ZIPP2001

After about a 10 year lay-off Chris my old riding partner called me because he wanted to get back into riding again. Back in the day Chris was an animal on the bike and just loved a good Hammerfest. We started off with some trail rides in June and July of last year, and Chris was hooked on the woods instead of the road. Then August 1st of last year I get a call from Chriss wife saying he's been hit while out on his motorcycle. Besides having internal injuries, ripped up skin everywhere, his left leg was broken in 4 places and right leg in 2 places. He had knee and foot issues to just add to the recovery. The first day after all the major surgeries Chris is already doing minor stretches in his bed. Fast forward and Chris is way ahead of what doctors expected and he's now starting to ride. He's using a mtb bike because of the easy gearing and I gave him some flat peddles because his knees can't handle being locked in yet. Chris upped his game today as I kept asking if he wanted to turn back but he wanted to roll on. Looking forward to seeing him tomorrow and how he feels. Knowing Chris, he'll be ready to roll out again real soon.

cyclezen

Good on him! Best wishes for his recovery!
Ride On
Yuri

BobbyG

Great news!

rsbob 

Wonderful that he is getting back to riding. Now be a really good friend and tell him to sell all his motorcycles. Every motorcyclist I have known, except one, has had a motorcycle/car accident. One ended in permanent paralysis. My dad was an ER doc and saw so many horrendous motorcycle accidents he wouldn’t even let me entertain the idea of owning one. The capper was taking me to the morgue and doing an autopsy on a motorcyclist wearing a helmet that hit a phone pole. Watching his brains drain out of his skull like red tapioca was more than enough.

JohnDThompson 

I haven't seen anything that dramatic, but I have worked as an RN in inpatient rehab, where we routinely got traumatic brain injury patients from motorcycle and snowmobile accidents. That was enough to convince me to wear a helmet while cycling and avoid motorcycles and snowmobiles.

Ttom

Fantastic, broken like a pretzel, that is enough to make many a man say never again, and he is back on a bicycle. That's a tough guy.
I tip my hat.
I too had a motorcycle accident in the mid 80's, I told myself I would never ride a motorcycle again until my children were grown, they are grown now so I bought a bicycle.
My mangled Honda Gold Wing will just have to be a memory, one I would like to forget.

ZIPP2001

He sold both his motorcycles shortly after being released from the hospital.

ZIPP2001

Chris was the toughest riding partner back in our racing days and I knew he'd be back on a bike way quicker than expected. The motorcycles are sold, and he just ordered a new road bike so it will be fun to help him along as he recovers.

Bmach

so the accident upped his IQ? Hope heals well.

GhostRider62

He'll get better and better. Probably still have residual pain, I do. Age does not help the recovery. I fractured the trochanter at the hip, 5 ribs, clavicle, scapula, humerus, and elbow. The humerus was sticking out a little, the clavicle was a mess but the elbow was the worst. 10 bones plus they had to cut my ulnar bone in two to access the elbow for the repair (3 plates, 25 screws, rod, and some cadaver bone). Putting it behind you mentally is hard but just getting out there and doing it wears the bad memory off. We don't go as fast on a bike as a motorcycle but can also get hurt bad. I "recovered" 3-4 times faster than the Docs said, your buddy will do "well" too. GL to him.

dmanthree

I had a crash last February, and am still recovering. My injuries weren't as bad as his, but I understand how frustrating recovery can be. Good on him for continuing to pound the pedals!

Ride on!

prj71

Yup. Motorcycles are bad. No air bags, not enclosed on 4 sides and running around at 60-80 mph speeds surrounded by 6000 lb+ vehicles.

flan48

I hope he heals well, and as quickly as possible.
To me, a motorcycle is a bike that goes really fast! No thank you.
Best regards

John E

Interesting comments about motorcycles. I tend to agree and have never ridden one or had the desire to do so, but I also note that some of the faster eBikes today blur the line between bicycles and motorcycles. As a 70+er, I still prefer to provide my own power, thank you!

rumrunn6

nice to see, good for your friend!

a colleague of mine, was rear ended on his motorcycle, sitting at a traffic light, 1 or 2 years ago. messed him up in similar broken ways. was nice to chat with him recently & talk about him riding his bicycle again, got married, bought a house & sold the motorcycle. sometimes there's one last straw ...

