Darwin Knocks me down a peg

[raindog]

Last Sunday at my buddy's farm for a big bbq we got a 20 gal. bin o' mudbugs Coonass! anyway he has a nice polaris ATV that we use to cruise around his 98 acres with. i wear all my gear when on my bike but for some reason never so muched as thought about it while cruising around the farm on the four wheeler. I believe that those four wheels gave all of us an illusion of safety. Anyway I jump on and am going for an after dinner ride around the farm which I have done a million times. I think I made it about 120 ft before I make a left turn on a slight slope of gravel that leads to his main road where we open a gate to get to the rest of the farm..approx speed 10 mph. Well I can't be sure exactly what happened but as soon as I start the turn something grabs and the uphill side of the bike is up in the air and tosses me down the gravel hill. All my weight 260lbs comes down on my right hand (no Glove)...atvf rolling down after me lands on right leg. I do the adrenaline yank to get my leg out and stand up wondering WTF just happened..I tell my wife who is opening the gate that I am ok and she informs me that actually I am not. Rambling now..the palm and pad of my right hand is flapping in the wind..lotsa blood lotsa gravel in there...I go into a nice little shock while mother in law wraps up hand takes me for the 20 min. ride to the nearest ER with wife in tow. Oregon coast is not known for it's fantastic medical facilities..let's leave it at that. 6 hours in the er..being cleand and stiched..heavy pain meds..then bad..bad infection..creeping up the arm...3 different antibiotics...blah blahblah..infection going down some but big hole in hand still fucked...Monday 3.5 hour drive to portland to see a hand specialist to redo the hack job I got at the er which by the by nver even x-rayed the hand. I am super lucky I didn't hit my head and other than the hand only have a really bad sprain on my ankle and hole leg full of nice yellow and purple bruises. Had I been wearin my MC gear..I think I would have been just fine. I wasn't zipping around and i wasn't drunk..but I did suffer from the illusion that those four wheels were safe for some reason..and now i think of all the people who have ridden his atv up there and none of them ever even wear gloves..I think my little spill may have changed that for them. I was amazed at how much damage I was able to do to myself at such a low speed and I cringe thinking about the times I have zipped around the farm at a pretty good pace...lesson learned.
Hoping to heal up fast enough for a 3 day ride into central Oregon in mid August but it ain't looking good right now.

[dragoon]

Damn Dog! Sorry to hear about your wreck. I do the same thing though. Just cruise the farm 99% of the time no gear. Maybe you just helped a fellow ADVrider.
Heal fast!

[RockyRaccoon]

Wow, glad it wasn't worse. Amazing what can happen sometimes in seemingly benign situations.

[figment]

Glad you're on the road to recovery! Best wishes from this end on just a little character (scar) that remains. Keep a sharp eye on the infection situation!

[fish]

drizzlepup...I'm so sorry to hear this. But like Goony said, maybe your incident will prevent someone else from making the same mistake. Very glad it wasn't worse. Good luck getting the hand mended. I've also thought the quads provided an extra measure of safety, but you disproved that perception!


Little sidebar...last week I got an email from a riding buddy of mine. He's an ATGATT kinda guy too...street and dirt. Well, it seems that he was on a 3 foot tall ladder changing out an exterior lightbulb, lost his balance and fell down on a brick planter. No broken bones, but a couple of nasty sprains and brick planter rash on his arm and ribcage.

For those of us that are usually very careful, the worst seems to happen when you least expect it.

[Rubber Cow]

'Oly Cow Raindog,
That's old age creeping up on you!
I hope you heal fast.
BTW, Fellow Advrider Deacon and I are going to be in your neck of the woods next Wednesday morning on our way down to the Sierra gathering.
PM me and give me the location of your shop, that is, if you're going to be working. We'll stop in and check out the wounds. We promise not to stare at, grope, talk to or generally harass any of your customers!
Cheers,
Jorge

[Rad]

Glad yur ok....sort of

Quads what's up with dem, just got back from Hollister hills off road park and everybody there was in all the gear execpt for a handful of quad kids..tennis shoes, shorts, t-shirts

[thwack]

Said Rad:
Glad yur ok....sort of

Quads what's up with dem, just got back from Hollister hills off road park and everybody there was in all the gear execpt for a handful of quad kids..tennis shoes, shorts, t-shirts

Last time I went to Hollister Hills, they had to lifeflight out a quad rider...seems his quad decided to ride him instead of the other way around. Couple of broken ribs, suspected broken arm, etc...bleh.

Raindog got off light compared to what could've happened.

Thwack

[Retro]

That will teach you--- 2 wheels-Good --- 4 wheels Bad. I never feel safe on those things. You feel so stable, and then they bite you hard. They also always seem to roll over on you or flip over on you, or squash you somehow. My father in law keeps talking about getting one for some land we have, and I keep telling him no thanks, and don't even think about taking one of my daughters on that thing. My girls will get proper 2 wheeled cycles as soon as they can flat foot from the seat, but there will be no quads.