| Author | Message | ||
     Al_lighton  |
Well, this past weekend was glorious here in Socal, so Ebear, Forger/Reindog, and us Lightons went out to Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation area for some good dirt bike fun. And it really was fun, for a good 2/3 of the day. 75 degrees, no wind, no clouds, beautiful dirt bikin weather. After ripping it up with Reindog and Ebear in the morning, we headed to shell reef. There's great wall shooting there, big, relatively hard packed mounds that rise high out of the desert flats. Too fun, just charge right up on a ballistic trajectory and at the top of your run, turn it back downhill. Seems harmless enough, done it hundreds of times.... Except this time. Ebear and I were going big, trying to combine two tracks up the side of a pretty steep (near the top anyway) 50-60 foot mound into one big one...i.e, up the uphill run on one track, down the downhill run on the adjacent track. That meant soft stuff in the middle where the other (perhaps smarter) bikers hadn't gone. And a rock. No problem, just have to miss the rock. Except I didn't. Front end missed the rock right at apogee, but the rear wheel clipped it. It pitched the rear up, front down into the soft stuff, handlebars wrenched hard right, and over the bars I went. Luckily, I went wide, the bike went more straight down. I tumbled clear to the bottom, doing rag doll somersaults the whole way, while the bike supposedly did about three of it's own. I didn't exactly get to see the bike tumble, I was too busy trying to breathe while simultaneously wondering which bones would actually be broken when I stopped...time stands still in moments like these, but you still want to breathe, which is a very temporal thing when you think about it. Here's some pictures. It's actually a little steeper than it looks in these pictures, but hardly vertical. This is ebear going up the first track, shot from the top of the hill.  This is the view from the bottom. I tumbled about to where ebear's XR600 is parked in this shot. You can get a sense of how far that was by how small Riendog is up there. The second track that we were trying to link to is the downhill run on the right.  A shot from the top of the downward track, and the rock that got me. It doesn't look as steep from here, but you wouldn't take one giant step off of this willingly....  Had most of my armor on, knocked ALL the wind outta me, bloodied my lip and nose, bike is mostly fine but the bars were a bit tweaked. At the time, I think I'm basically OK, but pretty much done for the day. Limped back to camp, didn't move too well for the rest of the day, and even worse on sunday. Ribs and clavical and pelvis are pretty tender, but doesn't feel much worse than you do after a hard day of playing tackle football with NFL players without pads after 20 years of not playing  . Not walking or sitting real well, went to bed, laying down isn't much better. This is where it gets uglier. Ya see, we'd brought some potato salad to the desert. It seemed cold enough in the cooler in the car on sunday morning. But maybe it wasn't. Or maybe I just got a stomach flue. Or maybe something else was wrong inside me, I dunno. But woke up in the middle of the night, barely able to rise from the bed from the pain, but with an urgent desire to get to the bathroom as fast as possible to puke my guts out. Well, if you've ever busted up your ribs at all, you know that laughing sucks, coughing really sucks, sneezing outta this world sucks. Well, I'm here to tell you, none of it holds a candle to puking your guts out while your entire rib cage hurts. I pulled muscles I didn't even know I have. Doing a bit better now, gonna hurt for a couple more weeks. A smart man with cheap health insurance would go to the doc, but with $0 spent this year towards my $2500 deductible (one of the joys of self employment, ya know), it's gonna have to wait for a couple weeks to see if it really needs it. Heck, for ribs and clavicles, they just tell you not to cough and laugh anyway..... Morals of this story: 1) Big Berms are like Big air jumps.. best left for the kids, I'm afraid. 2) Armor good. Helmets good. 3) Potato Salad Bad. 4) Get hurt EARLY in the year, so you can get your yearly deductible out of the way so that you can go to the doctor with far less guilt. 5) A good day of dirt bike crashing in the 75 degree desert still beats a bad day of shoveling snow in Wisconsin 6) I'm not going to be playing any tackle football any time soon.... Sure hope I heal fast so I can get back out there again... Al (Message edited by al_lighton on December 22, 2004) | ||
| M1combat  |
Well... I'm glad you had a good time at the least . Get well soon. That was one of my favorite things to do on my dirtbike. Something about being full throttle sliding around a VERY banked corner with the rear wheel above your head is just plain cool. I'm sure it was worth the pain . | ||
| Vegasbueller  |
Al, I am sorry, but the added touch of humor made me chuckle! I can relate to a point. I smashed my left shoulder right at the joint when I was a teen. I was doing an Enduro race, and went down. The bike came back and landed on my back, totally destroying that upper end of the Humerus. I had to stay at home for three days waiting on them to get me into surgery to fix it. I soo understand that you don't know all the muscles you use! Wiping your own arse becomes an olympic event! Be safe and take care! I hope you have a slightly less eventful Christmas! Nick | ||
| Al_lighton |
Oh yea, had to take my first sick day at American Sport Bike, as I pretty much couldn't move all day Monday. Joanne had to cover for me the whole day yesterday. She did great. Today I moved like an 80 year old man, I hope to get to 70 year old by tomorrow. | ||
| Al_lighton |
Nick, I can relate to the "wiping your own arse comment". Broke BOTH my arms while in college falling off a loft in the fraternity house (only a LITTLE bit of alcohol was involved, depending upon your definition of "little"  . There are things in life you take for granted, like your hands. When you don't have use of them, even little things can get very challenging. Al | ||
| Dino  |
Al - having crashed hard only 13.7 months ago, I can empathize. The good news is that it only took me about 7 month before I could tuck in the back of my shirt with my right hand! So take heart! You'll be better in "no time". Having had occasion to sneeze during the critical period of convalescence, and having recently had intimate relations with a toilet bowl in the wee hours, I can begin to comprehend the terrible reality of combining the two. I hope never to come to more than a theoretical understand of said circumstance. My profound sympathies! Get well soon. | ||
