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My buddy went down!

thegreyman

Tuned and Synch'ed
Joined
Nov 15, 2012
Messages
54
Location
monterey
Aight folks-

Just wanted to sober everyone up. We all know as riders the dangers associated with our passion of riding motorcycles. That said it is good to send a friendly reminder from time to time. A very good friend of mine was in s serious wreck today. This happened during morning traffic here in Monterey ( pretty small town) yet it happened. He was travelling roughly 35MPH and now is the hospital with a broken neck ( C5, C6, C7). He is having major surgery tomorrow.

The Rider:
35years old, 10 years of riding experience, mostly knee draggers, lots of track time. Rode all over Europe while he was in the military on a BMW 1000rr.

The Bike:
08 Kawasaki 636. Interestingly enough we rode yesterday and after riding the Griso, he was going to sell his ninja and buy a Griso.

The Accident:
Aprox 0705hrs. Downtown monterey. Rider was on the left lane of a two lane city road, the car in front him was going too slow, so he accelerated and changed lanes, merged onto the right lane. As he was merging ( 35mph) the car in front of him slammed his breaks ( reason unknown). Rider hit both brakes veered right and slammed into a parked car ( streets are tight in Monterey). Apparently he went topside and feel over the parked car. Rider was wearing full face helmet, jacket, gloves, riding pants. No damage to his body- seems all trauma was sustained in his neck.

Overall his spirits are up. Surgery tommorrow, he is already talking about which color Griso to purchase :D

I am not gonna lie I am little rattled. This is my 3rd friend to get seriously injured in the past 2 years.

Be Careful folks
 
Hope the surgery goes well and has a speedy recovery. Glad he's still thinking of the Griso. :)

We're lucky everyday we ride and make it home safe. It's been 3 years since my last spill knock wood. Maybe the self driving car technology is gonna be a good thing, since driving skill requirements will never be raised to improve safety.

Greyman, did you ever sign up on the NorCal guzzi usergroup?
 
Sorry to hear about your friend's misfortune. Every time we hear of an accident it is truly sobering. However I try to analyze what happened, to use as a learning experience. Correct me if i am wrong but it appears your buddy was on a 4 lane road, driving in the fast lane behind a slow moving car. You didn't mention what the speed limit was on the road. Not trying to be a monday morning quarterback, but rather looking at every accident with a critical eye helps us all learn. It seems he may have been following too close, accelerated while he glanced over his right shoulder when the driver of the car stopped. He then sees the brake lights as he is closing in on the rear of the car, slams the brakes and attempts to drive around, only to lose control. I see far too many bikes following way too close and this is precisely the type of accident that happens far too often and why when I start to get impatient i remind myself of incidents like these and back off. All the best to him and hope he has a speedy recovery.
 
Not being there but sounds like he startled the driver. Many times I have been caught when out of the blue someone is on my ass. We have to remember we don't have a cage and bags to protect us. I hope for a speedy recovery.


Just to add - Cagers have to many distractions now a days. Could have been texting, drinking their morning Joe, make up, searching for the next song on their ipod. I treat them all like deer on the side of the road.
 
That's terrible--I sure hope for a speedy recovery for him. I was in a pretty bad wreck two years ago. I'm just now getting back on a bike as of a couple months ago. Dude that hit me swerved quickly from the left lane through me and my lane to make an illegal right as I was passing (going 45 or so). Messed up my knee. I was staying pretty far back (going 35) and watching his head (he was in a single cab pickup), and timed my pass, but he just turned super hard right literally without looking, right into me. I swore off riding because of such drivers but just bought a couple of bikes--life is too boring on four wheels.

I rode to work today and the car in front of me sat at a red light, it turned green, it turned red again, then it turned green again before he went. I didn't honk just to watch the spectacle (entering downtown Austin). Amazing. It's dangerous out there. My knee hurts every day to remind me. Sure hope your buddy's neck heals.
 
oceanluvr30 said:
Sorry to hear about your friend's misfortune. Every time we hear of an accident it is truly sobering. However I try to analyze what happened, to use as a learning experience. Correct me if i am wrong but it appears your buddy was on a 4 lane road, driving in the fast lane behind a slow moving car. You didn't mention what the speed limit was on the road. Not trying to be a monday morning quarterback, but rather looking at every accident with a critical eye helps us all learn. It seems he may have been following too close, accelerated while he glanced over his right shoulder when the driver of the car stopped. He then sees the brake lights as he is closing in on the rear of the car, slams the brakes and attempts to drive around, only to lose control. I see far too many bikes following way too close and this is precisely the type of accident that happens far too often and why when I start to get impatient i remind myself of incidents like these and back off. All the best to him and hope he has a speedy recovery.


So he was on a 4 lane road. ( meaning he could only operate on two lanes, as the other two were opposite). He was on the left lane. The driver was going under the speed limit which was 25 MPH. Frustrated he accelerated and merged to the right lane. He was apparently very close to the car in front of him- which subsequently slammed his breaks. My buddy slammed both of his brakes, he rear wheel locked up and he starts to lose control ( his speed at the time of hitting the breaks were 35MPH). He veered right and normally would have been okay, he might have a had his bike on the sidewalk, but that would have been okay, except as he veered right- boom! Parked car. Which in this case equals a broken neck. Crazy thing is that he was only traveling around 35MPH and probably slower ( cause be breaked) at the time of impact. Very sobering.


lessons learned:

1) dont be impatient- relax
2) do not tailgate
3) anticipate a cager doing something wrong and have an exit plan ( easier said that done).
 
