| Author | Message | ||
     Diablobrian |
As the subject says, I'm back in the saddle again. Sorry I've been away so long just couldn't hang here and read all about other people talk about going out and riding when I simply could not. Physical issues were keeping me off the bike for my own safety, and anyone who knows me has a pretty good idea of how seriously I take safety (we all take risks, but failing to mitigate them when you can is just asking for fate to drop the whammy on you) Anyway, it's good to be back and I look forward to catching up with everyone. A good many of you have already seen me posting up pics of the bike and such on facebook but i'll post up a pic of the new look here too. Got tired of the white/blue/orange look. Added black EBR pegasus logos since I feel absolutely no need to continue carrying the flag for the mothership when Erik's got a brand new bag (Aerosmith and James Brown references in the same post I MUST be in a good mood  ) | ||
| Two_seasons |
Welcome back...  How's that left leg doing? | ||
| Hammer71 |
Long time, glad to see your back at it. As stated above hows the leg/healing process going? | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Glad to hear it, man. Thought about you the other day. | ||
| Daves |
Glad to see you back! | ||
| Diablobrian |
Thanks guys, left leg is still about the same motor nerve wise (about a quarter of the hamstring and about half of the quads....lateral control, and lower leg muscles....nonexistant. The big news is the sensory nerves they told me would not regen after the first year....They have been coming back. And let me tell you it HURTS when they re-make connections! I have feeling back in about 3/4ths of my left leg. There is a reason they call it a medical PRACTICE they don't know as much as they'd like you to believe about the human body. Have a morphine pump in my stomach now that pumps morphine and clonidine directly into my spinal column leaving me clear headed but with much less pain. Still have trouble with barometer changes, but it's liveable. My motorcycle is the best medicine I can think of for my mental well being. Nothing else puts the world in perspective the same way. And thanks for thinking about me guys. I've been thinking about you all too during the interim. | ||
| Pwnzor |
Brian, Glad to see you back on the BadWeB. I've thought about you often, always thought your bike was one of the coolest. Would love to ride with you some day. Best regards, Matthew Anthony | ||
| Diablobrian |
Thanks Matthew, I appreciate the compliment. My wife and I were just talking about me heading out towards the South east one of these days to meet up with my friends in GA and the C3 crew and anyone else I can meet up with along the way. I'm not quite there yet, but I think coming through the long dark tunnel I was in, I deserve a victory lap! Ooh visit the happiest place on earth.... Barber Motorsports park and Museum! However I'll need to be patient or I'll collapse the whole house of cards. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Welcome back, glad things are coming together for you. "There is no education like adversity." Benjamin Disraeli | ||
| Glitch |
Rock on Brian! I've seen the bike, and it's looking good. Glad to hear you're healing up, ever better you're healing up more than the docs thought you would. That is good news indeed! Let me know when you're ready for your victory lap. I'll help where I can. You'll love riding here, and Barber is one of those places you'll not soon forget either. Let's ride! | ||
| 86129squids |
 Welcome back, Kotter! Great news to hear you're back in the saddle... keep on keepin on! And, what Glitch said- put it on your MUST DO list to head to Barber! I went with 2 good buddies to the dealer personnel training for the 1125R, got to ride it on the track for 2 morning sessions, 20 minutes each- then another 2 sessions in the afternoon! BEST WORK DAY OF MY LIFE. We took the next day to do the museum- got there at 10 when they opened, and started at the top floor... it took us from 10AM to 330PM to simply make it to the bottom floor, looking at everything! I had missed the Britten somehow, so I went back up to drool on it- while I was doing this, my buddies got to meet and chat with Mr. Barber himself! Somehow, I'dve rather chatted with him... Holler when the day comes that you can make it to E TN and/or N GA! | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Brian, I left you a comment in your post on the General section but I'll repeat it here. Good no GREAT to see you back!!! Your bike is looking good! I've told many folks your story and you've always been an inspiration, a perfect example of the determination of the human spirit. I look forward to seeing and riding with you again. Sooner than later. Brad | ||
| Bads1 |
Thats really great Brian. Just looked at a pic of you and I with a bottle of Scotch you served at my bar years ago and thought of you. Glad to see your out there. | ||
| Damnut |
