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Nearly crashed yesterday!

7K views 25 replies 15 participants last post by  bmwbob51 
#1 ·
Hi all,

I hope you and yours are doing well.

Merry Christmas to all!

Yesterday, well, I nearly crashed due to 100% my fault.

Was driving highway 1 to big sur area for a day hike with friend.

I was leading, he was following in car.

We're traveling about 55, I see our "exit" on right. It's one of those dirt areas where people park etc.

Garrapata State Park Bluff Trail
Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA 93923

I exit from asphalt to dirt slowing down, and all hell breaks loose! I immediately hit soft sand, bike banked to right, dirt parking lot is now washer board textured, and the bike is bumping up and down, TRYING TO STOP, and more importantly, TRYING TO STEER! I'm getting sucked more and more to the right. All that went thru my mind was "...don't panic, don't let the bike decide the path, take control". While hitting brakes, I was able to ultimately "park" the bike on the embankment, parallel to the road. Road about 3 ft up it, about 20 ft along it.

Then as I stopped, tip bike to right, quick! All that I was then thinking was, crap now you saved the bike stopping, only to bust it up falling down hill to the left!

Turned off bike, stepped off right, my right boot was slightly trapped by the foot peg.

Now, bike is stuck, luckily we (friend) were able to roll it a bit, then I got on it and road it down hill etc.

Zero bike damage.

Good solid boot saved foot from possible ouchy.

I should have never hit the dirt that fast. Totally careless move on my part, and could have been a sucky day.

Hike was awesome.

I really feel that I dodged a bullet yesterday!

Kam
 
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#3 ·
I have relatives and friends who are EMT/Paramedics. Way too many severe ankle foot injuries stories about people with inadequate footwear. The wife is a nursing emergency room professor and she tells of the same horrific injuries to lower extremities. Hell, I see riders with flip flops. In Florida a certified driving course to qualify for a motorcycle stamp on driver's license includes showing up on the first session with approved foot and legwear, long sleeved torso covering, gloves, helmet, and eye protection. Amazingly so many show up devoid of these items, even though the application online emphatically warns of this requirement. Even worse is that some of these non compliant folks show up the second day in violation again and get sent packing.

Then observe the riding population and observe so many either ignoring what they learned or are riding without certification stamp. If busted riding without a stamp, during a traffic stop, bike will be impounded.

Good that you and bike survived intact. Close calls tend to be wake up calls. Congrats.
 
#21 ·
I have relatives and friends who are EMT/Paramedics. Way too many severe ankle foot injuries stories about people with inadequate footwear. The wife is a nursing emergency room professor and she tells of the same horrific injuries to lower extremities. Hell, I see riders with flip flops. In Florida a certified driving course to qualify for a motorcycle stamp on driver's license includes showing up on the first session with approved foot and legwear, long sleeved torso covering, gloves, helmet, and eye protection. Amazingly so many show up devoid of these items, even though the application online emphatically warns of this requirement. Even worse is that some of these non compliant folks show up the second day in violation again and get sent packing.

Then observe the riding population and observe so many either ignoring what they learned or are riding without certification stamp. If busted riding without a stamp, during a traffic stop, bike will be impounded.

Good that you and bike survived intact. Close calls tend to be wake up calls. Congrats.
I have just ordered tall adventure boots because I keep banging my shins on the heads. Long legs can be a curse when trying to fit on a motorcycl. GS was as close to a fit as I can get but at the expense of my shins.
 
#7 ·
While riding the Three Twisted Sisters in the Hill Country of Texas, I rode up on a kid sitting on the side of the road, who lost the front end of his 600 sport bike in a turn resulting in superficial/minor scratches to the plastics of the bike. He could have gotten back on and ridden home, except he was only wearing tennis shoes and the metal footpeg poked a hole almost clean through his ankle when he went down...lots of blood, lots of pain, a very ugly wound...he could not walk or ride. If he had only been wearing even a cheap pair of leather boots covering his ankle, he would've been aok.
 
#9 ·
I picked up the kids bike and sat on the side of the road with him until the ambulance came to take him to the hospital.
He (and his bike) was perfectly aok other than the ankle. We moved the bike off road so the police wouldn't tow it away and his buddies drove up from the city (about 100 miles away) as we were basically on the side of a mountain) to pick up the bike. So his lack of preparation that day altered the course of several people's Sunday morning (I'm not complaining and was glad to assist the poor kid)...but the old biker's saying has some credibility here: "dress for the ride, not for the prom".
 
#10 ·
And then there are times you dress for the slide and still things like post #4 happen.

Glad I have buddies that who are glad to help w/o batting an eye or complaining I've altered their day. They know I'd do the same for them.
 
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#13 ·
Interesting thing about the insurance aspect. In Pennsylvania while the bike is covered under the motorcycle policy the rider is not. If this were in an automobile my injuries would have been covered under the automotive policy but as it were it goes back on our medical insurance.

You may want to check your state to see if you have medical coverage on you motorcycle policy. If not and you don't have good medical insurance you may want to investigate purchasing a disability/injury policy.

I am covered under my wife's insurance policy and it is rather good. Even so I am out of pocket $1,500 to meet my 2020 deductible and starting 1/1/2021 it starts again. Prior to my surgery (outpatient) the hospital sent and estimate of over $20,000 which did not include the ER visit or any of the podiatry visits before or after

.
 
#14 ·
Crazy how fast your mind works during those moments... for me , as a European, it is hard to understand how many US states allow you to ride even without a helmet... this seems to be such a basic protection item to me, it boggles the mind to get on a bike without it putting it on...
 
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