Thread: Being alive, motorcycles and brain buckets...

Years ago i had a Kaw that would fly, while riding with a buddy i went around a slight bend over a small bridge and went into a high speed wobble at 90 mph. I watched a woven wire fence for about a half of a mile before pulling out of it. As things worked out i muscled myself out of it and learned much about riding a bike. Racing is for the track with the proper equipment. Those can be hard lessons to learn. Glad to hear everything turned out as well as they did for you.

Between Mike Blue and Tom Zowada:

. . . Maybe I _don't_ want to get a motorcycle . . .

I owned -- many years ago -- a 250cc Ducati. Great fun -- and I had a full-coverage helmet, and never rode in anything lighter than denim. Now, I often see guys on bikes and think:

. . . He's naked, and everyone else is covered with steel.

I must be getting old.

. Charles

spent 43 yrs of my life in cardiac surg.Involved in hundreds of transplants,heart, livers. lungs.
sadley,the majority of donors came from motorcycle accidents,be carefull guys.

Which leads to the next editorial: My license reads DONOR. Everyone else should too.

I envy you guys who remember what happened. I'd like to know if I even saw the deer? Did I do anything the safety instructors taught me in my class? Was it like the movies where I rolled a few times and bounced to my feet and shook it off? I don't know any of that.

As soon as this bike is fixed, I'm back on the saddle. The helmet has already been replaced.

Good to hear you live and are not too messed up Mike. Without having a helmet, that incident would have sucked a whole deal more. I never drove anything bigger than a moped, and I wore a helmet (which over here is mandatory).

My previous sensei also used to ride. Always in leather and wearing a helmet. Except for that one day that was really hot, and he decided to make a quick trip alongside the canal to cool off, wearing tshirt, shorts, and no helmet. Then he hit a gravel patch, and hit the street after which he skidded over the asphalt. His face was busted, many of his bones broken, and his scalp was flapping loose.

I've only known him after the accident. He looks like what you'd expect from someone who has seen years of bar brawling and living rough. When I first saw a pic of him from before the accident, I asked him: so who's babyface over here? You would not have believed it was the same guy.

Come to think of it, my current sensei also had an accident, but he survived more or less intact. I don't know the exact details anymore, but he went to the ground on an intersection and had a truck run over his head. His helmet cracked but didn't cave, and apart from some minor damage and a concussion, he was fine. Without the helmet, his head would have fitted in an envelope.

Anyway, take care of yourself Mike. You have some good years left in that body.

Originally Posted by Mike Blue

Which leads to the next editorial: My license reads DONOR. Everyone else should too.

I envy you guys who remember what happened. I'd like to know if I even saw the deer? Did I do anything the safety instructors taught me in my class? Was it like the movies where I rolled a few times and bounced to my feet and shook it off? I don't know any of that.

As soon as this bike is fixed, I'm back on the saddle. The helmet has already been replaced.

I'm donor. Btw, the memory loss is normal, but you know that

I had a severe concussion once. I went to a badminton tournament. Got changed, and jogged to the registration booth. Guy asked me why I was covered in blood. I said I wasn't. He said I was and told me to look down. And indeed, I was. Then I blacked out (didn't faint but became catatonic). Next thing I know is I wake up in a hospital bed, and calling the nurse. Except I didn't really wake up, I had been awake all the time, repeating the same 3 questions over and over for hours: where am I, what day is it, how did I get here.

As it turned out, when I was jogging to the registration booth, I had not seen the steel cables holding up the nets. They ran from wall to wall, with a grey background. I didn't see any warning flags either. I hit the cable across my nose at speed. My legs kept going and I landed on the back of my head, hard. Then I got up and continued going to the registration booth without remembering anything. Head trauma is a funny thing. Not haha funny, but still...

Mike,

I'm glad to hear that things were not worse than they were. Take your time healing, the bike will be there when you are ready.

The first thing I did, before getting back on the bike, was go out and buy an new full faced helmet. The one I had on during my accident had a big scrape from front to back... A good helmet, jacket, boots and gloves are worth every penny.

Take care.

Originally Posted by Mike Blue

I envy you guys who remember what happened.

An aside: not to envy. Take it from me (and any psychiatrists with PTSD experience), if you're lucky enough to be psycho-symptom-free two weeks after a wreck you REALLY don't want to remember what you don't remember. Those blank spots are there for your protection.

Mike I am so sorry to hear of the accident but feel better knowing you pulled through despite the odds of doing otherwise. You
will be in my thoughts my friend. May your recovery move quickly.