I finally made it back home from the Lakes ride, down in San Diego. Yes, it took me a total of 5 days to ride to San Diego for the Lakes ride, then to make it back home to Simi Valley. You are wondering; why did it take so long to get home? Well, I had to make a side trip to the hospital. Yes I’m the ryder that went down. The lakes ride was a great ride at least until I crashed and burned. My apologies to everyone, who had to shorten, their ride. I was very sorry to hear that you had all opted to cancel the rest of the ride.
I’m going to try to tell the story about what happened.
The day started of great, I meet Ken C. at the Mobile Gas station on Osborne St. and the 5 Freeway. We met at 7:00 am. From there we headed south towards San Diego. It rained on us pretty much all the way. In one of the area of less precipitation my bike started pulling to the left. This was happening at random intervals. We pull off the freeway into a rest stop, so I could check things out. Everything checked out fine. There was no sign of any damage, all fluid levels were fine, nothing was leaking. We took a break, for about 30 minutes. I started the bike and everything was fine. There was absolutely no hang or drag in any of the steering.
We meet up with everyone at 9:00am and started the ride around 10:00am. It was a very nice ride. At the second stop, (at the park and ride) as Ken Mentioned 3 of us opted to jump ahead of the pack and ride a little faster. Jerry; had the lead, followed by me, then Ken C. Everything was going great, the bike was handling like it always does, accelerating, when I hit the gas, hugging the turns. It was turning out to be another perfect ride. All of a sudden I hit this right hand turn (posted 35) I was going about 43-45. Part way through the turn, the bike decides to turn left, basically making it go straight. I pulled harder to the right the bike corrected for a second, then it pull to the left again. At this point, I was now facing oncoming traffic. I tried to turn right again, but the steering wouldn’t move. Now I had the choice of having a head on collision with an oncoming truck, or turning to the left and take my chances in the dirt. I opted for the later.
What happened next, I do not know. I blacked out from the time I decided to turn left to the time I was being put on the helicopter for transport. Although, from what I hear, I was communicating and interacting with others, while we were waiting for medivac.
Here is my current status:
Home from the Hospital with the following injuries
Titanium plate was installed in my left knee with 7 screws. I demolished the top of the Tibia.
Clean break on my right Scapula (shoulder) they opted to leave it alone for now.
16 compression fractures on my spine. I currently have a custom back brace I must wear until they can heal.
Status of Spydie
He is currently recovering at Escondido Cycle World. No estimates on damage or cost for repairs.
Bottom line, I an extremely lucky, If I had been on a 2 wheeler, odds are I would not have survived to write a little blog about what happened.
Those of you who feel you are haveing steeering issues. Please have them checked out ASAP. I would hate to hear about someone else having serious issues, and ending up int the hospital.
I’m going to try to tell the story about what happened.
The day started of great, I meet Ken C. at the Mobile Gas station on Osborne St. and the 5 Freeway. We met at 7:00 am. From there we headed south towards San Diego. It rained on us pretty much all the way. In one of the area of less precipitation my bike started pulling to the left. This was happening at random intervals. We pull off the freeway into a rest stop, so I could check things out. Everything checked out fine. There was no sign of any damage, all fluid levels were fine, nothing was leaking. We took a break, for about 30 minutes. I started the bike and everything was fine. There was absolutely no hang or drag in any of the steering.
We meet up with everyone at 9:00am and started the ride around 10:00am. It was a very nice ride. At the second stop, (at the park and ride) as Ken Mentioned 3 of us opted to jump ahead of the pack and ride a little faster. Jerry; had the lead, followed by me, then Ken C. Everything was going great, the bike was handling like it always does, accelerating, when I hit the gas, hugging the turns. It was turning out to be another perfect ride. All of a sudden I hit this right hand turn (posted 35) I was going about 43-45. Part way through the turn, the bike decides to turn left, basically making it go straight. I pulled harder to the right the bike corrected for a second, then it pull to the left again. At this point, I was now facing oncoming traffic. I tried to turn right again, but the steering wouldn’t move. Now I had the choice of having a head on collision with an oncoming truck, or turning to the left and take my chances in the dirt. I opted for the later.
What happened next, I do not know. I blacked out from the time I decided to turn left to the time I was being put on the helicopter for transport. Although, from what I hear, I was communicating and interacting with others, while we were waiting for medivac.
Here is my current status:
Home from the Hospital with the following injuries
Titanium plate was installed in my left knee with 7 screws. I demolished the top of the Tibia.
Clean break on my right Scapula (shoulder) they opted to leave it alone for now.
16 compression fractures on my spine. I currently have a custom back brace I must wear until they can heal.
Status of Spydie
He is currently recovering at Escondido Cycle World. No estimates on damage or cost for repairs.
Bottom line, I an extremely lucky, If I had been on a 2 wheeler, odds are I would not have survived to write a little blog about what happened.
Those of you who feel you are haveing steeering issues. Please have them checked out ASAP. I would hate to hear about someone else having serious issues, and ending up int the hospital.
ray: :thumbup:
