Snoopster said:
Scratch: So Arkansas claims another victim.
Glad to hear that you are okay but sorry about the bike. I hope the knee is not giving you too much trouble. I'm sure we will hear your story when you are ready to tell it.
Thanks Deb. Simply put, I'm the victim of my own ineptitude, and that's all there is to it.
STrider said:
For those who don't know or haven't had the opportunity to ride with him, Scratch is a top-notch rider and friend.
I appreciate the compliments Matt, but I'm not nearly as a good a rider as I
thought I was.
_________________
First off, many thanks to Stuart and Kent – they sacrificed the remainder of their ride to haul me and what was left of my bike back to the motel – I owe you guys big time! I need to thank John and Gary too for staying with me while waiting for the truck and trailer to arrive. You didn’t have to do that, but it sure helped keep my spirits up during the interval.
My apologies to the rest of the group for creating a little more drama than anybody needed. Faisal and Stuart were healed over in the turn right behind me, but were able to avoid being distracted by my antics and got around me safely. It was such a relief to know that I didn’t take anyone else down. Anyway, you were all great and I thank you for showing so much concern (and tolerance) for me after I fell.
Here’s the long explanation from my perspective:
I had successfully negotiated a number of similar turns just before that one and felt like I was in a pretty good groove. A momentary lapse of attention at the turn-in point of this left-hander put me way off at the outside edge of the pavement. My first thought was “Where the heck did the road go?!” I kept trying to lean it over a little more to get back on some clean surface but I kept looking at the edge of the road, so target fixation had something to do with it I’m sure. It dawned on me that this was do-or-die time, so I leaned over for all it was worth to try to save the situation, but I had run out of second chances. The bike went into a pretty hard wobble as one (or both) tires came loose. I recall falling in a hard low-side, then the bike was gone in a flash and I was tumbling like a rag-doll for what seemed like forever. Just when I thought it was all over,
WHAM! there was one more hard flip before coming to rest flat on my back down in the brush at the bottom of the embankment. I’ve heard other people describe the sensation of getting off a motorcycle at speed as feeling like someone is beating you all over with a 2’ x 4’. Well, I can now confirm that! My previous serious fall was at @ 20-30 mph and didn’t seem to be nearly as violent.
My mind was in a fog for a few moments and I took a couple of deep breaths. Hmm. No pain in the chest. I was dimly aware that was confirmation there were no broken ribs. Next, I checked my arms and legs to see what other damage I had sustained. The hands felt a little numb but flexed O.K. and my arms and shoulders seemed to be in working order. A burning sensation in my left knee got my attention so I slowly moved it back and forth to test it out. It was pretty sore, but not so bad that I thought anything was too seriously wrong. About that time Stuart and some of the other guys came down to provide aid. After evaluating my condition and giving me a moment to collect myself they helped me to my feet. Looking around, I saw the bike laying a couple of yards away where it had to come to rest after taking out a small tree. Everybody pitched in to pull it up to the road where we could take a look at the damage. The fairing, gauge cluster and headlights were destroyed; so it probably hit the tree more-or-less straight-on. The shift lever and linkage was broken, the left foot peg was twisted around and the passenger peg bracket had snapped off on that side, and there were lots of scrapes on the left engine case and the belly pan just beneath it. The right side of the bike had almost no damage at all, and the tank, seat, seat-cowling and muffler were in pretty good shape. The tank bag was still attached and undamaged except for being a little dusty. The front wheel and fender look fine and what really surprised me is that the brake and clutch levers appear to be virtually undamaged - they almost always bend and snap in a simple tip-over, but nothing happens to them when the bike goes down at 65 - 70 mph?
I’m certain that my riding gear saved me from some serious abrasions and impact injuries – the visor popped off my helmet, but otherwise it did its job perfectly. Still, it’ll have to be replaced. My left glove was torn open at the little finger and the leather was nearly worn through at the palm but it held together well enough so that I only got a very superficial scrape on my pinky finger. There’s some swelling on the back of the hand from flopping around and it’s still somewhat sore, but I can grasp and carry objects with little difficulty. The pants wore through the top layer of leather at the knee and popped a seam, but the inner layer of leather remained intact. I didn’t have knee armor in place, but these particular pants have ¼” thick foam padding sandwiched between the leather there and that helped absorb some of the impact. Other than a small amount of slide-burn on the kneecap and some slight swelling and stiffness, it’s doing pretty good. Tested it fully bent today, and there’s no serious lingering pain after doing so. Normal walking and stair climbing doesn’t present any problems, but I may have it checked out by my doctor just to be sure everything is good to go. My jacket was undamaged except for a very small tear on one arm where it snagged a tree branch, but that can be repaired. The left boot almost wore through at the big toe but doesn’t show any other damage and the feet and ankles are fine. Otherwise, I’ve got a little stiffness in my neck and shoulders. There were lots of other places along the route that didn’t have soft dirt and small brush to fall into, so things could have been much worse. Dumb luck was obviously a factor here.
Lesson learned? Pay close attention at all times and leave yourself plenty of margin to recover if you miscalculate. I just got sloppy…
So, other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln? Well, the riding was great up to that point. Besides a light sprinkle on Saturday, the weather was cooperative and not too hot. It was a nice break from what we’ve been having to deal with down here in Texas lately. Scott’s routes were spectacular as always. We enjoyed some great meals at the local restaurants there in Eureka Springs and I celebrated the evening after my little get-off with a couple of mugs of this tasty ale –
It seemed appropriate.