Big bike accident

[repiV]

Repiv, how comfortable are you in front of a computer? Do you have the bad leg raised on something?

Oh and post a picture, im interested in what your cast-thing looks like

I have it raised on pillows when I'm in bed or on the couch, when I'm sitting here I just have a couple of pillows on the ground to stop it being too painful. But it really hurts to sit at the PC at the moment which is why I don't do it for very long, I spend most of my time in bed.

Sadly I lost the USB connector for my phone and have absolutely no idea where it is, but it looks something like this - only smaller, mostly black and more tubular - cleaner and more efficient, if you will. Still has the screws sticking out though - four of them.

Glad you're still in one piece mate, that's a close one.

Cheers matey. It's good to be in one piece, I just can't wait to have my life back. I feel like a hermit.

You can still use your hands, right? Want to get some COH in, to pass the time? I'm horrible now, I haven't played online in like six months.

My upper body's fine, but it hurts too damn much to play games. Appreciate the offer though, I'll take you up on it when I'm feeling better. Hopefully the pain should have subsided significantly within a week or so.

Sorry to hear your story. I don't know you, but I hope you're feeling better soon!

Take care dude. Good to see that you can play TF2 though

Glad to see theres no permantant damage. Be more careful next time, you little whore you.

HURRAY FOR REP BEING OK!

:cheers:

Fuck me. Good thing you're alive.

Thanks guys. BTW, I'm a big whore.

Can I have your foot if you actually ever do lose it?

Hey, just because guys with big feet have big...shoes...doesn't mean that if you take my feet you'll have...big shoes...too. Correlation, not causation!

 

[Krynn72]

A highly ignorant comment to make, as without knowing the stretch of road and bend in question you cannot possibly comment on an appropriate speed for it. There are plenty of bends that can be taken at 150 leaving a much higher margin for error than I left on that bend.
Also, I didn't run off the road, the rear tyre ran out of grip. There's a big difference.

Lol, whoops. I thought you originally said you were going around a turn (ie, something like a 90 degree angle) but you said a bend, which is rather different. Sorry for that.

Prick.

I lol'd


Also, damn, that think looks like it would suck to wear.

 

[repiV]

well insurance doesnt usually cover everything, and then there's always being at the whim of the insurance company interms of what procedures they'll cover, what percentage they'll cover, what doctor will see you ect ..not too long ago i another forum an american was lamenting the fact that he had to pay just over $4000 for a hospital stay for an appendix removal even though he was insured ..$4000 out of pocket cost for something that is completely routine


anyways, i really dont want to turn this into a healthcare debate ..

Well yeah, I think we can agree that all healthcare provision sucks in one way or another.

stay off your feet, try not to wig out on the meds and stay off the bike for awhile

Don't have much choice really, but thanks anyway.
I really wish they could prescribe me a canister of laughing gas. That stuff turns pain into pleasure...I could just knock myself out on it all day long. Beautiful, beautiful...

 

[CptStern]

smoke a few doobies and you'll be giggling like a school girl ..but doesnt do much for pain


heh funny topic cuz my human resources rep just came to my desk and gave me my new health insurance card (covers dental and drug plan) ..out of pocket cost is usually a few percentage points of total cost ..had 4 old fillings redrilled and refilled recently cost me $17

 

[repiV]

Lol, whoops. I thought you originally said you were going around a turn (ie, something like a 90 degree angle) but you said a bend, which is rather different. Sorry for that.

Ah no probs. It's a fairly sharp bend, but nothing like 90 degrees. I would estimate it probably takes around 3 seconds to clear the bend at 60mph.

I lol'd

You're a strange person.

Also, damn, that think looks like it would suck to wear.

Yeah, it's heavy and uncomfortable. I can feel it putting pressure on/in my leg constantly, and because one of the screws is in my ankle joint which I broke too, it moves around inside. Gross. Still, it's coming out in 6 to 8 weeks, thank god.

