Passes & Canyons Blog

How hard is it to go on after losing a leg in a crash when all you did wrong was to take your eyes off the oncoming car for an instant to check the cross traffic? That was essentially the question I asked Randy and Joan Savely while speaking with them for the series of articles I just posted on Examiner.com.

What I seem to be doing with some regularity lately is working on a story for Examiner and then giving you the background here. That’s definitely the case now.

I met Randy when I joined ABATE earlier this year. I’m in District 10 and Randy is the district rep, which is to say, he runs the meetings. It didn’t take me long to notice that Randy was missing his left leg from the knee down.

One reason I like going on poker runs, going to ABATE meetings, and getting involved in other motorcycle-related activities is that every time I go somewhere I come home with new story ideas. That’s a good thing considering that I write a minimum of five articles every week, frequently more. I smelled a story in Randy.

First, let me make it clear that this is definitely their story, Randy and Joan’s, not just his. When I first proposed the story idea it was Joan who replied that the two of them would be happy to speak with me. Up until then I had been thinking solely of Randy, but it soon became very clear to me that this was indeed their story.

What I hadn’t counted on was how powerfully their story would hit me. I met with them two weeks ago today, expecting to spend less than an hour in the interview. Going on two hours I finally said we ought to stop because there was only so much that a reader will read.

The next day Judy and I left on vacation for a week and on the drive to Utah it was practically the only thing I could speak of. And this was after spending hours telling her about it the night before. The lead sentences quickly formed in my mind and they made it into the story unaltered, even though I never wrote the rest of it until 10 days later:

When everything finally came to a stop, Randy Savely sat up, thinking, “Well, I’m alive.”
A couple moments later he noticed his boot laying in the middle of the intersection.
“That boot don’t come off,” he thought. Then he turned to the driver who had hit him and asked for his belt to use as a tourniquet on his leg.

For two weeks now this story has haunted me (not in a bad way) and has been in my mind almost constantly. Not out of some fear that it could happen to me, that’s not it at all. Probably a lot of it is Randy. Can you imagine having your leg removed by a car and having the presence of mind to put a tourniquet on yourself?

A funny thing there: I asked Randy if he was wearing a helmet and whether he had any head injuries. No and no. But he told me that he really believes in chaps more than helmets because it was the fact that he was wearing chaps that enabled him to tend to his own needs. They covered up the fact that his foot was gone, whereas seeing a bloody stump may well have shaken him up enough to go into shock.

I could go on and on. As I said, this story has haunted me for two weeks. But I won’t. Go read it yourself. It’s not that I’m such a great writer, it’s that their story is an incredible story. I just can’t tell you how fortunate I feel to have had the opportunity to tell it.

Recent from the National Motorcycle Examiner
Broken wings: When a biker goes down hard

Biker Quote for Today

Live every day as though it was your last, but ride to make sure it’s not!

The first ever motorcycle roadracing event was held at the brand new High Plains Raceway Saturday and I was there. The weather cooperated and it was a good day to be out having fun.

Mind you, I’m not a big race fan. I think this was only the third racing event I’ve ever been to. Judy and I went to the Super Bike races at Pikes Peak Raceway some years ago, and then we went to the ice races down by Woodland Park earlier this year. And then High Plains on Saturday.

It was fun, and I’m sure I’ll go again, but what I’m saying is, don’t expect me to talk about this like an expert because I’m not. But I’m going to offer you my novice observations on what it was like.

First off, I went because it was the inaugural motorcycle event and that seemed worthy of coverage, which I posted on Examiner.com.

Secondly, I wanted to meet and speak with a racer who is being sponsored by ABATE of Colorado, Jonathan Kuo. As Jon put it, ABATE is generally perceived among young sportbike riders as being a bunch of grey-hairs who ride Harleys. Sponsoring Jon is an outreach effort to try to change that perception and bring more of the motorcycle community into the organization. I’ll be doing a separate story on Jon later.

So anyway, one of the fun things about High Plains Raceway is that everybody gets a pit pass. That is, the parking and spectator area and the pit area are all one space, so you can walk around and talk with the racers, look at their bikes, and just mix freely. And if, like me, you’re pretty new to this sort of thing, it’s interesting some of the things you notice.

For example, it seems like everyone has a scooter or pocket bike or at least a bicycle. Getting around in the pit area can entail quite a bit of walking, so it’s completely normal to see some really big name racers like Jason DiSalvo and Matt Lynn, both of whom were there Saturday, riding around on little 50cc scoots. Small electric bikes are particularly popular, it seems.

Also, it’s a real family scene, right down to the critters. Hey, if you’re going out for the weekend you’re going to take the dog along, right? In many cases, at least, the answer is “Hell yes!”

From what the racers say, the track itself is a very good one. I was told it has some challenging turns, some fun and exciting elevation changes, and once they finish putting in the amenities it should be worthy of hosting Super Bike racing.

Of course it was fun to watch Jon Kuo race, in the way it’s always more fun when you actually know one of the guys out there on the track. Jon’s only in Novice class as yet but there’s no question he’s one of the good ones. I watched him run two races and he placed second behind the same guy each time. The two of them were smoking the rest of the field. You could see in the curves how they would swoop down and through, while everyone else had nowhere near the lean and often were way off the line.

So I enjoyed myself. And hey, it was historic in at least a small way. First time for the new track. And I looked in the Denver Post and they said nothing about it at all in the sports section. Too busy with the Nuggets, I guess.

Recent from the Denver Motorcycle Examiner
Healing is focus of Denver-area biker couple’s Run For The Wall

Biker Quote for Today

When you’re riding lead, don’t spit.

Judy and I wondered if we’d be seen as losers for not showing up at the ABATE of Colorado District 10 Corned Beef Bash Saturday night on a bike. This is my local ABATE chapter and this was our first time at one of their social events since I joined. We weren’t sure what to expect.

We weren’t sure how long we would be there, but we knew it would be getting dark, so the options were to wear a lot of gear and warm clothes or just drive. It occurred to me as we were getting ready that it would have been a really nice day to go for a ride and end up at the bash at dinner time. I wondered if that might be what a lot of people would do. But we drove.

Turns out, so did most everyone else. Sure there were about 15 to 20 bikes in the parking lot but the rest of the lot was overflowing with cars. We felt reassured. Nobody wants to make their first appearance at a new scene looking like a dope.

Walking in, we stood and looked around, not quite sure what the protocol was. Happily, Randy Savely, the District 10 Coordinator, who I had met when I attended my first meeting, came over to welcome us and point out where to pay, where to find the food, and just generally put us at ease. That was really nice and we appreciated it.

So we got some food (good corned beef!) and found a place to sit and took it all in while we ate. And you know what? It was not a whole lot different than any other St. Pat’s Day gathering you’re likely to see. There were kids running around having fun, lots of people talking and eating and drinking, a lot of silly green hats and various other green paraphenalia, and a lot of corned beef and cabbage. They were drawing numbers for door prizes, but although the numbers hit right next to each of ours, we didn’t win anything. And gosh, we didn’t win the 50-50 either.

But we talked a little with the folks at our table and we started getting acclimated. I look forward to being able to walk into this place and say hello to a bunch of folks I know. Not there yet, but you have to start somewhere.

Biker Quote for Today

Ride safe, ride often