went down (and not in a good way)

[Don Plumley]

The next thing Todd will hit will be a large plant: Mineral, Animal, Vegetable...

[tabs]

Saying "***** happens" won't change the fact that next time U might be dead. DO U NEED TO TAKE THE RISK. Why not just go to a Shooting Gallery in Harlem and take a hit of H from a dirty needle... that'll work.

Here is another one Boyz and Girls...all those injuries U sustain in your life come back and haunt U when U get old and start falling apart. At 40 U have reached the halfway point in your life, and from there it is ALL DOWNHILL. Now some of us get to stretch it out till 90 or better, but most are finished by 78. So when U get injured its just one more nail in the coffin.

[nostatic]

leave it to tabs to be mr. happy. I know about the long-term toll of injuries. I've got various sports injuries that now at 44 have turned into chronic naggers. I'm sure there will be residual from this crash (my ribs are just now starting to hurt). And in all likelyhood I'm done with motorcycles. But there also needs to be a balance. One cannot live in bubble wrap. Life is for living so you need to carefully pick and choose your risks, and for those things that you do choose, stack the odds as far in your favor as possible. You can bet that once I'm driving again all of the performance mods on my car are on infinite hold. The only thing I'm spending money on is more safety gear. And even with that I need to reconsider my priorities and figure out what a reasonable race plan/schedule will be.

The universe sends us lessons. We have to try and make sense of them, then implement what we learned. Evidently I'm dense, and need more "obvious" lessons

Just got to get rehabbed enough to get back to doing tai chi. Looks like I'll end up teaching the lower ranks in kung fu from crutches too, so at least I'm in the game. And as long as I can get to the gig, I can still play music. Life marches on, just gotta try to rest, then keep up.

[}{arlequin]

geez todd, what a turn of events. glad to hear both of you are in good spirits and (increasingly) better health. if anything, think of it as a bonding experience for you and the girl. you never know...

sometimes you don't have a lot of choices in such situations, nor room to maneuver. it might as well have been a deer and the impact much more dangerous.

you've had a good run on two wheels and got to experience the joys of riding as well as the pains. that's much more than many other bikers can say so it's just another activity that you've had under your belt. it's much more important to be around for the ones that love you than to continue such hobbies.

from personal experience after shredding my knees (without any external 'help') i can only suggest that the only painless way to shower is to fill the tub and sit in it w/ your knees sticking out. though i'm sure you'll figure this out

best wishes for speedy recovery!

[Rodeo]

[dd74]

Originally posted by tabs
Saying "***** happens" won't change the fact that next time U might be dead. DO U NEED TO TAKE THE RISK. Why not just go to a Shooting Gallery in Harlem and take a hit of H from a dirty needle... that'll work.

Here is another one Boyz and Girls...all those injuries U sustain in your life come back and haunt U when U get old and start falling apart. At 40 U have reached the halfway point in your life, and from there it is ALL DOWNHILL. Now some of us get to stretch it out till 90 or better, but most are finished by 78. So when U get injured its just one more nail in the coffin.

I think everyone on this board has enough intelligence to realize that, Tabs. We all have various bad habits and uncalculated risks. Buffet abuse is just one, if you know what I mean.

[Highlander179]

ouch! sorry dude, maybe if you were riding a beemer ....

j/k

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Riding a bike still beats sitting in the effin' traffic in this town. . .

I guess it's too early to say "get back on the horse" but here's to hoping you both recover quickly and fully (first of all) and that you get to ride another day. . .

As a fellow "bike commuter" this kind of hits close to home. I'm really glad you guys were able to walk away from something like that. You never know where or when - I guess when it's your time it's your time. Fortunately it wasn't yours.

Heal quickly!

[JavaBrewer]

Well crap Todd, first my friend Marco and now you. And we never got a chance to ride together. Marco t-boned a pickup turning left in front of him and wound up with internals and fractured everything on the right side of his body.

I'm very glad to hear you and the g/f are not seriously injured. Very fortunate outcome considering the circumstances. I have never ridden my bike at night as I consider the lack of vision unacceptable risk, just like riding in the rain. Never will do that either. Actually I don't drive my car at night any more as my nightime vison is not the best and...I was a bartender once and know that once the sun goes down the drunks get more populous.

Best of luck the re-hab for both you and the g/f. Seriously glad you're ok.

[tabascobobcat]

It was all Bush's fault!!!!
Mul sends his regards for a speedy recovery.

[MMARSH]

TODD

Very sorry to read about your accident. I Don't post here to much these days but wanted to wish you and the girlfriend a quick recovery.

Obviously, getting back on the bike is a personal decision. But I don't agree with some that say riding a bike is suicidal.( It can be, but so can driving a car or walking down the street it just depends on how you do it ) I'm one of those guys that questions whether I'm truly living life if I don't do something that I really love to do.

As a motorcycle cop, when I leave the house in the morning and kiss my two little girls good bye, I always wonder if this will be the last time I see them. I've attended two motorcycle cops funeral's this year. One was a member of my department. It really makes you pause and think. But the reality is, I know someone who has been injured or killed doing every activity I do. I don't know, should I quit my job, stop riding bikes, stop racing cars. I choose to continue to do all those things and just try to stack the odds in my favour. When the time comes that I don't truly love it anymore, I'll get off the bike. Maybe it will take a really big crash to make me not love it anymore.

