Passes & Canyons Blog

I have long been a critic of those in the non-motorcycle riding public who treat any crash involving a motorcycle as a “motorcycle crash.” OK, so the crash involved a motorcycle and a car. Why do you not call it a car/motorcycle crash? Calling it a motorcycle crash makes it sound like it was just the biker who did something stupid. When in fact, far too often, the stupid person is the person driving the car.

This is all about naming. Titles. Nomenclature.

So I was looking through the medical reports related to my recent head-on encounter with a drunk driver and it irked me to see this listing:

Problems
Injury of abdominal wall
Hematoma of subdural space of neuraxis
Laceration of left thumb
Motorcycle accident

Just as an aside, I have no idea what they are referring to as “Injury of abdominal wall.” This was the first I had heard of that. Is that internal? External? Beats me. One place I have not had any pain is in my stomach area. Go figure.

But there it was, fourth item on the list: Motorcycle accident. I can see how a lacerated thumb, bleeding on the brain, and some nebulous injury of the abdominal wall qualifies as a “problem.” It seems a little odd to include motorcycle accident in that particular list. Who knows. Maybe experienced trauma doctors know of a standard set of symptoms that are almost always connected to motorcyclists’ injuries, and this is just shorthand to tip them off.

I mean, when I was taken in for my second or third CT scan I talked with the tech about my thumb, among other things, and she said oh yeah, motorcyclists always seem to end up with injured thumbs and they always say that’s what hurts the most.

Anyway, just as an update, I’m doing much better. That nasty looking thumb I showed the picture of is now almost completely healed, although sometimes when I make some movement I have not been able to identify I get a sharp jolt of real pain shooting up on the outside. And if I try to open a tight jar lid that can hurt, too.

My right knee is now largely pain free but sometimes I do get jolts of pain there, too. And my right side (bruised ribs, I presume) continue to ache.

The other thing that I’m not sure about yet is the subdural hematoma, the brain bleed. They did three CT scans on me while I was in the ER and then said I should have a follow-up done two weeks later. I did, and the following day they called to tell me they wanted another follow-up in another two weeks. And after that they want me to come in and they will show me the scan results and discuss what they’re seeing. I’m not getting all wrought up over it but I do wonder if this means there is some problem that may require further treatment. Worst case scenario: brain surgery. God, I hope not! I’ll know on Thursday.

Biker Quote for Today

Why just drive when you can ride?

What is it like to be on the receiving end of that phone call? The one where a police officer or some other emergency services person calls to tell you your husband or wife or whoever is not where you thought they were, but are instead in the emergency room somewhere?

I asked Judy that question after my recent head-on with a car. At least when the news is not all that bad, apparently the call can be handled pretty well.

In Judy’s case, the phone rang and she didn’t recognize the number but I guess caller ID identified it as the Littleton PD so she picked up. Then the officer addressed her in a manner I suspect has got to be something they are trained on. He told her, essentially, “I’m Officer So and So and I’m talking with your husband here in the emergency room at Swedish, who has been in an accident but is in fairly good condition.”

Quick and efficient. First he tells her he is talking to me, so clearly I’m not dead. Let’s put that fear firmly to rest. Then the reality–I’ve been in an accident and yes I’m hurt–but not horribly. Oh that’s a relief.

Now, Judy is not the sort to panic or flip out when something like this happens. I imagine in some cases despite all the care in planning the statement, the person on the other end of the line is going to freak out. But not Judy. From that point on he was able to explain all he needed to explain, tell her where she needed to come, and it was OK.

I can’t imagine what it must be like for the officer when the news is worse. I have this idea–I could be wrong–that if the person involved is dead they send someone in person to the door. There can’t be many assignments much worse than needing to deliver that news.

Or if the injured party is really, really badly hurt. “Yes ma’am, your husband is clinging to life and if he does live he will certainly lose a leg.” How horrible would that be? I can’t imagine receiving that call. Actually, the officer probably would not pass that information along in the phone call, just “He’s alive but he’s hurt badly and you’re probably going to want to get down here.” Then let the doctors deliver the really bad details.

I’m super glad in my case there were no really bad details. Judy is, too. Now I’m just wondering how long it’s going to be before my body stops hurting.

Biker Quote for Today

Driving a car versus riding a motorcycle is like playing a basketball video game versus playing basketball.

I don’t have the energy to do anything active so when I’m not sleeping–which I do a lot of–I have a lot of time to think. Right now I’m thinking I lead a charmed life.

In the past year and a half I’ve had two vehicles totaled, both entirely due to somebody else. Some people might look at that and say their life was cursed but I don’t see it that way.

In the first instance some guy with his face buried in his phone blew through a red light and hit me broadside, demolishing my car. I came out of that totally unscratched. Not the slightest injury.

In this second instance a drunk ran into me head-on, and this time I suffered severe injuries. But nothing that happened to me is anything from which I will not recover. It will take time, and it is painful, but I will recover completely and be as good as new.

I’ve always tended to think of head-on crashes as the worst kind but I no longer think this. That guy hit me head on and my motorcycle took the greatest brunt of the force. It gave its life to save mine. Imagine how different it would be if he had hit me broadside, as the other guy did. For certain my leg would be crushed and I might easily have been crippled for life. That’s if I didn’t lose the leg entirely. I’ve known two people who have lost legs in motorcycle crashes.

