Okay as some of you know already, I'm going to update the rest of the story for you guys and for the ones that don't know, I'm going to fill them in with last nights excursions.
Last night, one of our guys went down. He rides a black/silver 2001 gix 1k w/o the mids or lowers on it. His name is Rob. He is a very experienced rider that blacked out while riding on the highway (he was only going about 60 mph). He wasn't drinking, he wasn't on drugs. He blacked out. He had on his backprotector, jacket, helmet, gloves and boots. His jacket and helmet saved his life. Evidently, he and another one of our friends were on the way to meet up with us and while he on I-35 after merging from 69 highway, he lost control of the bike after blacking out. He was weaving off the highway and on a couple of times before he came into contact w/the guard rail that has the 75th street sign/exit only. There is black tire marks on the rail itself and on the shoulder in a skipping pattern before the bike finally came to rest on top of him. Some passerbys in a car and my other friend pulled the bike off of him. He was coherant at the scene, but his arm if fubar'd. he evidently hit the guard rail w/his right arm and it is severely severly broken. He went to surgery this morning (early) and is currently in the ICU at a local hospital (if you want to know where, give me or one of the others a call). He has a lot of surgeries ahead of him and he if not going to be riding anymore this year and quite probably next year as well. For those of you that know him, I can't say he is in good spirits, but he is being Rob for the most part. They are keeping him well medicated w/morphine so he is sleeping. He will probably be in ICU for a couple of days anyway before going out the floor, so I don't really know what is going to happen for him. I don't flowers is appropriate and truthfully, I am not sure about anything else.
One thing I would like from everyone, if you happen to know of anyone doing reconstructive surgery (of the bones) please send me a link or post it or get me that information somehow. I know Rob, he is going to want to ride again, I jsut don't know when that will a possiblity. I'm trying to get enough information together for him so if he needs it, he has some options available to him. He doesn't know I'm hunting for this, so if any information becomes available in that area, if you guys could just post it up or print it out or something, I thought I would hang on to it and get it to him when it is a bit more appropriate.
Really, I can't say there was anything that could've been to prevent this happening as there were no drugs/alcohol involved and speed wasn't a factor as the highway posted speed limit is 60 mph. I feel like shit this has happened and honestly, guys/gals, one of my biggest fears as a nurse (especially a trauma nurse) is potentially having to take care of one of my friends someday. It would've at least been alittle bit easier had there been some stupid shit going on, but there wasn't.
Anyway, thank you to everyone that helped out last night and came to the hospital for support:
Brian B, Chad, Eric, Rich, Keith, Jen, Chris, Nick S, Meghan. I told Rob who all was there, and he appreicated it. He did think it was humorous that we had basically taken over the hospital for a while there.
Incidently, the bike actually faired a lot better than Rob. The master cylinder is trashed as well as the clutch lever, the rear passenger peg on the clutch side, and I think the mirror on the brake side broke. Oh, the tab on the lower triple broke off as well. So, really, all in all, the bike came out pretty good. It won't take much to fix it. But that is project that will wait for another day.
Last night, one of our guys went down. He rides a black/silver 2001 gix 1k w/o the mids or lowers on it. His name is Rob. He is a very experienced rider that blacked out while riding on the highway (he was only going about 60 mph). He wasn't drinking, he wasn't on drugs. He blacked out. He had on his backprotector, jacket, helmet, gloves and boots. His jacket and helmet saved his life. Evidently, he and another one of our friends were on the way to meet up with us and while he on I-35 after merging from 69 highway, he lost control of the bike after blacking out. He was weaving off the highway and on a couple of times before he came into contact w/the guard rail that has the 75th street sign/exit only. There is black tire marks on the rail itself and on the shoulder in a skipping pattern before the bike finally came to rest on top of him. Some passerbys in a car and my other friend pulled the bike off of him. He was coherant at the scene, but his arm if fubar'd. he evidently hit the guard rail w/his right arm and it is severely severly broken. He went to surgery this morning (early) and is currently in the ICU at a local hospital (if you want to know where, give me or one of the others a call). He has a lot of surgeries ahead of him and he if not going to be riding anymore this year and quite probably next year as well. For those of you that know him, I can't say he is in good spirits, but he is being Rob for the most part. They are keeping him well medicated w/morphine so he is sleeping. He will probably be in ICU for a couple of days anyway before going out the floor, so I don't really know what is going to happen for him. I don't flowers is appropriate and truthfully, I am not sure about anything else.
One thing I would like from everyone, if you happen to know of anyone doing reconstructive surgery (of the bones) please send me a link or post it or get me that information somehow. I know Rob, he is going to want to ride again, I jsut don't know when that will a possiblity. I'm trying to get enough information together for him so if he needs it, he has some options available to him. He doesn't know I'm hunting for this, so if any information becomes available in that area, if you guys could just post it up or print it out or something, I thought I would hang on to it and get it to him when it is a bit more appropriate.
Really, I can't say there was anything that could've been to prevent this happening as there were no drugs/alcohol involved and speed wasn't a factor as the highway posted speed limit is 60 mph. I feel like shit this has happened and honestly, guys/gals, one of my biggest fears as a nurse (especially a trauma nurse) is potentially having to take care of one of my friends someday. It would've at least been alittle bit easier had there been some stupid shit going on, but there wasn't.
Anyway, thank you to everyone that helped out last night and came to the hospital for support:
Brian B, Chad, Eric, Rich, Keith, Jen, Chris, Nick S, Meghan. I told Rob who all was there, and he appreicated it. He did think it was humorous that we had basically taken over the hospital for a while there.
Incidently, the bike actually faired a lot better than Rob. The master cylinder is trashed as well as the clutch lever, the rear passenger peg on the clutch side, and I think the mirror on the brake side broke. Oh, the tab on the lower triple broke off as well. So, really, all in all, the bike came out pretty good. It won't take much to fix it. But that is project that will wait for another day.
