A Really Bad Day.ect

[sonny]

Headed out Saturday morning for the toy run. Was looking forward to meeting up with Mexican and enjoying A good run. The weather was just about perfect not too cold and very little wind. Since we left early we decided to take the back way from Henryetta to Tulsa. Two lane Highways out in the country. Saw a couple of deer and slowed down. Decided to take it slow and shifted into 4th riding along around 50 to 55 miles per hour. No traffic at all it was great. Saw a motorcycle coming up fast from behind. So we slowed down even more to let him catch up. The guy was on a goldwing and when he caught up to me he downshift and hit it hard. Well I just was not impressed at all. We figured out real quick that he was more interested in showing off than meeting up with somebody so we left it alone and continued along at 55 miles per hour. Came up on a good turn in the road and then a long straight away. Came out of the turn and could see something in the road about half a mile away. It was the goldwing. The guy had hit a deer. He was meshed up bad. Pulled him to the side of the road and barely got his bike to the side. The bike was totaled. He had a badly broken leg with a lot of blood. By this time we had figured out that our cell phone was on the kitchen table. Lucky for him I saw his cell phone and called 911. Gave the location by a creek name. It took forever for help to show up. In the meantime three cars went by with no one stopping to help. I was covered in blood trying to administer first aid the best we could under the circumstances. The local cop that showed up thought we had been riding together. I explained to the police officer what had taken place early and all he could do was shake his head in disbelief. The police officer estimated his speed at impact to be well over the speed limit. I was and still am pretty shaken up. Turned it around and went home. The only good thing about all this is that now we are going to be even more careful while riding. Oh yea and the next toy run were going to stick to the main highways to get there.

 

[Bob R]

If you think it was a bad day for you...think about the tool on the Goldwing.

Too bad it ruined your day though, and then again, you may have been the difference between this guy living and making the celestial transfer or losing a leg, esp if it was one of those less traveled roads and no one wanting to stop and help.

bob

 

[TriumPhil]

Kudos to you and Lupe for doing the right thing, sonny! You may have very well saved a life by being a good samaritan.

I experienced something very similar about 7-8 years ago except that the victim was someone that was riding in a mixed group of common friends, someone I had never met before, and he went down in the twisties right in front of me, severely injured. The guys in the lead didn't even know what had happened behind them for a good while and the other two behind me were to squeamish to go anywhere near the downed rider until emergency help could arrive.

Therefore, I played paramedic for nearly 1/2 hour before help arrived, we all followed the meat wagon to the hospital until the poor guy was out of the woods and it literally took me a couple of weeks to shake the whole experience off, yet add it into my mental catalog of things not to do when upon two wheels.

He had overshot a sharp turn in the middle of some excellent switchbacks, scraped pegs in the middle of a a sharp apex, stood the bike up and was unable to get back to the lean angle which would have allowed him to stay in and finish the turn. He shot outside the apex onto the shoulder and into deep woods, narrowly missing a bunch of trees that could have killed him, slammed into a road sign stanchion, just about like someone swung an axe full force into his leg just below the knee. His BMW R1200 simply shattered into hundreds of bits and pieces, seemingly in slowmo as I watched his demise unravel just ahead of me.

 

[Idaho Red Rocket 3]

Good on you Sonny and Mexican.

 

[sonny]

Mexican was not there we were supposed to meet him at the run which we did not make. Been having a real hard time with what took place saturday.

 

[TriumPhil]

Like I said above, sonny, chit like this takes some time to work its way through our nervous systems. Some might not ride again after seeing such carnage, others just work through it.

Best advice I can give you is to allow yourself the time necessary to figure out which side of the fence the incident is pushing you toward.

 

[sonny]

No plans on not riding, but most definitely plan on riding a bit safer. Since becoming an owner of the Rocket we have pushed the limits a few times. It is a lot of fun riding the Rocket to its limits but something like what happened saturday wakes you up and makes you realize that none of us are perfect and one bad decision or response can end up with disastrous results.

 

[IMFASTTOO]

No plans on not riding, but most definitely plan on riding a bit safer. Since becoming an owner of the Rocket we have pushed the limits a few times. It is a lot of fun riding the Rocket to its limits but something like what happened saturday wakes you up and makes you realize that none of us are perfect and one bad decision or response can end up with disastrous results.

Its dangerous out there so Road racing on public roads can get you in serious trouble or worse . Ive lost several riding buddies that refused to slow down on the every sunday morning after breakfast race to the next lunch spot 50 miles away

 

[MickyB]

Goodonya for coming to the rescue. Hope it doesn't bum you out for too long. Still gotta ride, carefully. Lots have had to rescue because lots take risks they don't need to. I still can't believe some of the cloths people wear on bikes. No protection at all. The mind boggles.

 

[Boog]

Sonny, thanks for taking care of the other rider. Even the un-smart riders deserve a friend in need. I figure I do not need to tell them how dumb they were, they probably have that one down by the time come to a stop.
The stress you feel now is something only you can over come. Being a Combat Rescue guy myself, I have seen many unfortunate sceens and I can't tell you how to deal with it. Each of us are different. You did the right thing in stopping to help him and may have given him more than first aid. You may have given him hope.
My hats off to you and I will lift my mug towards Oklahoma tonight as I salute you brother.