DAMN Riders - No rules, Just ride!

Bonehead, your admiring audience wants the story.

I'll help you get started.

No shit, there I was ...

btw, you won't have those problems if you get a sidecar just sayin'

Ok, so it has been a rather long time but here it goes.

I met Jay and two of his riding buddies at Cracker Barrel in Frederick Sunday morning to ride the greenridge ride that day. It was a great day for riding and we were all raedy for some light duty fun. Two of us were on KTM 9xx, one on a BMW 1200 and one on a xrl.

After everyone was done eating and ready to go we fueled up the bikes and headed for Greenridge campground. Everything was going smoothly and we arrived in time for signing up and coffee.
None of us had a roll chart but figured no biggie we would just follow the markers and have fun.
We all were doing fine and riding well when we came around a right hand turn on the gravel. Being the tail gunner I was riding in the left rack to avoid the dust trail as much as I could. After the turn the left side of the road had washed out and I had two choices. Slow or accelerate. I chose the later and accelerated to lift the front up over the wash out. That worked well until the rear hit and the bike decided to buck me over the bars.
Not wanting to let go I held on and the bike rode into the embankment on the right. My first thought was this is gonna hurt. I immediately got myself out from under the bike then quietly laid back down to pass out.
When I came to about two minutes later a lady was standing over me yelling at me " what's your name, what day is it". My first words were, " you need to stop yelling at me I have a headache".
Just about that time the others came back since I obviously had stopped following them.

We spent about ten minutes of me lying around making funny faces and wincing in pain. They told me we were about 1/4mile from the asphalt so I decided maybe I should just walk there to "catch my breath". The walk made me realize how much I really hurt all over, oh joy.
Once we got to the roadside I immediately found a spot to lay down and moan. Jay and the guys helped me out of my gear and I laid down. I thought at this point maybe I should call for a ride home. I called my wife, son and daughter and no one answered, of course. We tried this a few more times before I ended up calling my neighbor, who was at a car show in green belt, who called his wife, who walked across the street and told my wife to call my cell.
When she called I of course lied and said the bike broke and I need Sam, my son, to come get me in the truck. After waiting about thirty more minutes I decided I could wait.
I call her back and said never mind I am driving home. Mistake because she now knew I was lying and was hurt.
So, I lied again and said no biggie.
Jay and his friends then put my bike on the center stand and got my gear all back on. I then got on the bike, put on my helmet and they gave me a push to get going. First though, I put two fireballs in my mouth for the ride home so I would feel better. We stopped for one fuel stop, where they helped me again. I put another fireball in my mouth and we headed for home.
The ride home I was actually kinda maybe comfortable but was feeling a little rough. Once I pulled up Sam was home and helped me off the bike, Jay was smart and rode off before the wife could start the interrogation to badly.
I went inside and tied to get comfortable and relax but that didn't work very well. Sam, figuring I was just being a bonehead told me to kick back and he would out in a movie while I relaxed. 3/4 of the way thru a comedy I hurt so badly I decided to go to the hospital. So, Sam loaded me up and we drove back to Hagerstown trauma center.
When we go to the hospital Sam pulled into the emergency drop of area and it got out. I waited for him to park then asked him to check me in. In doing so the hospital immediately got me in and started with X-rays and MRIs and such to see what was going on.
No internal bleeding but they found a few fractured ribs, a fractured sternum, a swollen and sprained ankle, a herniated diaphragm and abdomen.
I spent the next few hours being probed and poked at. At about 330am they were trying to release me but they could get my blood oxygen level to stay above 82 without feeding me oxygen. This was because if the pain and such I was short cycling my breathing.
I finally got released around 430 am and headed home.
All I can say is I am very lucky. I was wearing full AGATT and that saved me from serious damage.
I am now almost fully back but ribs and sternum still hurt like hell.
Looking back I made a few mistakes that I should have known better about. The greatest was not airing down my tires for riding the gravel. That in itself was a major factor. The other was maybe I should have just gone straight to the hospital instead of driving back home.

Of well, I at least had fun.

I have now also decided the bike needed more rapid throttle response so I got a Rottweiler intake, rejetted the carbs and added one tooth to my rear sprocket. I figure if I just could have gotten more speed I might have been ok, lol.
And no Ken, the fact I weigh a lot had nothing to do with the motorcycles lack of ability to pull the from up further, lol.

Wow. Glad you're healing.
Internal injuries are skectchy...impact injuries can tear major arteries, rupture organs, etc and you'd never know until you keel over.

I'm also not a fan of group riding,,,to me a group is 1-2 telephone poles apart or more dependent on weather and surface. I need my space.

you lived. This will make great stories for the grandkids!

Glad you're healing! Patrick

ouch.

Glad you are getting better. Be careful out there


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bonehead wrote: Jay was smart and rode off before the wife could start the interrogation to badly.

Hey, I talked to her on the phone telling her we were on our way & I could feel her going like this...

I think she knew what we were dealing with though, the bonehead name fits

Take your time and heal well. Nagging injuries suck when you're old. Trust me.

Thanks everyone. I am about ready and thinking about going to the Twiggs bikini wash next weekend as my test ride, LOL