Well I guess it had to happen sooner or later, I crashed on my way to work Thursday morning. I was only about a 1/4 mile from the front gate at the Maytag plant that I work at in Reynosa, Mexico. I was getting ready to make a right hand turn onto the street in front of the plant. There is a parking lane where the buses load/unload on the far outside lane. Normally when I get to work at 6:00 AM there are never any buses there so Ialways ride along the edge of the road on thr bus lane that way it decreases the chance of getting rear ended when I make the turn. Thrusday morning there was a pickup driving kind of slow in the bus lane so I accelerated and went around him and then proceeded to slow down for the right hand turn using my front brake. Well coming from this lane I forgot about the 10" wide strip that was recently repainted. When my front tire hit the stripe it immediately washed out. I ended up slidding on my side all the way across the road. When I tried to get the bike off me I felt a twinge in my shoulder. Luckily there were 3 guys in another truck that stopped and helped me get the bike off and get it back up on 2 wheels. They were asking all kinds of questions but my Spanish is not that good. As soon as I sat back on the bike they left. I started the bike and rode the last 1/4 mile to the plant parking lot. The guards saw the crash from the guard house and helped me into the nurse after I got off the bike. They wanted to take me to a hospital in Mexico but I told them i would be OK until I got a ride back to the US. When one of my US coworkers made it in at 7:30 he took me back to my house so my wife could take me to the ER. After waiting in line at the border for 70 minutes (I normally lane split on the CBR and go right to the front of the line.) I finally made it to the ER at 10:00. I knew as soon as I got off the bike in the parking lot that my collar bone was broken. The x-ray at the ER confirmed it. No more riding for 8 - 12 weeks. I got a little rash on my right knee (Dockers do not hold up well against the road) but nothing else. My helmet and faceshield are scratched along with my jacket and glove. I'm sure if I did not have the jacket and gloves on it would have been a whole lot worse. Now all I have to do is figure out how to get my bike home from Mexico.

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Glad you're okay. I'm sure that will be the overwhelming sentiment! I've heard that most accidents happen with 6 month or less riders, and the next group is the two to three year riders. You've done well to have twenty years in...especially any time spent in Mexico traffic! Those drivers are insane!!! Heal up soon...

 

Glad you're ok. Did you do any tumbling at all or was it just sliding with the bike? I'm guessing you were under it all the time. How do they fix a collar bone? Will you have to wear a chest brace or something?
I guess if you know anyone else that rides that you trust, they could ride it back for you. Or a truck w/ ramps or something like that.

 

well good thing you're ok to type about it man, and heal up quick. I shattered my collarbone skating when I was in high school and it wasn't any fun, enjoy the butterfly brace!

also, I HAVE THOSE GLOVES! they rule. Get better quick man, and just have a bud take a pickup down for the bike.

 

Not really much to do for the broken collar bone. I broke my left collar bone back in 1982 on an ATV. I had to wear the butterfly or figure 8 brace for a couple months. This time due to the break being on the outside I just have a sling and another brace to immobilize my schoulder. This is going to be a bitch since I am right handed. I guess I have to learn how to do everything left handed. My neighbor volunteered to ride the bike back for me so we are going to go over Sunday morning and pick it up. One of the guys at work sent me a fw pictures today and the bike doesn't look too bad.

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How is Texas Mexico traffic? California Mexico traffic is a nightmare and not even worth the risk on a bike. The streets suck and the drivers are worse. From where I am it's a long detour to get around TJ. 20 years on a bike and some in Mexico traffic should get you some sort of award.

 

glad to hear ur ok for the most part bro.. in the pix of your bike it looks like your frame slider broke off or am i just too tired and not looking @ it right? anyways hope you heal up good and start riding asap.. god knows it would suck having to wait in line @ the border everyday .. i love lane splitting but the cagers always give me that i hate you look and just do it again and ill open my door

 

The traffic in Texas seems to be worse than Mexico at least as far as the motorcycle is concerned. I have had more close calls in TX than in MX. Since I cross the border at 6:00 AM there is hardly any traffic in Reynosa until about 2 miles from our plant. The MX bus drivers are the worst, except they seem to give me more room when I am on the bike. Lane splitting on the CBR is the only thing that keeps me working in MX. If I had to wait in line everyday I would have transferred back to one of our US locations. When we started up this facility in 2003 there were 12 US employees, now there are only 4. Everyone got tired of waiting anywhere from 20 minutes up to 3 hours to get across the border. Most of the delays are caused by semi traffic. For the most part when I start splitting lanes 95% of the cars give me a little more room to get through. However, at least once a week there will be someone that sees me coming and will try to block me from getting through. Lane splitting is illegal in TX but all of the cops that I have encoutered on the bridge have waved me past.

I don't have any frame sliders on the bike. However, I looked at the picture again and it does look like a large hole where a frame slider would go. That is one thing that I will probably add when I get the bike put back together.

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+1 on the sliders

Glad your ok man.. shoulder looks painful