| Dino |
Hmmm, never broke both arms at the same time. I did sprain both thumbs within a week. (Also college but, believe it or not, no alcohol involved.) Remember button fly Levis? Try that with no thumbs. Fortunately I had compassionate (female) friends who were willing to help out. (Message edited by dino on December 22, 2004) | ||
| Court |
That's hilarious....I mean the "funny" part of it. Get well soon....I can't wait for the next chapter! Court | ||
| Jerry_haughton  |
Al, maybe we could get you guys to put on a show at Oktoberfast next year, perhaps right after the Second Annual "Contest of Manliness"??? i mean, we've got a pretty steep little practice course here and all... get weller soon. | ||
| Tripper  |
And American Sport Bike ran all the smoother without ya there. My Christmas gift order was placed on your internet store at Midnight Sunday, shipped on Monday. Joanne is my hero! | ||
| CJXB  |
5) A good day of dirt bike crashing in the 75 degree desert still beats a bad day of shoveling snow in Wisconsin  How effing true !! Glad to hear your okay, get well quick !! CJ | ||
| Vegasbueller |
Al: All I can say is that I feel for you man! Both arms at once ..ohhh man! I guess if I were the doctor...for the holidays I would tell you to kick back, relax and drink lots of good eggnogg! Can't wait to hear "the rest of the story" Take care, Nick | ||
| Ocbueller  |
Al, More than once, my reluctance to get checked out by a doctor bit me in the azz. If no improvement in a couple of days, get xrays. I'm 48 yrs. of age and my KLR sees alot less off road punishment these days. Feel better. SteveH | ||
| Firemanjim  |
48 God that's OLD!! Well I feel for ya Al--but what the hell?How did you hit the Rock of Gibraltar anyway.Rib bruises take FOREVER to get better,been there,done that. 52 in 3 weeks and going dirtriding tomorrow. | ||
| Al_lighton |
Jerry, That sounds great...and hey, your big yeller V-Strom is supposedly a off-roadish type of bike, so we can use it for the hill climb demo, right?!!! But this time, I get to show the right way to do it, and Ebear can demo the wrong way... Man, if someone did a tumble like I did on your hill, he'd be more shredded than a Freddy (Nightmare on Elm street) victim! Ocotillo is lots of dirt and sand (and occasional evil hiding rocks), your hill is nothing but sharpened granite and shale! Feeling much better today, moving like a 60 year old. Why, I'll be moving good as a 52 year old FMJ by morning at this rate. Don't think any bones are broken, just some nice bruises and soft tissue trauma. I think I'll take Nick's suggestion and take some eggnogg tonic to mend me over the holidays. Gonna have to skip a few of my regular Ultimate (Frisbee) games too, I think  . Funny thing, what with all the tumbling and such, I didn't get as much as a bruise on my legs or arms, and they were the least protected of all. | ||
| Wyckedflesh  |
Glad to hear your up and around Al. Take care, and like Court remind me someday to tell you about a hairline fracture and a tattoo gun... | ||
| Blake |
Great story. Do it again and get video!... That includes the potato salad too.  Thanks for making my ribs hurt too. | ||
| Sandblast  |
Dang Al- I hope your feeling better. Ouch. I'd bring you some soup and heat pads or something, but my wife wont let me outta sight all weekend. (especially around moto people lol). | ||
| Reindog  |
Not to sweat Sandblast. I have been assisting... I mean co-participating.... in Al's medication process since Al decided to travel down the sandhill without motorized assist. The patient is expected to make a full recovery in time for our next jaunt to rip up the pristine hills in Ocatillo Wells. Al made a glorious tumble on a most glorious day. Last Saturday was one of the most beautiful days I have ever seen in the desert. 70 degrees and skies so blue you woulda sworn it had been Photo Shopped. | ||
| Unibear12r |
Glad to hear your OK Al. Does Reindog's medication process include periodic readings of Spam Heiku?  You should be up & running in no time at all! | ||
| Charlieboy6649  |
Thems motorcycles is dangerous! Glad you're OK Al... Lost it at the potato salad bad comment LOL!  | ||
| Roadsurfr |
Al, Just read about your incident. I hope you heal fast. Butch (M2 in New Orleans) | ||
| Al_lighton |
I'm starting to heal. Still can't cough and sneeze without having a religious moment, but I can at least raise my arm above my head and roll over in bed without serious grimacing. Should be almost good as new in a few weeks, barring any setbacks when I start playing Ultimate (frisbee) again and start running and diving into the ground before I should be (can't help myself, Ultimate is my other passion besides motorcycling). Al | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
one should ALWAYS be careful about 'going ho', Al... | ||
| Al_lighton |
Ferris, my man, you must have been an ultimate fiend in times past to know that term, eh? Alas, my tourney days are behind me, but if there is a disc flying in front of me that can be caught, I'm going ho for it, body be damned. It is instinct now, I'm a disc dog, can't help it. I play every Thursday night and sunday morning, body willing. Getting tougher to cover all these college age kids every year, and the knees are creaking pretty good, but I'll be out there until my throwing arm falls off. Its about the only exercise I get anymore, besides dirt biking. Al | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
Al, there are few things that i am truly good at, frisbee being one of them. ever toss an Aerobie around? they'll fly FOREVER! "tuned" right, you can play catch with your buddy while both of you are standing at opposite goal posts on a regulation football field. hmmm, something tells me we're going to have a new spectator sport at next year's Oktoberfast... | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
Frisbee Golf at Mission Bay...ah those were the days Aerobee=The butchered coke can that flew...  | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
so what was the name of the butchered coke can that flew?  | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
sorry, i only know about the little engine that could. |