Welcome back Brian!! It's good to see you back and at it again. | ||
| Etennuly |
Glad to see the life back in ya! I too had been wondering about you for some time. Glad to see you are able to start riding again.  | ||
| Ravensmith22 |
I've thought about you here and there, wondering where you disappeared to. Great to hear from you. | ||
| Diablobrian |
Great to be back. The rider in me never left, I just couldn't do it in a way I felt was responsible for a while. It was really hard on the mental health and I was not joking about having to distance myself from riding related thoughts. I was getting seriously depressed for a while there and simply had to withdraw...temporarily. Noticed something I had never felt before today while out on the bike.....my left foot gets a little warm when waiting for a school bus to off load it's kids. (left stays on peg except for during mount and dismount) WHo knew? guess I'll actually have to open the vent on that sidi too from now on No way am I staying off of a bike while I can still engineer my way around my obstacles! Then again, you guys knew that. However I will not compromise on my need to be at my own 100% mark any time I get on the bike. I owe my wife, my kids, and myself that much. Did I mention that I love riding this bike? Man, imagination can be brutal! I'm still half expecting to wake up and be nowhere near ready to be back again like it is all a cruel dream..... Ouch! I hate pinching myself but I've been doing it a lot lately.  | ||
| Pwnzor |
So.... please indulge me since I recently deleted my Facebook account. PICTURES PLEASE. | ||
| Ulywife |
My wife and I were just talking about me heading out towards the South east one of these days to meet up with my friends in GA and the C3 crew and anyone else I can meet up with along the way. We'd love to see you and your wife! So glad you're feeling like riding again. Welcome back and yes, you've been missed | ||
| Oldog |
Welcome back! Glad you have over come the challenges. | ||
| Diablobrian |
Not a matter of not feeling like riding I assure you, that was part of the problem. I felt like riding every day of my hiatus....my body was just playing betraying me. Several issues were overlapping keeping me either in too much pain, on too heavy a dose of meds, or just too tired to be in shape to ride. When clear-headed, pain free and energetic I had so many projects piled up waiting for me to take care of, not to mention the bike having missing parts due to th move from MO to CA. However that is the past, I'm in a different pain management program (more like the one back in MO) and my world is completely different. The sky is bluer, the grass is well, browner, and I'm feeling more alive than I have in a long time. Let me say, it is hard to get into a GOOD pain management program. Most people they meet are just looking for a Dr. Feelgood to drug them out of their gourd and the Doctors get jaded and mistrustful when they meet someone with specific goals that do not include larger quantities of more powerful drugs. I got so frustrated with the VA pain program that I went in to see my doctor to try to get my meds changed and reduced to clear my head . They are so used to seeing a different pattern of behavior that they made a note in my file "drug seeking activity" and bounced me from the program I was in...Because I did NOT want to be a zombie. Crazy right? had a really hard time convincing them of the truth of the matter. It seems to me too many people are just waiting for someone to tell them that it's ok to quit, here are your drugs, go sit in front of the TV from now on. That is the last place I want to be, but where I kept ending up as stop-gap measures were employed while trying to keep me from losing my mind from the pain while trying to get my health care squared away. Then my mental state went down the tubes feeding into sensitivity to pain, viscous circle that can have you circling the drain in no time. That scares me because I'm not "that guy" at all, but I was there for a while staring into the abyss. Anyway, a trip out east would be a while in the planning, and I really need to establish a baseline again before I go wandering too far from my health care support structure. A sad state of afairs for a man of 43 to have to consider, but there it is. At least I'm alive and riding! Sorry to get so bogged down there but I figure a good many of you deserve an honest explanation about where I went and why I dropped out so suddenly. Thank you for the warm welcome back | ||
| Diablobrian |
86129squids: I've been there before, for an ASRA race when I was crewing for my brother. It was Amazing and I've never been as jealous of another man's toys as I was standing there, looking around at bikes stacked like hotwheels in boxes along the walls, a Britten (I've seen 3 of them!) GP bikes an original aluminum bodied AC Cobra....and this amazing toy box is set on the man's own private AMA level race course. Truly the happiest place on earth. Even if your name isn't George Barber |
