So you may or may not have known, I own(ed) an ‘09 Yamaha FZ6R, in black. It was hot… Like, real hot. I loved the bike, and I thought I was getting pretty good at riding it. The day before yesterday I was on an open 2-lane highway, almost zero traffic, taking turns fast and dragging my feet. It felt amazing. For the record, I had only owned this bike for a month now, and had never been riding in my life before I owned it… I was falling in love. Fast.
However, my fun ride didn’t last for long. At about 2:30 PM, traveling back the way I came down this highway, I took one turn too fast. It was good at first… I went from the outside of the lane, to the inside, then the turn got real sharp suddenly. On the way down the highway the other way I didn’t notice how sharp the turns started. In fact, the sharp beginnings of every turn down the road probably helped keep my speed in check. On the way back though, it caught me off guard. Just as I realized I wasn’t going to be able to keep it on the pavement, I panicked and squeezed my front brake.
Before I explain what happened after that, let me explain why it was wrong and what I should’ve done. In this scenario, where I knew I was going to have to go off the road, I should’ve instantly brought the bike up straight, eased off the throttle, and gently applied both my front and rear breaks as I went off the road into the gravel/grass. There was a fence just a ways off the road, but there was no ditch. I should’ve gone off intentially.
What did happen though is I squeezed my front brake hard out of fear… As it happened, I instantly thought, “Fuck. Dan, what did you just do?!” and my back tire slid right out and my bike was on the ground, sliding fast.
Now, at the speed I was going on the freeway (limit was 70mph) getting thrown off a bike in a turn is… Rough. Real rough… Like, unimaginably rough. It was, hands down, the most violent experience of my life. I felt like a little rag doll that just got picked up by a deranged little boy and slammed around into everything near me with an uncontrollable anger. I couldn’t tell what was happening.
Grass. Sky. Grass. Sky. Faster and faster. Harder and harder. I had no control.
Eventually, I stopped. First thing I hear after I become motionless is my bike’s horn sounding non-stop. I knew it was broken. Joe, my supervisor in the Air Force, was riding with me and just far enough behind to not actually see it happen. He quickly caught up and called an ambulance.
I laid there. The pain was intense. I thought I broke my knees. Foolishly enough, my legs were pretty much unprotected when I left. $200 helmet, $200 racing jacket, gloves, steel toe boots… and extremely thin jeans. –_- It was dumb to go with weak leg protection, and I had just found out why. But, my legs were not broken. I had horrific road rash (and I’ll go into that later), but the intense pain in my knees was just from them haven been slammed into the ground so much, so fast.
Between Joe making the call for an ambulance and them showing up, I realized my collar bone hurt… Badly. It eventually started hurting more then my legs did. Then the ambulance arrived. They were asking me questions, trying to asses what kind of condition I was in. I was actually very surprised at this point. Though I was in intense pain, the slight joking attitude Joe and the first responders had with me really helped me get through it. I even got Joe to snap a picture of me posing there on the ground, all jacked up from the crash… Am I crazy for worrying about someone getting a picture of me like that more then actually getting treated? Maybe, but it’s a sweet picture. :D
Shortening up the long treatment process that took about 24-hours to get me back out the hospital door (and still in pain), I gotta say: The worst part of the whole visit was having my road rash cleaned. Though I was on some morphine, them scrubbing my raw, aching legs, then getting in with a tool and sprays into the lacerations, was the worst pain I’ve experienced in my life. The nurse who treated me what nicest person I interacted with there by far, but she also put me through the most pain by far. >_<
But regardless, the whole hospital experience over with, x-rays, knee surgery, etc., I’m home now and taking meds every 4 hours. I’ve got gauze on both knees, and immobilizer on the left knee, and a sling I can wear at my own discretion for my right collar bone with you can see sticking out under the skin since the ligament that holds it in place is completely broken. Also, I have a small fracture in one of the wings of the vertebrae in my lower back but they didn’t give me a brace or anything since it’s not an actual spinal injury. It’ll just be uncomfortable for a while.
What’d I learn from this all? Well for one, I learned not to slam on my breaks mid-turn (I knew it, but know I know not to do it when I panic too xD). Also, I really learned that protective gear is everything. If it wasn’t for my gear, I could very well be dead… Did I mention that I took out a stop sign? Yeah, that would’ve been bad news if not for the helmet and thick, padded jacket.
Anyway, that’s my story for a day. I can’t wait to get back on a motorcycle, but it’s going to be quite a while. :(
For those of you interested, the pictures of the crash can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/midsof1/sets/72157619882530333/
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