And then there’s the vehicles. I really liked my car, and it didn’t have a lot of miles on it so I was planning to drive it for a long time to come. But you know what? I like the car I got to replace it even more. I really, really like my current car. Now, it cost me all the insurance money plus $10,000 cash to get the new one and I’m not thrilled about that, but it’s only money. My health and well-being count more than the money.

With the bike, this was a really special bike. That CB750 was the first bike I ever owned and I have owned it and ridden it for 40 years. I loved that bike. But you know, it was an old bike and old technology. There were a few things I really honestly did not love about the bike. One was removing the seat, which took a wrench, finesse, and about five to ten minutes. Then the reverse to get it back on.

Another was the way it smoked. I thought a couple times I had resolved that issue but I had not. It still smoked like crazy when I started it up and I would stand there embarrassed hoping none of my neighbors was looking out their window at how I was turning all the air in the neighborhood blue.

I intended twice to just spend whatever money it took to fix this problem but when it finally came out that to do so would cost at least $3,500, and probably more, I decided to do what my mechanic had been saying all along: just live with it. And of course, now I’m so glad I did not spend that money.

Unlike with the car, I don’t want to just absorb all this loss. I do want some sort of recompense and with whatever money I can get for it I will buy a new bike and a lot of new, really good (read: really expensive) protective gear.

Of course, through all of this my wife has been there like a rock beside me, and that most of all is why I truly believe I lead a charmed life.

Biker Quote for Today

Graveyards are filled with people who “had the right-of-way!”

I was finally feeling able so I went to the impound lot yesterday to take a look at my Honda CB750 Custom. After Sunday’s crash I knew it would not be pretty.

As expected, the front end was totally mashed and twisted. I couldn’t tell that the frame was bent so with some money it might be rebuilt, I don’t know. The pipes on the left side were mangled.

I figure it’s totaled but if not, the lot has its own way of forcing you to that conclusion. That bike is probably taking up about 14 square feet of a multi-acre lot and for that space they are charging $135 a day. To get it out of impound even now would cost $675. They’re closing for four days for the 4th of July and I assume the cost keeps adding up on those days. That’s got to be some of the most valuable real estate on the planet.

The guys working at the lot were super helpful in removing my bags and the pigtails on the battery for my heated vest and trickle charger. That entailed lifting the tank to get one bag off and removing the seat to get to the battery. Seats didn’t used to just lift right off like they do today. It’s a major pain.

One of the guys asked me if I had a lawyer. I said no, though several of my friends have been telling me I need to. He said he got in a bad motorcycle crash some years ago and the guy he worked with was great. He dialed him up right there and handed me his phone. I’m sure he gets a finder’s fee.

So I talked with him but this was not a very good time to get into any kind of real discussion, so he agreed to call me later. He did and we talked. I told him that if the guy who hit me is some poor schlub who has no insurance and barely has two dimes to rub together that I’m not interested in going after him personally and loading him up with crushing debt for years to come. He agreed that that was not what he wanted either, that they would go after whatever insurance company could be found legitimately obligated, and then work for a settlement without going to court.

My wife is an attorney and she abhors litigation but agreed that if I wanted anything out of this I would need to get a lawyer. I would like to be made whole. That motorcycle, besides being something I loved, had some value. The helmet that saved me from severe injury was not inexpensive and will need to be replaced. And I just put a lot of money into that bike in the last year, getting it into top running order. It was running great.

And yeah, I am hurting. The pain shifts around. Sometimes it’s my thumb with its stitches. Other times my right knee hurts like hell. But pretty much my whole right side hurts. And just today now my whole left hand has turned purple.

So yeah, I guess I’ll be hiring a lawyer. Then I’ll just be able to leave it all in his hands and whatever comes out of it is what it is.

I’d much rather this had never happened.

Biker Quote for Today

“There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.” — Ernest Hemingway

I missed posting here yesterday. I spent most of the day Sunday and Monday at Swedish Medical Center. On Sunday I was on my CB750 Custom when I got hit head-on by a drunk driver. I’m hurting a bit.

I had headed out to ride a route I want to lead an RMMRC ride on, checking out time, distance, and to make sure I planned the ride for a day when the restaurant I planned to stop at for lunch would be open. I only got as far as Belleview and Santa Fe.

I was in the left-turn lane on Belleview, waiting to turn on to Santa Fe, when, in what is a very hazy memory, I noted with alarm, “That car is heading right at me!”

The next thing I remember is being loaded into the ambulance, although one of the ambulance guys told me later that I did ask him “How is my bike?” Apparently I was lucid but all that is gone from my memory. That happens when you have a head injury.

I do have a head injury. They say it is a small amount of bleeding on the brain. They gave me repeated CT scans and saw that it is not getting worse and so it will heal itself over time. Meanwhile, they gave me anti-seizure pills to take for a week.

I also had a large gash on my left thumb that required five stitches, and the whole right side of my body hurts. If I had not been wearing my helmet I hate to think how much worse I would be.

I haven’t seen the bike yet. I suspect it is totaled. Surely the front wheel is bent and presumably the fork is seriously twisted. Who knows about the frame.

The driver did not leave the scene. He was arraigned and will face charges. I’m less interested in seeing him punished than in him getting help. If he was that drunk before noon on Sunday he obviously has a serious problem. He needs help.

As always, my wife has been the most dedicated, the most caring person imaginable. She is a saint. She hates it when I say that to people but it’s true.

Biker Quote for Today

The natural state of a motorcycle is laying on its side; only due to constant care and attention do we manage to keep them upright.