Pelican down and broken.

[Cyndy]

Originally Posted by FastGaas

I broke my collar bone into 3 pieces and snapped 3 ribs in a high side get-off at Thunderhill racetrack in CA on my r1100s. I totally feel for you, I remember lying on the ground and once I got some air into my lungs (short sips of air at first) I said "fu***&^%%^k that hurt!!"

Best wishes recovery to you. I remember it didn't hurt much unless I moved

Worst was when I got home from the hospital (my buddies took me there and home) my wife looked at me and said "You Fu$%&*king idiot" and went to the bedroom and locked the door. Left me alone in the family room to sleep sitting up in a lazy boy (I could not lay down anyway). Lots of time to think, filed for divorce 3 months later.

So while the crash hurt on many levels. I'm a better man and have no regrets. New wife, fixed bike, and a bit more wiser (damm ribs still hurt once in a while).

Take care. Once the bones set the pain reduces.
-Henrik

Oh geez, this is funny! Hopefully, it was you who filed and dumped the broad or as I read it, The Princess (stupid, stupid selfish girls, in other words) ! But, this thread is about Owen. I sincerely hope you heal and get back on the two wheeler. We know when we start out anything can happen, and in your case it happened, so, as everyone above as stated, chump it up, heal and then get back into the saddle. Regards, Cyndy, an older, wiser, brunette woman.

[Droptarotter]

Regards, Cyndy, an older, wiser, brunette woman.[/QUOTE]

Why the distinction?
Cheers

[martincito]

Have a fast recovery Owen. I hope the pain is gone soon and you can go back to riding. No one of those freaking fast and beautiful Ducati's though.

I'm glad you don't have to pay (besides the 1% of your income) for the hospitalization. Here many people prefer to pay between 5 and 15 % of their income to the insurance companies.

[OwenM]

Greetings to all,
I am out of hospital and recovering well, obviously my bones are not healed yet but with the bruising mostly gone I am much more comfortable, it’s now just a waiting game while bones glue them selves back together. With any luck I should be almost as good as new in a couple of months, but I was told I am now more likely to suffer from arthritis in my shoulder in future years. Worst case is I may require a shoulder joint replacement in 20 years but it should be a very simply procedure by then so I’m not concerned.

As for the accident, it’s clean what happened. The situation was a high speed down hill sweeping left hand turn as an approach to a tighter left hander. As the tighter turn is approached sighting through it is obstructed by trees and since I did not know the road my instinct was to brake hard to wash off speed before committing to it. The brakes on the 1098 are incredible powerful and only a moment on the anchors is enough to drop you out of hyperspace even with only two fingers on the short Pazzo Racing lever. The Duc’s ability to shed huge amounts of speed with no effort or fuss is one of it’s great assets and is very confidence inspiring.
As a habit of many years (good or bad) I always use both front and rear brakes together, very little force is applied to the rear and I have never had rear lock up problems on any bike since 1978. On the R12S I did manage to activate the rear ABS and have the tale drift around on several occasions when riding fast but that was due to the massive engine braking of the high compression boxer rather than strong rear braking force.
Like most sports bikes the 1098 rear brake is not very powerful, its quite similar to the R12S and I never experienced any lock up issues, probably because the Ducati V twin does not have the massive engine breaking of the boxer.

Back to the accident situation, just after the point in the sweeping corner where I applied the brakes there is a dip or change in the road level, this dip though not large caused enough forward weight transfer when combined with the front braking force to lift the rear wheel off the road or remove all downward force and grip. Since the bike was already banking left in the high speed sweeper the rear of the bike slid out to the right instantly, pivoting around the front contact patch. Once the dip was passed the suspension forced the rear wheel back into contact with the road but by now the bike was travelling sideways and an immediate high side ensued. The time laps between applying the brakes and disaster appeared to be virtually nil, there was no perceptible slide of time delay at all, one second I was on the bike and the next I was off.
I have crashed bikes before and in most cases events could be played back in my mind in slow motion but not this time, the only similar experience I have had is a front wheel lock up which also resulted in an instant off.

The question was raised would ABS have prevented this event, well that’s hard to say. Since the rear brake was applied, when grip was lost at the rear the rear wheel should have slowed down relative to the front and the ABS would have seen that. Releasing the rear brake would have achieved little so the system would have had to work out that releasing the front was required to get the rear down and do it fast enough to prevent the back stepping out and causing the high side. Is ABS really that good I don’t know.
The fact that the Ducati is very light, has low mass wheels and a short 1430mm wheel base mean that it changes direction very quickly and is relatively easy to get one wheel in the air, this significantly reduces the time available for an ABS (if fitted) to detect a situation and correct it, still I would much rather have ABS than be without it, lack of ABS was one of the compromises I had the make when going with the 1098S.