 

[repiV]

smoke a few doobies and you'll be giggling like a school girl ..but doesnt do much for pain

Not a bad idea actually...if only I could get hold of some.

heh funny topic cuz my human resources rep just came to my desk and gave me my new health insurance card (covers dental and drug plan) ..out of pocket cost is usually a few percentage points of total cost ..had 4 old fillings redrilled and refilled recently cost me $17

Like an excess huh...there's always a catch...

 

[CptStern]

Not a bad idea actually...if only I could get hold of some.

I'll email you one

 

[repiV]

I'll email you one

Thanks, hopefully I can get e-high.

Gonna go crawl back into bed now...

 

[Druckles]

Well really all I can do is jump - on one leg.

Does that not breach the warranty?

 

[Bad^Hat]

Oh shit. Thought you were talking about someone else, so I tl;dr'd it earlier D:

Good to hear you're alive and getting better, man. As for showers and stuff (sorry if someone's already suggested this), wouldn't a resident nurse come out and help you with that?

 

[Dekstar]

Damnit Rep! Glad you didn't die, and hope you recover fast!

Also you should ebay your cast, and pretend it's from a celebrity.

 

[Pulse]

Please, please, please consider getting a car. Even if you're dead set against the expense; <cheese> you can't put a price on your own safety! </cheese>

Good to hear you're recovering though.

 

[Druckles]

Yeah, that's a good idea! Lets go from riding ontop of a missle to riding inside one! Woot!

 

[kirovman]

Ow that sucks.

Take more care in the future! It's ok to enjoy life, but don't enjoy yourself to death. It's only marginally better than boring yourself to death, ultimately.

 

[repiV]

Does that not breach the warranty?

Hey, it's my leg, my warranty.

Oh shit. Thought you were talking about someone else, so I tl;dr'd it earlier D:

Good to hear you're alive and getting better, man. As for showers and stuff (sorry if someone's already suggested this), wouldn't a resident nurse come out and help you with that?

Thanks.
I get no help whatsoever as the disability is only temporary, it's ridiculous. Having said that, I had to make a trip to A+E lastnight to check out the numbness in my heel (nerve damage apparently, feeling should come back in the months/years ahead) so I managed to have a shower. A bit precarious, the main problem is that the crutches slide on a wet surface. Managed to hop over to a safe spot to sit down and dry my feet before walking, it can be done but it's a little dangerous.

Damnit Rep! Glad you didn't die, and hope you recover fast!

Also you should ebay your cast, and pretend it's from a celebrity.

Thanks matey. I could say it was Harrison Ford's cast - my first name being Harrison, everyone who meets me calls me "Harrison Ford" at least once and thinks they're being smart and original...

Please, please, please consider getting a car. Even if you're dead set against the expense; <cheese> you can't put a price on your own safety! </cheese>

Good to hear you're recovering though.

It's in the blood, man...bikes are my life. I miss riding almost as much as I miss having a life. If I end up in this situation again in the next few years then maybe it is time to re-examine whether I belong on a bike, but I'm seriously going to reel it in and take some more advanced training to try and ensure this never happens again.

Ow that sucks.

Take more care in the future! It's ok to enjoy life, but don't enjoy yourself to death. It's only marginally better than boring yourself to death, ultimately.

Wise words. No adrenaline rush is worth six months of pain, poverty and isolation.
I really wanted to get into racing before this happened, but realising that by nature the sport involves being in and out of hospital with injuries like this on a regular basis, it's just not worth it.

 

[Shippi]

.

 

[Bad^Hat]

I get no help whatsoever as the disability is only temporary, it's ridiculous. Having said that, I had to make a trip to A+E lastnight to check out the numbness in my heel (nerve damage apparently, feeling should come back in the months/years ahead) so I managed to have a shower. A bit precarious, the main problem is that the crutches slide on a wet surface. Managed to hop over to a safe spot to sit down and dry my feet before walking, it can be done but it's a little dangerous.

