Quote:
Originally Posted by ped
...and ive done that many times, it gets worse every time.
|
2 and a half years ago, i highsided at the track, exiting a ~115mph corner onto the back straight at thunderhill raceway in willows, CA... i was unhurt aside from a small bruise on my arse, and another on my left elbow...
3 months ago, i highsided on the street (yes, i know, only RETARDS highside on the street). i was doing about 75 through a right hand kink, already knee down, passing a buddy on the outside... lil too much go-juice and the rear stepped out good to the left...
i tried to recover; more pressure on the outside peg, hang upper body off the bike more while standing the bike up and maintaining neutral throttle... then it hooked anyways...jumped the rear all the way out to the right, so i was at full opposite lock trying to save it...
i knew it was gonna be a rough ride... i clenched onto the bars tight, got back on the seat as far as i could, yanked back on the bars and slapped the throttle, hoping to wheelie out of it... no dice.
pull the pins and eject.
my feet were straight up in the air. my head was straight down...i looked "up" at my bike below me and saw that i was about 3 or 4 feet above the triple clamps as my bike was beginning it's barrell roll. i twist my neck as far as i can to see in front of me; where i was going to land... "fuck yeah!!" i thought to myself, "i'm gonna land in the middle of the road!" (as there was a ~800ft sheer drop to my left).
while mid flight, i thought about all kindsa things... some of which was "i can't fucking believe i just hucked it away again...man, everyone is gonna be pissed...i hope i don't get hurt... i think i got this... tuck and roll, perfect!"
i tucked and i rolled and it was indeed perfect....right until the time i turn my head to look to the right at my buddy of whom i just passed... there was no buddy...instead, there was my bike, carthweeling right at me.
it landed on my right hand, spearing me in the back at the same time. the tail section virtually stabbing me just above my right kidney. things got a little bit fuzzy for a second as the pain IMMEDIATELY siezed my mind and both the bike and i cartwheel 2 or 3 times while i scream out a long string of blasphemies about how much my hand hurt...
as fast as the tumbling hard started, it stopped. i hadn't stopped moving yet though...the bike was on top of me, in a sort of 69 position, with the reat tire on my chest and the frame and motor on my right leg...i was still sliding with a ~450lbs bike surfing me. the slide couldn't have been more than 15 or 20ft, but it was long enough to burn holes through the back of my leather road racing suit and even thru my back protector.
fucking hell, my hand hurt so bad...and my back..and my ribs....and my right leg...i was in so much pain that i couldn't yet even feel the blood dripping from my back from a dinner plate sized patch of road rash...of the blood from my right elbow where bone had peirced through somehow.
it was so hot, too. i felt like i was dying from heat exhaustion before i even had time to take a breath. the bike was hot. the ground was hot. i was pinned under it and wanted nothing more than to get out of my leathers and into the shade. i heaved at my bike with everything i had....nothing. i barely budged it. i'm a big dude, and i've thrown bikes off a me and other people many times before... it angered me that i was stuck under the bike and i was hurting so bad and i was so hot... i bit my lip and gave it all i had once more, with just my left arm, and threw the bike offa me from the rear wheel. god, everything hurt so fucking bad...
i sorta half rolled over, bearing my load on my right hand and right knee and crawled, dragging the forehead of my helmet as a third support in a tripod sort of fashion, gnashing my teeth, moaning, nearly crying, and yelling in agony. i knew then that i was fucked up, but i was determined to get to shade, only another 15 or so feet away.
i could go on with the story about how i was ambulanced to the helecopter and took a 30 minute ride off the mountian via chopper to a level 1 trauma unit where i was xrayed up the whazoo and CAT scanned and the whole 9 yards revealing a fractured vertibrae, 3 broken ribs blah blah blah...
but i won't... i just kinda wanted to toss it out there that you don't always have to go fast...you don't always have to push the limits... it's time to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.
i'm not the fastest dude around, but i ain't the slowest. this was a really humbling experience for me. life changing, to say the least. as i lay there against the canyon wall, all i could think about was my girlfriend and my son... how close they came to not having me anymore because of 1 fraction of a second of idiocy on my part.
i don't cry in pain. i haven't cried in pain since i was a kid. while i was strapped to that backboard, helpless and immobilized while doctors and nurses poked and prodded me, i cried. i don't know if it was the pain, or if it was the thought about how close i came to being no more....but i cried.
Almost high side vid
Sleepleesta
Linear Mode
