Triumphrat

SLOBonnie · 09-25-2006

Yep...I was out for a group ride yesterday with three friends when I low-sided my (two week old) bonnie. :cry: What stinks is that I was just telling my wife that morning that I hate the old saying that there are two kinds of riders: those who've crashed and those who will. Within four or so hours I left the latter group and joined the former.

So here's what happened. I came out of the final curve of a section of road with multiple sharp curves too wide and too fast, and ended up riding into the soft shoulder. Immediately, the bike slid out from under me to the right. I probably slid 20ft coming to a stop with the bike on my left leg. Thankfully, I only injured my left shoulder. How extensively I'm still not sure, but it hurts pretty bad. I think that it's only a soft-tissue injury; I guess we'll see in the next day or so. As for the bike, there's the obvious cosmetic damage (generally minor). The real question, however, has to do with damage to the shift lever and the gears. The force of the crash rotated the lever clockwise about 45 degrees (from its normal 9 o'clock position to that of 12 o'clock). I won't know the extent of the damage for a day or so. One of the three I was riding with was cynkrzy (aka Chris). I'll tell ya...the man's a saint! After checking the damage, he rode home and brought back his truck (an hour round trip!!!) Then he drove me and the bike home (another hour or so one way). He's going to come over in a day or so to see if he can figure out what's going on with the shift lever. Again, Chris is GOOD people.

Well, although I'm typing this one-handed (probably took me nearly an hour), I just thought I'd let you all know what happened. I'll update you all when I learn more.

Cheers & safe riding,

Rich

[ This message was edited by: SLOBonnie on 2006-09-25 08:46 ]

wolfgang · 09-25-2006

Hope you and bonnie are feeling fine soon!

Prepare for the lecture you're about to get.

stevent · 09-25-2006

Well, dang. get well soon and all, hopefully the shift lever spun on the splines and not snapped a shaft in the transmission. Glad you're more or less ok and that you were riding with some stand-up people.

kliff · 09-25-2006

Been down a few times myself Rich, in the past 40 years, so you'll get no lecture here. Just hope you heal fast and the Bonnie repairs are all cosmetic.

SCCTrim · 09-25-2006

Glad your ok Rich....don't worry about the bonnie, part's can always be replaced.

D9 · 09-25-2006

Rich,

IME, seems as if almost everyone goes down eventually, somewhere sometime - even it's just in the driveway! - sorry to hear of it, glad it wasn't worse, hope you heal as fast as you are able and that the bike is back intact quickly.

No lecture, the only thing that comes to mind, which I practice myself, is to study, read, analyze, learn, understand, contemplate, ruminate, practice, ride ride ride and and ultimately become an (even incrementally) better rider than I was the last time I went out. Not that ANY of that will prevent another mishap - but - a bit more knowledge, a bit more skill, a bit more caution won't ever count against you.

Again, glad to know you're still with us and not too badly the worse for wear.

Cheers,

D9

[ This message was edited by: D9 on 2006-09-25 09:36 ]

kliff · 09-25-2006

Sorry......but I just gotta ask....what's "ruminate?" I ain't sure I ever ruminated......dammit man, now I wonder if I'd ruminated back when I was.....oh well, that's another story for another forum.....just gotta know....what's "runinated?"

SLOBonnie · 09-25-2006

Thanks you all. Your words are great. And believe me, I don't mind receiving lectures. Bring them on! In my 37 years, I've learned that: (a) I am NOT invincible, (b) I DO NOT know everything (in fact, just the opposite is true...to paraphrase Socrates [one of my philosophical heroes], "the wise man knows that he knows nothing"/"the beginning of wisdom is ignorance"), (c) you must learn from your experiences and those of others, (d) etc, etc, etc.

I'll tell you. I keep playing the whole thing over and over in my mind. As one might expect, I keep going through the I'm-such-an-idiot/I'm-so-pissed-at-myself and the I-am-blessed-to-be-alive/as-healthy-as-I-am/it-could-have-been-far-worse states. Also, what is hard is that I was trying to work on my cornering skills...working on better countersteering technique so that the bike would lean more/better through the curves. Mind you, I wasn't motogp-ing it, but I was probably pushing myself too hard and going too fast. Oh well. But again, I'm alive, my body is (fairly) intact, I've got a loving & supportive wife, whom I can still love (in every sense of the term) and wants me to ride again, I can still teach my students, continue my climbing career (well...after my body heals at any rate), fix my bike, etc. So, I guess that you can say that life is good. Providence has shined upon me and all things being equal, I'm thankful. Take care you all and safe riding.

Cheers.

Rich

[ This message was edited by: SLOBonnie on 2006-09-25 10:08 ]

SLOBonnie · 09-25-2006

To ruminate means to ponder, consider, analyze, think about, etc.

MattTriumphs · 09-25-2006

Sorry to hear you went down. I'm glad you're ok. Life isn't about never making mistakes, it's how you handle them and you seem to be handling this challenge well. Heal quickly, and don't be too hard on yourself. :-D