I knew that riding a superbike in even close to the manner its maker intended was a risk and that lack of ABS increased risk further. Looking back I don’t regret my time with the 1098 it was the highest performing and most fun bike I have ever experienced, and in many ways more like an extension of my body than simply a motorcycle. My only regret is that we did not have more time together.

As soon as I am able I will be back in the saddle of the R12RT, but after using up more than one of my lives in this incident I need to enjoy motorcycling at a slower pace, something the RT excels at.

I did mention that I was wearing an airbag jacket and some expressed an interest in it. Airbag jackets are not new, a Japanese company named Mugen Denco Co. Ltd. was first to release the Hit Air range of wearable air bags.
My jacket was made by Rivet, a manufacturer of motorcycle clothing; it apparently uses a Hit Air airbag system. I purchased it almost two years ago for less than the price of a similar Rivet none air bag jacket. Apparently people where not interested in buying air bag jackets and they where on sale cheap. A couple of months ago when looking for gear for my wife I managed to find the same jackets still on sale and purchased one for her and another spare one for myself at half the price I had paid 2 years earlier, unbelievable.

The air bag is designed to protect the neck and spine in an off. It is trigged by a lanyard that is attached to the bike. When you part company with the bike in an accident the lanyard is pulled triggering a gas canister contained within the jacket, this instantly inflates a ring around the neck and a protector for the spine. 30kg of force is required to trigger the gas so you are very unlikely to set it off unintentionally. The gas canister can be replaced and the air bag is reusable.
Like a seat belt you do have to remember to connect the lanyard when you get on the bike and disconnect when you get off, but just like a seat belt you get used to it.
Apart from the safety features the jacket is well made, very comfortable and practical, highly recommended.

http://www.speedsports.com.au/trader.asp?id=5161

Everything I was wearing was destroyed in the accident but it did a very good job of protecting me, the usual knees, elbows, hips and hands suffered some bruising but little abrasion. My right forearm did suffer a nasty gash due to the sleave of my jacket getting pulled up by friction and exposing my flesh but I cant complain as I have suffered much more skin damage in much lower speed offs wearing the standard leather jacket and jeans I used to wear in my motorcycling youth. What did shock me was the damage to my helmet and boots. I did not even know I hit my head on the road but the deep scars on my helmet tell the story. My heavy leather riding boots where also worn right through from the very abrasive gravel type road surface and even with the boots I suffered a compression fracture of my big toe, without the boots my foot would be mush.
One thing is certain, if I were not wearing a helmet I would be dead and had I not been wearing full protective riding gear like some idiots I see on the road I would be facing months of skin grafts and future disfigurement. The foolishness of some young riders is staggering; there first off could easily be their last.


Here is sweeping down hill section leading to the tighter left hander, the camera is about at the braking point.




Here the camera is facing into the tighter left hand corner; the dip in the road is not visible in the photos, it could be next to the camera




Here is where the bike and I ended up, I was about 30’ off the road. Man am I glad I did not hit anything.




Note that the foot peg has been bent back into the expensive polished 70mm Termi pips and then forward as the bike spun around, damaging the frame. The lanyard for the air bag jacket can be seen centre of picture






She still has a beautiful side that no S100RR will ever compete with, Ducati designs are works of art.






Broken fairing support frame and just visible is broken bracket for steering damper.

[OwenM]

I promised pictures, now you have them curtesy of a very supportive old friend. I have not returned to the scene, been kind tied up so to speak.

[chewie]

Thanks for the report Owen. Glad you're out and on the mend!

Funny, when I had a high side two years ago, due to exactly the same thing, a guy behind me that saw it all said "You could have just rode around the corner!"

Just goes to show how powerful our Survival Reactions are and how we tend to want to stop everything from happening rather than going with it and trusting the bikes ability to lean over and get through the corner.

Anyway, sorry to crap on, hindsight is an exact science eh?

Take it easy bro!

Best Wishes on a continued speedy recovery!!

Jon

[OwenM]

Yep, as it turned out I would have made it around the corner, but not knowing the road and not being able to see through the corner made me want to loose speed just in case, it’s damned if you do and damned if you don’t sort of think.

