Didn't make it to Phillip Island - first crash in 35 years

by **lt8x7** on Fri Feb 24, 2012 11:06 am

Thursday saw the usual bunch set off from Sydney heading for a pleasant 2 day ride to watch the SBK races at Phillip Island. Only this time i wouldn't make it.

We were on the Alpine Way between Thredbo and Kancohban when a wallaby decided it would play chicken with me. I managed to miss the wallaby but launched myself off into the blue yonder. The bike left the road at about 60km/h straight between a boulder and a tree (somehow missing both). Both the bike and I became airbourne, I went over the handle bars and face planted in a nice soft bed of bracken and then 250kg of K1200S decided to land directly on top of a nice soft bed of me, and flipped over finishing on top of my legs. We ended up about 15m into the bush 2m below road level.

A riding buddy pulled the bike off me and I somehow walked back to the road.<br />
The only visible damage to the bike is a broken taillight lense and two broken mirror glasses. One fuel line is ruptured. The engine starts first touch of the starter button. Only a detailed inspection will ascertain what structural damage there is.<br />
I had a 2 hour wait for an ambulance as two of my riding buddies had to ride 45 minutes to the nearest town to raise the alarm. I was in extreme chest pain and struggling to breathe.

Once I got in the ambulance they quickly got a needle in and hit me with morphine.

A 2 hour ambulance ride saw me at Albury Hospital in their emergency department.

CAT scans have shown that I have 2 fractured vertebrae, and so will be stuck in hospital for a few more days. I am currently confined to bed with tubes and wires everywhere, but hopefully in the morning the physio will start to get me moving.

Simon

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

http://www.youtube.com/user/JHB1984 · by **JHB1984** on Fri Feb 24, 2012 11:37 am

sorry to hear ... poor timing ;o| ... get well soon

by **Pedro Guimarães** on Fri Feb 24, 2012 11:58 am

Bad luck. Get well soon.

by **CoffeeFirst** on Fri Feb 24, 2012 12:33 pm

Bad luck in deed. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

by **Eka** on Fri Feb 24, 2012 3:52 pm

Oh shit.

Get well soon and ask for more morphine. :drunken:

by **Mirage_ZA** on Fri Feb 24, 2012 3:54 pm

Most important part - you're here with us to tell the tale. I'm sure bike has light "bruising" only - wishing both you and your K a speedy recovery.

by **PaulC** on Fri Feb 24, 2012 4:16 pm

Bastard wallabies, I was up there two weeks ago and there's thousands of the poxy things, this wet summer has really seen the numbers up. Even on my driveway I usually see at least four or five of them every morning, to say nothing of the kangaroos which are all seemingly bloody huge with the good conditions. Just this week I stopped to help a woman while on the way home who had a very large specimen embedded in her windscreen, at least three hours before dusk.

Hope you get up and about soon mate, confined to bed is a crap deal.

by **T2pd1** on Fri Feb 24, 2012 4:53 pm

Sorry to hear about your misfortune, I hope you are well and out of the hospital soon.

by **ssduc** on Sat Feb 25, 2012 2:30 am

Yikes, sorry to hear about the crash. That two hour wait for the ambulance must have seemed like an eternity. Glad you are hear to tell the tale. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

by **Major_Trouble** on Sat Feb 25, 2012 5:04 am

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Just goes to show how important good riding buddies can be. Dread to think how you would have ended up without them to help. Get them a beer from all of us.

35 years and no crash doesn't happen by luck so you have obviously developed good riding skill and awareness over that time. Perhaps we can have a positive out of this. In hindsight do you honestly think you could have done anything to avoid your unfortunate off? In racing I heard that that if there is an accident ahead on track a driver will aim for the crash as it's unlikely to be there when they get there. Maybe the same for your wallaby or it could have happened so fast like the all to recent incident in MotoGP. Most of us don't have wallabys and roos to create traffic hazards but we all still flinch a dogs a other small wildlife.

When I read your post I was hoping the bike was going to be the worst off especially after you walked to the road. I hope you' get back to good health quickly and back out on the K.

by **Special-K** on Sun Feb 26, 2012 4:59 am

Hi Simon

The main thing is you survived, I sincerely wish you a speedy recovery..

by **Bernardo** on Sun Feb 26, 2012 10:19 am

Hi Simon

Are you fine now?. How do your recovery progresses?

by **lt8x7** on Sun Feb 26, 2012 11:37 am

I am being discharged tomorrow (Monday).
Gets painful at night, but will be going home with some strong painkillers and a body brace which gets fitted in the morning.

by **lt8x7** on Fri Mar 23, 2012 4:18 am

I have just heard from the insurance company that the bike is a write off.
The parts and labour cost was more than $12500.
Now I just have to negotiate the payout figure.

by **ssduc** on Fri Mar 23, 2012 10:43 am

Sorry to hear about the bike, but too surprising from what you've said previously.

How are you feeling?

by **Major_Trouble** on Sat Mar 24, 2012 6:47 am

At least you're on the mend and getting out of hospital.

From your description of the initial damage I was surprised they're writing the bike off. What else was wrong? Sounds like you throwing yourself underneath it to save some damage wasn't the best course of action. :wink:

by **lt8x7** on Wed Mar 28, 2012 7:11 am

The dealer said that on close inspection the whole duo lever front end was bent as well as the front wheel being buckled.
Add to that scratches and small cracks in the fairing and the dollars soon add up.

by **Major_Trouble** on Wed Mar 28, 2012 1:50 pm

Such a shame. Maybe you could put the insurance money towards the beautiful K13S HP and have something special to look forward to and look at while you fully recover.

by **lt8x7** on Fri Mar 30, 2012 7:41 am

Got $15000 from the insurance company today.
Time to start shopping ;-)