Wow, that sucks. Are baths any easier?

Take it easy, man.

 

[Mr-Fusion]

I have a friend who has paralysed the left side of his body through a motorcycle accident. He hasn't had the arm and leg amputated in the hope medical research advances quick enough to bring back movement.

I don't know anyone who has owned a motorcycle and not had a serious accident.

I won't make a comment on the sanity of people who choose to ride such dangerous things. It's your choice to kill yourself or injure yourself in whatever way you like.

 

[Druckles]

I won't make a comment on the sanity of people who choose to ride such dangerous things. It's your choice to kill yourself or injure yourself in whatever way you like.

The first sentence was really quite pointless

 

[repiV]

Jeez, good to know you're alright. Sounds like you definitely got off lightly there.

I would absolutely love to ride, but I know I'd end up killing myself. It's probably not worth that

Depends on you, really - why do you think so? If that's your fear, you might want to try a year on a learner-legal machine and see how you go...

Wow, that sucks. Are baths any easier?

Take it easy, man.

We don't have a bath in the house. Although I imagine getting in and out of the bath would be an absolute nightmare as it would be so slippery.
Fortunately we have a seat in the shower due to other disabilities within the family, which makes things a lot easier.

I have a friend who has paralysed the left side of his body through a motorcycle accident. He hasn't had the arm and leg amputated in the hope medical research advances quick enough to bring back movement.

I don't know anyone who has owned a motorcycle and not had a serious accident.

I won't make a comment on the sanity of people who choose to ride such dangerous things. It's your choice to kill yourself or injure yourself in whatever way you like.

Motorcycles aren't dangerous - they're inanimate objects. If you want to examine the facts behind the apparent danger behind bikes, then consider that they require a far higher degree of skill to operate than a four wheeled vehicle yet require little more training - in some countries they actually require less. In much of the USA I think you can get a full license just by passing a written test.
Also consider that most people hardly acquire any meaningful experience on a bike because they ride it very occassionally (I put more miles on my bike in the last few months than most riders will rack up in a lifetime), that conventional motorcycle training does not teach riders how to actually steer the bike, most riders are not equipped with any real understanding of motorcycle physics and, outside the UK, nobody seems to give a shit about wearing protective gear.
What was your friend wearing? If I had been wearing jeans and trainers, I certainly would have broken my right leg aswell, I would have broken both my ankles, destroyed at least my left foot into mush and would have had to have my left leg amputated below the knee. Because I was wearing high quality leather trousers and boots, instead I broke my left leg and grazed/bruised my right leg with some nerve damage that will heal.
Part of the problem also lies with the fact that the average moron who drives a car has virtually no road awareness due to being lulled into a false sense of security by their metal cage, their airbags, their seatbelts, their stereo and their satnav and is both ignorant and unaware of the capabilities of two-wheeled vehicles and just how differently they operate on the road. 73% of bike accidents happen because a car driver looked but did not see - the danger here is idiots in cars, not motorbikes.
And then you have the experienced rider single vehicle accident, which happens because a) the kind of people who have these accidents like to push their machines to the limits for a thrill, and are much less risk-averse than the average person and b) overconfidence and overfamiliarity can lull a good rider into pushing it too far.
Thus why I broke my leg - I had the bike leaned over past the limits of grip for that particular road surface, and my overconfidence in doing the exact same thing on the exact same bend time and time again blinded me to the fact that, in October, there are LEAVES all over the road which reduce the available grip. Someone with a more sensible temprament would never have an accident like that, because they would never try and test the limits of their machine - and therein lies another key behind the statistics. The type of people who ride motorcycles are very different from those who drive cars - they're more likely to be involved in a single vehicle accident whatever vehicle they're in control of.
Fighter jets have much more risk attached to them as a machine than motorcycles, but they are hardly ever involved in accidents - because the pilots are selected from an elite and then trained to the limit for years. You can jump on a GSXR-1000 after a 5 day course and a 30 minute test.

