| Words from the Rider of this bike .... Actually, I was being deliberately safe. Had been running at about 80 on my K1200RS going to Scotty's Castle and was a watching the dust rooster tail in my mirrors. Decided that that was too fast for conditions and since I had not been to Death Valley before, was missing the scenery. Dropped down to about 65, saw a sign that said 60 slowed more, saw a leo type Park ranger we waved at each other. Flat road, dusty, some wet spots, a little mud here and there. Came up on a right hander with mud in my lane, dry on the other lane, but an approaching car made it safer to stay in my lane rather than swerve around the puddle. I had run through some mud in a few places before, no problem, not thick and cars had been rolling through. Rolled off the throttle, was only doing 55-60 at best, touched some brake before I hit the mud, got off them and aimed for the tire track of a car that had gone before, everything looked passable, but alas, the mud must have been deeper than I anticipated. Major tank slap, one, two, three, toss. Slammed down really hard. Took a shot to the head, bright light, insta pain, then slammed my back and right side, must have bounced, recall another shot to the head, not as hard. Came to a rest feeling what I imagine most serious bikers feel at such moments. Embarrassment and remorse for hurting my stead. Actually I was trying to get my breath back. K-bike was idling happily on it's side. Took a few minutes to gather myself enough to go turn it off. Felt like I had trashed some ribs and was going to tough it out but remembered Brown Ant. Figure I had hit hard enough and was in enough pain that I might have punctured a lung or spleen or something so under an abundance of caution, I let the ambulance take me away. Didn't realize that the closest hospital was Vegas...two and a half hours away. That ambulance bill is gonna hurt. Result is two maybe three fractured or cracked ribs. Why the Doc's cannot tell is beyond me with all the x-rays they took. ATGATT -Jarrow Helmet. Took two shots that would have incapacitated me for sure. Helmet is ruined but performed excellently. Had a headache and blurred vision for 15 -20 minutes is all. No subsequent head aches at all. Good job jarrow. Suit. Savannah Two. No tears at all, no road rash at all. Slammed down hard enough on my back that there is an imprint of the internal amour on the outside of the jacket. Jacket and pants did their job, but will be going for a little better back protection. Lonely feeling being down in the middle of nowhere by yourself.. Then some guy came along as they were putting me in the ambulance and offered to take my bike back to camp. Ah ah! If it gets back then someone will recognize the bike and all will be ok. Knew then that the bike and my gear would be taken care of. Arrrgghhh riders would take care of my gear and Osii had room in his trailer for one more bike. Because that is the kind of people you guys are! Thank you all for the help, the emails, the pms and good wishes. |
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