I've been down a couple of times on my personal bikes over the years. Last year being the most recent on the 14 fwy. at about 70 MPH. Thankfully, no injuries. Totalled my jacket, but I continue to wear those same riding pants and boots. Got on the work bike and rode to work the next day. Over the last four years, I have put a little over 30k a year on work bikes and and another 20k on my personal bikes. I ride some sort of motorcycle everyday.

I guess a person can find a sign in anything they want to find a sign in, I just think the sign to you was that you weren't really happy with the Duc anyway and should just get an Aprilia.


Hope you and your Girlfriend are feeling better soon. Take care.

[snowman]

A couple of people have already mentioned getting back on the horse again. Its probably a good idea to do so, even if you decide to quit riding everyday.

So in conclusion, bikers pick bugs off their teeth, what do they pick the coyotes off from?

[Superman]

Couple of comments:

The balancing of treatment strategies for both physical and emotional pain is an iterative process. Once the vicadin has started working, alcohol should be judiciously introduced until either more vicadin is obviously required, or greater alcohol saturation. I think you understand this procedure. Of course, you can also use alcohol topically, but that hurts. I recommend applying the alcohol to the wound from the INSIDE.

I hit a car with a motorcycle once. Pretty exciting.

You guys were lucky. Somebody likes you. We're not sure why, but somebody does. ;-)

It is AMAZING to me how accurate the human mind is when it comes to making snap decisions. It sounds like you did not have time to maneuver the bike much, but maybe you could have and subconsciously chose not to. After the initional collision, I suspect you did some things that were brilliant. In retrospect. I think I have never ever heard of someone in a snap-decision vehicular accident situation make a choice that, under careful subsequent scrutiny, was not the absolute best and only decision(s) that could have been made. It seems we always do exactly the only and best thing that could have been done.

And finally.........my best wishes are with you in your recovery. We're glad Pelicanparts does not have to choose a new Moderator.

[JavaBrewer]

Vicadin messes with my sleep (psychotic dreams and I wake up tired) and the bowl movements. Start taking laxatives now if you plan on using it. I'm sure after a few days you'll be looking to get off the stuff quick. Motrin or any over the counter IBU works well if you load up on it.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

^-- What David said re: Vicodin! Citrucel will make your life a whole lot easier.

I've always ridden w/ just jeans (+ helmet, gloves, jacket, boots) here in AZ. Wore chaps all the time in NY. Guess it's time to find some pants that'll fit over my jeans. Or maybe an Aerostitch suit...always had a hankering for one of them.

[nostatic]

The Alpinestars Airflow textile pants are great. They fit over other pants and are pretty cool. I think they have enough toughness to make it through.

I wish I had video of the bike getting hit. It was serious hollywood stuff.

So far no issues with the vicodin. I'm running out though Luckily I've got a stash of tramadol

[motion]

Jeeeeeez, Todd. Just read about your incident. I've been out at Willow Springs for the weekend thrashing the Aprilia.

I hope you and the girlfriend mend quickly and painlessly. That was an amazing story... could have been much worse. You two were fortunate. What are the chances of hitting a coyote on the 405? This one has to be classified as a freak accident. Sounds to me like you need to get that Aprilia and climb back on Re-set the clock a few days back, so to speak. What are the chances you'll hit another coyote and go down?

[Don Ro]

Originally posted by BlueSkyJaunte
[B...maybe an Aerostitch suit...always had a hankering for one of them. [/B]

Get the Hi-Vis YELLOW...I dare ya.
.
If to do over again, I would...they're goofy cool.
And.......Hi-Vis!!!

[speeder]

Originally posted by motion
What are the chances of hitting a coyote on the 405?

I didn't want to say it on the beginning of the thread, but what are the chances of hitting a chunk of concrete and a coyote on the 405?? Both times the guy is doing absolutely nothing wrong and WHAM!!(?) I've never heard of anyone hitting either of those things on an LA freeway, and I've heard a lot of crash stories over the years.

I will say that when driving cross-country in recent years, hitting a deer is by far my biggest fear. Practically my only one. And that is in a car. I would not ride a bike on an American highway at night anymore, the deer population is out of control from Pennsylvania/NJ to Utah and the entire west. I see them everywhere, dead and alive, on road trips. Freaks the crap out of me, and I'm not a nervous driver otherwise. I like going 100 mph on empty highways.

Mike M., I mostly agree about doing what we love or what's the point, but like you say, you need to stack the deck wherever possible. Every time I see a news story about a LASD shot I get a terrible lump in my throat until I read that it's not you or David I., and of course it sucks no matter who it is. I know that you have a good survival instinct + lady luck to make it through a war, auto racing w/ your lead foot and your job w/o getting hurt, but be careful bud.

[Paul T]

Wow, what a story! So glad you and your gf made it our relatively ok - sounds like it could have been much, much worse. I had been thinking lately about maybe getting a bike again and incidents like this make me think twice. Hope you both heal fast..