 

[JNightshade]

Good lord man, it's a lucky thing you're alive! D:

 

[Raziaar]

Like many things in life, it's not the object or action in question that is likely to kill you, it's the people around you that are going to be the ones who get you killed. Bicycling, Motorcycling, Motoring... walking...

Of course motorcycles have that limited capacity of only two wheels, and therefore you're much more likely to die in one of them if you lose control than in a four wheeled vehicle. You can recover a four-wheeled vehicle, but you cannot recover a motorcycle after it's reached a certain point.

 

[Evo]

Wow, good to hear that everything is healable repiV

Hope you can get back to doing what you love (riding) when you are fit and able (but watch out for the leaves!)

 

[Druckles]

73% of bike accidents happen because a car driver looked but did not see - the danger here is idiots in cars, not motorbikes.

Puts me in mind of that advert "think bike" or something.

 

[repiV]

Good lord man, it's a lucky thing you're alive! D:

Sure is.

Like many things in life, it's not the object or action in question that is likely to kill you, it's the people around you that are going to be the ones who get you killed. Bicycling, Motorcycling, Motoring... walking...

Of course motorcycles have that limited capacity of only two wheels, and therefore you're much more likely to die in one of them if you lose control than in a four wheeled vehicle. You can recover a four-wheeled vehicle, but you cannot recover a motorcycle after it's reached a certain point.

To be fair, you can recover a motorcycle more than you would think. It's just a lot scarier when a tyre steps out on a motorbike than it is in a car, and requires a lot more nerve to deal with. I've had loads of rear wheel slides, some enough to lift me off the seat and at high lean angles, but the vast majority of the time the tyre regrips by itself - the key is not to do anything. Rider interference generally causes a slide to become an accident - tensing up on the bars, touching the brakes - both natural survival reactions that are also the worst things you could possibly do, and they will have you off in the event of a slide. Keep gently rolling on the throttle to shift the weight towards the rear of the bike and the slide will normally self-correct.
This time, the tyre just let go without warning and that was that. But I've had dozens of similar incidents that didn't end in disaster - entirely natural in wet weather. Even a gentle application of the brakes can have the rear wheel snaking around in the wet.
But yes, a slide is a lot more serious on a bike than in a car. And it can be very scary too. And if the tyre lets go of the tarmac, you're going down. In my case the steep lean angle meant that when I came off the bike the physics involved basically made me fall sideways, so all the inertia threw me straight at the tree. I didn't merely slide towards it...very violent crash.
It's also an interesting illustration of one of the major truisms of motorcycling - the body's survival instincts are the biggest killers of all.

Wow, good to hear that everything is healable repiV

Hope you can get back to doing what you love (riding) when you are fit and able (but watch out for the leaves!)

Thanks matey. I'm feeling a lot more positive lately, I was really miserable when I first came home but I can lead a normal enough life around the house at least, I've found out who my real friends are, I've suddenly become a hero of the ladies and I'm becoming much closer to a woman I haven't known long but whom I adore, who I thought was a lost cause. She sent me a handwritten letter.
It's also another "been there, done that" experience that I have under my belt, and I appreciate life a lot more than I used to. There are many positive things about this accident, once you get past the boredom, loneliness and financial ruin...

Puts me in mind of that advert "think bike" or something.

Yeah. They're excellent adverts, those. Sadly they've all but been replaced with "speed kills" propaganda now.

 

[Kula Meenur]

Sounds like you low sided it pretty bad, thank christ you were only going 60. Hurts like a mad **** when you come off ay, ****ing scary with traffic though. As long as you get back on and you've got all you're fingers she'll be right mate ay?

Got out of hospital on Monday night...

Broken left leg, dislocated left hip and ankle - skin damage to my right leg and elbow but nothing major. My right shin is still numb to the touch, though.

How long did you slide for to get through your leathers, **** that must have hurt! Do your leathers have armour? I ride with a Dri-rider Nordic pro and it seems to me that it would stop most of the cut-away friction.

