Today ended in a nightmare... 5 of us all mates met up and scooted off into Wales (UK)... 1 hasn't returned and is currently in hospital... he came off on a bend, thrown around 40+ metres bouncing at some points across cement and then luckily landing on soft ground in the end, Ducatti 916 smashed to bits... shook us all up badly... in mid Wales and none of us had signal... luckily one of the lads knows the area inside out... ragged off, called 999 and ambulance came... looks like multiple broken bones, bruising on the brain, bruises everywhere... luck lucky lucky... if I can say that about someone who wasn't moving for minutes... and was out cold... this is a guy with 20+ years of riding fast, slow, safe blah blah blah... he's a good rider by all accounts and he made a silly decision that nearly cost him his life.

When you see something happen and someone disappear into a cloud of grey smoke... it's messing with my head even now some 6 hours after it happened... stomachs in bits tonight :-(

Luckily, he'd bought a new lid, wears a one piece leather and I'll be honest, I think it's saved him... he was metres from hitting solid metal posts...

Its' days like this that I think... is this worth it? Right now, I'm not sure it is Time for some Jack Daniels to calm down.

 

Wow sorry to hear about the event. Last week I sat behind someone that t-boned a car. I parked the bike for a few days. -best wishes

 

best wishes to him....and you and your friends. It does rattle the cage a bit. Unfortunately, riding maturity can come at the expense to another. Be safe.

 

Best wishes for a speedy recovery for your mate.

Hope the Jack Daniels helped

Just remember though, it was his decision to do whatever he did that caused the 'off' - not yours. You returned home, he got a trip to the hospital.

Ride with your head, not your heart and be safe. Think all the time "what if, there's a car on the wrong side of the road??" "what if the corner tightens more halfway round?" What if?

It's kept me alert and alive for 36 years on a bike and I still manage a few fast fangs.

Cheers, SB

 

Just as an update, we have a list of the injuries... of which I think he's gotten off lightly big-time...

• Bruising on the brain, but not serious enough to move to Walton so that's good
• Broken Collar bone
• Broken ribs
• Broken left hand
• Small punctured lung
• Hole in his left knee (not sure what's caused this)
• Covered in bruises head to toe obviously.

So, basically, I think he's lucky he's alive and I'm praying that he realise this and watches what he does in the future. Basically they're watching him but nothing life threatening or anything like that. Thing is, when you run up-to someone on the floor out cold, not moving for minutes and then when they do the breathing is like Darth Vader... it seriously stays on your mind... I thought he was toast, really did. I'm gonna go and polish and clean the bike and try and just forget about it now. Cheers for the thoughts by the way.

 

I feel your anguish Pug, I really do.

Cleaning your bike will be carthartic - and perhaps a glass of Daniels before bed!

It sounds as if your buddy will pull through fine - and this eventually will become just one of those stories told when bench racing. But no matter what, remember what happened that caused him to crash - and learn from it!

Take care of yourself - and your riding mate.

Cheers, SB

 

Wow.. That would shake anybody! Best wishes for a speedy recovery to your buddy.

 

I hope your friend has a speedy recovery, sucks to hear more and more go down, I seen my friend go down about a month ago, he managed to get road rash ( no gear on ), and was down for about a week. I was tore up, and my stomach was in knots, Its something no one wants to go through.

 

Wow, really sorry to hear this Pug!

As bad as the injuries sound, it could always be worse. I know that's no consolation but you have to remember that. A good PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) is very important for all involved to recover. Keep good spirits & chins up!

Best wishes in every way.

 

Cheers everyone... didn't want to originally give too much detail... but need to tell you guys how exactly it happened... but he made one BAD DECISION and it's bitten him hard. I was behind him when he did it (40 metres or so I reckon probably)...

Basically we'd all stopped for a pee in Denbigh Moors... in Wales. We discussed road and one of us warned everyone there's just one little section slow right down and take easy... As two of them were experienced bikers, and it was 4-5 miles of gorgeous roads, we said, you two go off and enjoy, we'll just follow at our pace... anyway, (we'll call him BOB Ducatti 916), BOB shot off like a scalded cat... like he had something to prove... (JIM Yama R1) went after him... not racing but both of them have 40+_ years of experience... and JIM IS FAST BUT SENSIBLE...

I caught them both up 4 minutes of us all riding as they were both stuck behind a van.

Anyway, I could see BOB on the middle line as we went up a hill and I was thinking "WTF are you doing, it's a blind crest"...

The road goes up a hill, then there's a blind crest which then sweeps around and down quite sharp to the left. There's been two fatal accidents there in 3 years (one of them a police man on a bike)... there's big white and black signs showing LEFT bend etc...

Then, suddenly 10 metres from the crest of the hill, he pulls out into the oncoming lane, tanks it and fly's over the crest of the hill and within 1 second a massive puff of gray smokes flies up... I reckon we were all doing around 50-60mph maybe behind the truck... so not sure what speed he'd have been doing going over the crest...

At this point, I **** myself... me and JIM goes over the hill to see nothing... just bits of bike etc. Jumps off the bikes, shouting BOB... nothing, then we seen him around 45 metres away in a load of moorland...

Not moving, nothing... I runs back to the road to get the phone from my bike... no signal as we're out int he moors... then the other two guys came and slowed and stopped... then it was hell for the next 30 minutes...

However, it was the worst riding/driving decision I've ever seen, seriously... never in my life have I seen such poor judgement and I think he had seen the mist, and gone into race mode... he's not ridden much over the last 3-4 years and he's come back as all us now ride... so he's got a reason to ride now...

However, I think he's gone into race mode with JIM behind him...

I feel guilty as shoudl I have even said you two go ahead... JIM's feeling bad as he's said "if I hadn't have been there behind, would he have taken that chance?"

However we both came to the conclusion, you ride and are responsible for yourself... it's his and only his fault... and we have nothing to feel guilty about... we had all set out to go for a tea and piece of cake and a chill in the gorgeous scenery, no one was racing... it was a nice relaxed ride (as one of the lads only passed his big bike license 3 weeks ago and has a new CBR600 2012)... so, we knew it's be quite a slow ride... so this was one chance to let them off the leash for a few mile and this happens.

Seriously, i was going to wear my head camera and it'd have caught it all on film, so glad I didn't as it'd give you nightmares if you'd seen what he did... no one to blame but himself.

Praying he's going to be alright BUT has the humility to admit it was his fault and eat serious humble pie.