The Duc was so bloody fast that it was a real mental effort to stay in front of the game, one distraction or laps in concentration and you get behind and that could get very scary. Everything happened quite bit slower on the R12S which made it safer but less of a blast.
I used to say f***********************ck in my helmet quite a lot when riding the Duc. I should have taken that as a warning but no use having a toy that you cant let loose.

[chewie]

speaking of helmets, ya did a pretty good job of it!



is that one goin' straight to the poolroom?

[OwenM]

The visor was fully closed yet it got ripped off in the crash which I found very unusual, it was recovered a day later by my mate. Shame it was a nice helmet.

[cageyar]

Originally Posted by OwenM

....As the tighter turn is approached sighting through it is obstructed by trees and since I did not know the road my instinct was to break hard to wash off speed before committing to it....

A great report and sobering as well. Your helmet and other equipment did a great job protecting you but for someone as experienced as yourself, the statement above stands out for me.
Perhaps because I'm a little old and slower, but a high commitment on entry on an unknown road is really tempting fate.
You don't need me to point anything out and it's none of my business. I'm not critisizing but since you made the above statement, I'm sure you realize the gravity of that action, Monday morning quarterbacking on my part aside.
Anyway, it's great to hear you're well on the way to recovery. Insurance takes the financial if not the physical pain away but it was a sweet bike. I see you still doing the sport riding thing at a sporting pace. You are very analytical and you'll figure out the line between reason and impropriety. I'd keep that Shoei on a shelf in plain sight to honor it's good performance and provide a little reminder.

[PFFOG]

Glad to hear you are on the mend. Also nice to know that, as I would, you went back and thoroughly investigated the cause of the mishap. Knowing what caused our mistakes is the only way to learn from them.

[dee jones]

Owen, thanks for the report. Glad your on the mend!! I will forward this over to some of the younger riders that I know. We all need to know that we're not bulletproof. Heal Fast.

[Guest24]

Owen, that's a great anatomy of a near tragedy. I'd be sending Shoei a big thank you note. Hope some of our bare head riding brothers will take note of what could have been. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

[EZ-RIDER]

God Speed on your recovery !

[Droptarotter]

Good report, Owen;

You are very lucky that you did not hit the stump or tree debris on the right and that the bike did not go into that shed.

If you keep the Duc...........just polish up the left side and put the right side against a wall......no one will know the difference.

About gear.................years ago we were on a tour...........very hot weather......but we all used full gear.........full face helmets......full leather suits or Aerostich.......gloves, boots..........we stopped at a pub for lunch............the pirate outfit and chain drive wallet boys were there..........they began asking us if we were hot in all the gear........asked how we could wear full face helmets.

One of them stated that if he ever crashed he would just put his hands in front of his face to protect his good looks.

That statement stuck with me as a week previous I had crashed my roadracer in turn 3 at Portland....a quick left hander......I did not even know I was down until I started tumbling in the grass.......the clutch had grabbed my left hand........a common thing........and dragged me across the track......My helmet looked similar to Owen's.......so how the hell would I have been able to protect my face in that crash?

I guess the only way some people will learn is if it happens to them?

Owen's report drives home the point of always wearing good gear........even for a 5 minute ride to get beer.

Thanks for the follow up, Owen.

Get well soon.

[Dana in Philly]

Just noticed this thread. Wow! Glad you made it OK, and are healing up. Jeez.

[Dana in Philly]

I like that airbag idea. Hmmm.....

[OwenM]

Originally Posted by Droptarotter

Good report, Owen;

You are very lucky that you did not hit the stump or tree debris on the right and that the bike did not go into that shed.

If you keep the Duc...........just polish up the left side and put the right side against a wall......no one will know the difference.

The photo is deceptive, the shed is 20 or 30 yards future back, even if I was travelling at 150mph I doubt the bike would slide that far. You are right about that stump though, there is typically plenty to hit ounce you get off the road as far as I did, bloody lucky.

While damage to the Duc is only superficial its expensive damage, so the bike is a write off.

[GotRoad?]

Owen, thanks for this sobering write up. In looking at the last road shot I'm assuming that the faint dashed line across the road was the trajectory of your bike. Where is the apex of the corner you were negotiating? It looks as if you were already on the inside of the corner?

[Dana in Philly]

Got Road -- LOL to the "I shot John Galt" tag line. (Don't tell Cageyar.) Didja see there are a couple of books just out about Rand, one a biography?