Ttom

I talked to a guy a few weeks ago that had a hip replacement recently, his doctor told him no jogging, or long walks for awhile, low impact exercises only, but a bicycle would be OK, so what did he do, bought an ebike. He said the bike will hit 45mph, I am not sure that is what his doctor had in mind where is the exercise in riding an electric moped?

rumrunn6

yikes, even my 92 yr old Mom has him beat. with her new hip, from a cpl years ago, she's driving, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry up & down 2 flights of stairs. doesn't like it when I try to help, but if I'm there, I do anyway

OldTryGuy

Good reading that those involved in Hit and Drive and Crashes are getting back to getting back to normal.

I had a Hit and Run Encounter for a 2nd time in 2 years 3 months a couple of weeks ago. This time got *T-boned* by a WILD HOG at 3AM in my left leg resulting in a face-plant slide. Recovering from the road rash and a fractured left tibia. In 2020 it was a sideswipe by a WILD HOG at 1:25AM resulting in 2 cracked ribs a punctured lung a cracked scapula some left shoulder trauma plus a little bruising thanks to a soft landing on dirt. Just too much for this 72yo geezer to have happen in another 2 years.

GFS

My father gave me a nearly new 1996 Honda Magna V4. It was gorgeous. Red color, nice condition. A real sweet looking motorcycle. It had sat for over 2 years at Dad's place and was not running well. I subscribed to an Motorcycle email reflector to get help in getting it back to running. After getting my technical help, I just stayed with that group for about 2 years. It was not a large group, like 1000 people. Every 6 months, like clockwork, someone on that board would get nailed by a vehicle. And the injuries were not minor. In one case, the rider was a concert musician who lost 1/2 of one leg. I thankfully did not ride the bike that much, maybe 10 times total in 2 years. I gave the thing back to my father because I was smart enough to know that the statistics were not in my favor. You don't have fender benders on Motorcycles. Girlfriend (later wife) gave me a very strong hug after I told her I was going to return it and thanked me.

rsbob 

A very smart move plus you learned some excellent mechanical skills along the way. I find speed addictive but then I like downhill skiing (used to race), driving my car on the track and fast downhills on my bike. A good friend tried really hard to get me into sport bikes and I knew that I would enjoy it way too much and probably kill myself. I have also put track days with the car behind me for multiple reasons. You were very wise to realize that motorcycle riding is percentage game where the odds are not in your favor.

A tenet of mine got a sport bike and within 6 months broadsided a car that “did not see him” and pulled out in front of him which crushed his right arm and impacted the nerves so severely that he has no feeling and it is totally useless. He was 28 at the time. Poor guy.

GFS

Thank You for the kind words. I think one of my Father's greatest disappointments with me was that I did not get the Gearhead Gene. Everyone else in the family had it but I did not. I have always been more interested on what made things tick in a vehicle rather than going as fast as possible in a vehicle. Now my father did take me stock car racing (just Pure Stock at a local dirt track) and I had a bunch of fun with it but my talents lay in Engineering design. I'm a R&D Mechanical Engineer in my day job. And yeah, there are so many stories of people who just don't understand the percentages or how powerful these modern day Motorcycles are. I had a friend who knew of someone who died in one day after purchasing one of the "crotch rockets". The guy had never driven a very powerful motorcycle. He got on it and did not hold tightly to the bike. When he took off, the acceleration pulled him back and as his body shifted backwards he unconsciously rolled his throttle hand back, accelerating the motorcycle. He hit a solid brick wall going some ungodly speed and died instantly. Gordon

rsbob 

Dealing with the disappointment of a parent is never easy and tends to follow one unless you have an unusually strong character. Going into R&D ME is one, actually several, better in my book. Not only do you understand the mechanisms but the underling principals behind them. They should be proud of your accomplishments - of course growing into a decent human being is accomplishment enough.