Reason to wear Full-Face Helmet:
Reason to wear Jacket & Gloves:
Hope I didn't gross anyone out.
My Tale of Stupidity:
Monday this week I ride to work, wearing jacket, gloves, & helmet.
I had to park on an incline, so I shut it off with the
handlebar switch to leave it in gear.
I forgot to turn the key off and drained my battery.
My buddy and I bump-started it and I went about a quarter
of a mile down the road and back to make sure it wouldn't stall.
At this point I'm just wearing jeans, t-shirt and sunglasses.
My buddy says, "Go take a ride, charge the battery."
I say, "Let me get my helmet & wallet first."
I get on the highway (I-95) and go about 10 minutes down the road to I-595 where I want to turn around and head back.
The I-595 off ramp is about 3 miles long.
After about 2 miles the are two cars, one in the left lane
with four-way flashers on, and one beside it
stopped dead in the road.
I hit the brakes, the front wheel locked up, and the bike
went down on its right side and slid, no flipping.
I was doing about 60 when I hit the deck.
I hit on my right side first and, thankfully, did not slide.
As best as I can recall, I flipped over seven times.
I kept seeing ground, sky, ground, sky.
When I finally came to a stop, I did the world's fastest
get-off-the-road stumble/run.
Then, with the help of the guy in the car behind me,
picked up the bike.
My injuries are bruises on my right thigh and big toe,
and road rash on both palms, right fingertips,
both forearms, left abs, and chest. I have on a lovely gauze
and tape bra, sure to be the newest fad. I also have two scraped knees.
They gave me a CAT scan and I have
no internal injuries.
The only thing wrong with the bike is two broken turn signals,
scraped front brake lever, scraped front & rear footpegs and brake pedal, and broken throttle cable.
I was even able to ride it home yesterday from the tow yard.
If I had been wearing the jacket and gloves that I wore to work that morning,
all I would have would be the bruises and the scraped knees.
As you can see from the pic, I hit face-first, without the
full-face helmet I'd be dead.
Me, Mr. "Operation: Sav-A-Newbie" making a stupid, rookie mistake.
Wear your gear, Moto Locos, I want you to live forever.
Brian
