken a few numbers to thank people personally but my mind was on other things at the time

Cheers

Ed

[Nasty]

Thanks for posting ed ... good to see you are well on the way to healing .. .well done to those who stopped to help.

[RocKai]

I had a similar off as you did too, only smaller damage. And I'm so grateful for people who stop and helped me up. Bling to ya'll. :

[Stromble]

I too had a very similar off a year ago, first time I went out in jeans and training shoes (and the last) I mainly had skin damage to the leg, but fortunately no broken bones..

Out of curiosity considering the damage to your foot/ankle, what gear did you have on, and were you wearing decent boots?

[ital916]

Did the bike twist your riding boot around 180 degrees, id be looking at why a motorcycle boot failed in such a drastic manner, mind you when a 180 kg bike decided to land on your foot I guess some plastic isnt going to do shit lol.

Im glad your alright, heal up well bud.

[ed-r6]

Yeah I spent a lot of time thinking about my boots while I was in hospital but in retrospect I don't think it would have made much difference, this is what I was wearing:

http://www.webbikeworld.com/r3/revit...sion-boots.htm

They're more touring boots than anything I guess, they do have ankle protection but it's pretty minimal. Unfortunately when I bought them I'd left it until the last minute the day before a 3 day ride and I needed a set of boots, my first choice were semi-sport boots but they didn't have my size so these were the fall back option.

The break itself was caused by twisting so can't really blame the boot, my next pair will have full ankle protection though! Unfortunately there's always that trade-off between comfort and protection.

The rest of my gear held up well but then I wasn't sliding along the road for long, no scratches or bruises anywhere other than my leg though. It's all rev-it textile stuff, the pants and and left boot had to be cut off though.

[driftn]

Hope you heal up mate. I too have some nice kitt in my left ankle (see avatar for pic). been off work since 12 january and still cant go back due to the phsyical stuff I do just do what ever you can to keep your leg moving mate because you dont want to get a blood clot in it, I got one of those and it hurt more than breaking the leg it self.

[ed-r6]

Cheers driftn, sorry to hear you've had a hard time of it. How long was it before you could walk on it? Looking at you're x-ray, my break is just about at the top of your metal plate, it broke both the tibia and fibula. I've got a pin and 4 screws holding everything in place, did have a cast but they took it off after the first week, apparently the metalwork is sufficent, leg feels a bit vulnerable though! I'm hoping that as it's a clean break not too close to the joint that it'll heal quickly.

I was worried about clots too, my ankle is pretty swollen and for the first 3 weeks my foot was totally numb so I was thinking that blood wasn't getting through properly but it's all gone down now and I've got full feeling back. I reckon I could start to put weight on it soonish but i'm not gonna push it as I've got the follow-up appointment with the hospital at the end of the month. I've heard horror stories of people trying to walk too soon and moving the pins around meaning that they need another operation and longer recovery time! I think I'll just wait

[driftn]

Only been walking on it with out crutches for maybe 3 weeks. Still dont have full movement in it yet. and a gammy limp. Be 4 months on sunday since the crash. I have also done both bones in my right ankle when I was younger, fib and tib. Was a clean break and they put me in a half cast just up to the knee but they later realised that when I moved my knee the broken bones would grind together. That hurt like hell so they put me in cast up to my hip. also had a broken arm at the same time (different accident 2 weeks earlyer) so they chucked me in a wheel chair. That was a nice fun 6 weeks.

[ed-r6]

Ain't life a bitch sometimes? As if broken arm wasn't bad enough but to go and do your leg too, that's harsh. Don't suppose it's too easy to drive a wheelchair with one arm either.

I'm hoping my recovery will be a bit quicker than yours, leg feels good so far but we'll see. Can't wait to see the bike and go for a ride asap, even if the weather's shit i'll head out for a blast if only to get my confidence back.