Good to know you're ok and in one piece mate, get back on!

 

[Druckles]

Yeah. They're excellent adverts, those. Sadly they've all but been replaced with "speed kills" propaganda now.

There's still that one with the whole

"When do you see him, here, here or... here?"

Most freaky driving advert I've seen is the one in the pub. The drinking one. And then there's the other one with the old guy and the girl in the car and he's telling her he doesn't love her and they crash and die and it's so depressing... *breath*

 

[repiV]

Sounds like you low sided it pretty bad, thank christ you were only going 60. Hurts like a mad **** when you come off ay, ****ing scary with traffic though. As long as you get back on and you've got all you're fingers she'll be right mate ay?

Yep. I've never felt pain like that in all my life.
Coming off is such a lottery. I highsided at 40mph a few months ago and sustained no injuries whatsoever. In much lower quality riding kit.
The bike took a ****load of damage as it slammed into the kerb and tumbled over itself, but fortunately it was an insurance bike (some guy knocked my own bike over while it was parked, and was nice enough to leave his details). After straightening out the handlebar somewhat from the vertical position it had twisted into, I tried to ride it home after the spill but the bike didn't want to travel in a straight line even.

How long did you slide for to get through your leathers, **** that must have hurt! Do your leathers have armour? I ride with a Dri-rider Nordic pro and it seems to me that it would stop most of the cut-away friction.

I don't recall sliding at all - coming off was extremely disorientating and I'm not sure exactly what happened except that I hit the tree with my leg. I'm pretty sure I tumbled through the air and then stopped dead upon impact with the tree, though. There wasn't really much room to slide either - the distance between myself and the tree when the tyre spun out would have been maybe a few feet.
I was wearing Alpinestars 2-piece race leathers, but they weren't worn through. They didn't actually sustain that much damage, if they hadn't cut them off me in the ambulance I would definitely wear them again. Worst thing is they were only a month old!
The lower leg armour is very tough, and goes all the way from above the knee to the bottom of the ankle - covering the front of the leg. I don't even want to think about what would have happened to my legs without it - I'm reluctant to wear my textiles in future now...
Not sure how I managed to pick up all that skin damage through the leathers, but on the broken leg, I've even got a number of stitches around my ankle to hold together wounds. And that got through leather, armour and race boots. It's very strange - but then, it was one hell of an impact.

Good to know you're ok and in one piece mate, get back on!

I'm itching to.
So what do you ride?

There's still that one with the whole

"When do you see him, here, here or... here?"

Do you mean the "now you see him, now you don't?" one?

Most freaky driving advert I've seen is the one in the pub. The drinking one. And then there's the other one with the old guy and the girl in the car and he's telling her he doesn't love her and they crash and die and it's so depressing... *breath*

Not seen that one.

 

[Druckles]

Yeah, only seen that once. For some reason I associate it with Smirnoff. Don't know why.

And no, I mean the one where the guy's at a junction, he looks right, then left and goes. And a bike smashes into him. And the commentary goes something like "Where would you see him" and then closes up on him as he hits the car, goes back a bit and then back further.

Edit: I found it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXI8-_9FrB4

The wonders of YouTube

 

[Kadayi]

Can you game ok? Or is that off the agenda for now?

 

[repiV]

Yeah, only seen that once. For some reason I associate it with Smirnoff. Don't know why.

It's your drink-driving beverage of choice?

And no, I mean the one where the guy's at a junction, he looks right, then left and goes. And a bike smashes into him. And the commentary goes something like "Where would you see him" and then closes up on him as he hits the car, goes back a bit and then back further.

Edit: I found it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXI8-_9FrB4

The wonders of YouTube

Oh right. Not seen that one, but it's good. I can't find the one I was referring to.

Can you game ok? Or is that off the agenda for now?

Yeah I can, but much as I try I just can't get interested in games anymore.