Rafael said:
Hope the surgery goes well and has a speedy recovery. Glad he's still thinking of the Griso. :)

We're lucky everyday we ride and make it home safe. It's been 3 years since my last spill knock wood. Maybe the self driving car technology is gonna be a good thing, since driving skill requirements will never be raised to improve safety.

Greyman, did you ever sign up on the NorCal guzzi usergroup?


Rafael-

I sure did! But I am not a big fan on being on a naked bike on the interstate for very long. I am more of a backroad- the road less travelled kinda guy. Not sure how often I will make to the Sunday rides in San Jose. As I live 90 miles away from you guys.
 
thegreyman said:
I will make to the Sunday rides in San Jose. As I live 90 miles away from you guys.

The flock heads out your way once in a while, make sure to hook up with us then. I'm a back roads junky too, make sure to check out the Visalia NAR posted in the Southwest section the forum. The Sierra roads that Jamileh and Dave lead us on are the best!

Update us on your buddy's progress. A long time acquaintance of mine suffered major neck injuries twice and he still rides even after a third major accident.

As for accident analysis, I do plenty of that with my own experience. Nothing like a good fright to reset your caution and alertness skill. My latest rule to try to keep myself out of trouble, like greyman's friend, is to ask my self, If I go down was it worth it? Guess it's akin to risk benefit analysis. In other words, I'm more cautious, play out escape scenarios, in my head around cagers and let her rip, within my abilities, when I'm out on our fabulous back roads. One of my early adopted axioms is; It's always my fault, even when it the other guys fault.
thegreyman said:
3) anticipate a cager doing something wrong and have an exit plan
,cause my mind reading abilities failed :S
 
Rafael-

Yea the NAR sounds good. If anyone wants to venture with me on my route. I will be taking Hwy 1 to 156 to Hollister. From Hollister I will take 25 to 198 to Visalia. Look like a wicked route that avoids I5 and 101, which are no fun.

cheers
 
thegreyman said:
Just wanted to sober everyone up. We all know as riders the dangers associated with our passion of riding motorcycles. That said it is good to send a friendly reminder from time to time. A very good friend of mine was in s serious wreck today. This happened during morning traffic here in Monterey ( pretty small town) yet it happened.
Sorry to hear this, but thanks for posting. A good mindset is 90% of the healing process. Glad to hear it sounds like he'll recover. I've ridden a big handful of times in Monterey, both around the GP/AMA races and well outside. I have to say that downtown Monterey has some of the most aggressive careless drivers I've found in the State. Not sure why.
 
Sad to hear of your friend's misfortune.

2) do not tailgate

I listened to a radio programme a while back which interviewed 2 experienced coroners. At the end of the programme they were both asked what lessons their job had taught them:

1) Do not go up ladders on your own
2) DO NOT TAILGATE!

I hope you don't take this as preaching, but as suggested by the tone of one or two of the responses, advanced rider training, while not fool-proof, will enlarge your 'safety-bubble' by increasing your awareness of what's going on around you and also help you 'read' what the cagers around you are doing and about to do. A by-product of advanced training is, I've found as have my friends, the ability to 'get it on' (Make Progress - in the jargon) even faster. PS, most of us do track-days too - but not on my Stelvio...
 
I was out and about riding today in traffic with a lot of what we call in Florida, snowbird drivers, tourist who are more interested in site-seeing than paying attention to their driving and one of the things i do not hear other riders do a lot but which i do religiously, is to blow my horn multiple times whenever i am passing someone on the right or left, unless i am positively sure they have seen me in their rearview, and even then i proceed with the utmost caution. I don't care if it is annoying to some; i would rather get their attention then find out later they didn't see me....
 
Sorry here this.
Shit happens to the best.
All my best to family and friends.
Tell him I just bought a Griso and he'll love when he's all recovered.
Don't let it get you down, you have a mate who needs his spirits lifted.

Harry
 
In 1980 I had a huge car accident , in a car . Smashed my left knee into a mosaic . Surgeons said it will never work again as a joint , let alone bend . When I got out of hospital I bought a Pushbike . I taped my left foot to the pedal with insulation tape .It used to 'Jack' me up off the seat as I pedalled along crying in pain . Today I ride anything with two wheels , my leg bends because it has to !!
Your friend will recover, the human body is brilliant if you allow it to fix itself and dont give up on yourself .
He will ache , sure , but let the fun continue. I reckon that when my leg aches , I must have just had a good time to cause it .
And so the wheel of recovery goes around , I been riding motorcycle since 1966 and crashed twice without injury, many 100's of 1000's of kilometers.
I dont like cars though , bloody unpredictable people operate them and they are not concerned about motorcyclists.
Good luck , Supaflee
 
Dang, Monterey is such a beautiful city too. I've visited the aquarium there. Sorry to hear about your buddy. It happens to the best of us all the time. I ride pretty vigilent too and make sure I know everything thats around me. It takes accidents to keep us on our toes and not mess around.

Was your buddy wearinga full on jacket with armor orjust an natural jacket?
A broken neck is tough...
 
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