Pictures are UP!  (Up in Stephen's original post, that is.)

Stephen, I remember well the "continuous replay" after sailing over that cow and compression-fracturing 2 vertebrae.  It will take weeks for the images to stop playing, and months before you'll be comfortable going past that intersection again.

But (unfortunately??) the insecurities DO fade.  I went on the first of my LONG trips 8 months after my accident.  Cross-country!  By myself!

Just give it time....  

Thanks Kerry

WOW    Glad you're well enough to post.
Just try and heal man, mind and body. You're alive, not hurt badly, and everything else is negotiable.

Holy fun bags!  One lucky dude.  

One cashed GS.

Yo man, Glad to hear you are okay. God has a plan for you    Your post really made me think!

Want to read something sad?  

I know you probably won't be up for that ride, but hopefully you will remember the kinds of plans you had ... and let 'em work on ya for a while.  

PS - Stephen, you thanked me just before I posted the addition to my first message above.  

wow man, I am Glad the good Lord was watching over you!  They should make it the law to take classes to watch out for cycle riders. people in 4 wheel vehicles just dont care half the time!!

if you can say any good came out of this. you have all showed us how important it is to wear the gear and have given me personaly a great confedants in my Joe Rocket  gear.

I hope you ride again. good luck !

If I may add some levity here: picture no. 2...now that's a short wheelbase!

im glad your injuries wernt as bad as they could have been. i hope you heal well. nothing scares you more then a threat to your life from someone else.


As to the bike frame, the engine cradle looks to be the only thing that got dented, if the main mounts didnt shift/ break the engine mount lugs, you should be ok, you can heatup and hammer the cradle back without issue. the biggest concern in bent frames is steering stem,Main spine/perimeter box, and swingarm.  you can cut the subframe off and still steer straigt if those 3 arnt bent. this might be the time to cosider that Katana 600 frontend Mod.

Good thing your alright. A girl skipped a stop sign and i hit her the same way you did, but i was only going 60 KMPH. One lane, couldnt avoid her, i tried, but i couldnt stop and went over the hood haha, i didnt get hurt at all, but i yelled like hell at her. Made her cry    Anyways. GOod thing your alright.  

Sorry to hear about your wreck, Stephen. Keep that road rash clean and use a lot of neosporin. Soak it when it feels tight.

I went down in regular jeans and a t-shirt a long time ago, lot's o' rash and a broke shoulder. I hung out by the pool all day, soaking when it started to pull against the skin, and then neosporin after getting out.

My doctor was really amazed at how well it healed, smooth, no bumps, or heavy scarring. Considering I had a hole all the way to my shoulder blade, all turned out well. Give it a try if the rash is heavy enough to need it.

Good luck with the settlement part of it, I think you'll do ok, cause she really can't pull 'I didn't see you ' card, she was in the wrong before she ever collided with you.

You moved the car in an arc...lot of weight to move. Your bikes kinetic energy was around 40-50 thousand FT-LB. Baby G held up pretty good I would say. And from the sounds of it, you too. Ah, but wait till all the shock and adrenaline wears off. Smoke 'em if you got 'em. Love the mighty Baby GS and this forum.

C.......

glad you got away with only mild injuries.  I hope your body and your spirit heal up quickly.

Holy crap. Just thinking of the image of you going UNDER the car gives me the jitters. I am so glad to hear you came out of that more or less in tact. Take is easy and heal well. It's good to see your gear (most of it, at least) did its job.

WoW Very visual description and you know, u had a guardian angel with you there on the back of your bike  ... It's great to hear you made it out of that in one piece.

Heal quick.

JG

I'm glad you came out of the incident relatively unhurt.  Driving on the roads is always a system of trust, no matter what anyone says.  You trust people not to blow through stop signs, you trust people not to cut across a couple lanes of traffic cause they decided at that moment they needed to make a left turn.  

On another note, good on ya!  Your GS took out the rear axle of the car and spun it around?  Sweet!  

You made it out quite well for what you described as happening - and your gear isn't as shredded as you said, but hell, it did its job and that's what counts.

I also like how important your wife is to you.  It's amazing how many people resent their wives/husbands for one reason or another, and it's refreshing to read about how much they love one another.  Good on ya.

Glad you're ok.  Hope you won't give up riding forever, though a break is certainly in order.  

And the woman admitted she made a mistake - your odds of being compensated are good, but why does everyone get so murderous over this?  She made a mistake - it happens.  You were lucky and she was lucky for not killing you.  She will be punished (and hopefully learn her lesson) and you will be compensated accordingly.  There's no need to go talking about guns and lynching...geezus.

Bravo Jen. Everybody makes mistakes and, luckily, this woman's mistake didn't get someone killed. I'll bet it's a long time before she ever makes that same mistake again. I'm sure it's playing over in her head also. Now, if she had done it on purpose... Love the little twin and this forum.

C.......

yeah, it sounds like you got lucky as far as the type of person who hit you. Only problem is, she won't be writing the check, her insurance will.

That being said, no reason to be a hater just because she drives a car. All of us have driven a car at some point, and I'd bet all of us have had moments where we didn't pay attention and did a stupid move while driving.

It was her bad luck to have done it when someone elses life was at stake. As for those of us that got away with our stupid moves, we were luckier, not smarter or better drivers.

Again, heal quick, Stephen

thanks for sharing your experience and your thoughts.  i'm with jen that your thoughts about your wife were very touching.  i just took my girlfriend to get some gear this past weekend, but the bike shop was closed by the time we got there :dunno:   thanks to your post, i'm not letting her on the bike with me again until we get her proper gear.  i hope you heal up well and you don't have to go through too much crap with the litigation.  good luck