Allright, I think it's time for me to tell the tale about my crash.
These events happened late August of 2006.. at 3:15 am.
I came to work on my bike as usual that night (no parking fee downtown Montreal)
When my shift was done at 3:00 am I got out of work, put my gear on : Jacket, motocross gloves and my helmet..
That's right, no pants, no boots, no real motorcycle gloves..
And I went on my way, the same ride as usual, down the Metcalfe street, into the Ville-Marie tunnel going east, then Notre-Dame all the way down to my apartment (at that time).. Or so I thought..
The facts were different.. The entrance to Ville-Marie tunnel is a superb curve that goes left, with the proper camber (tilted left) with a tight entrance that opens progressively.
I wasn't leaning the bike very much, having a whopping 4 months of experience at that time so that night, I decided to go wider than usual and to lean the bike a bit more than what I'm used to.
Everything would've gone well if I would've remembered that there was a bump on the road caused by a an underground drain pipe that was slowly moving up from all those winter/summer temperature changes we know here..
That bump was maybe 1/2 an inch on the extreme left of the lane (the one I was used to) but it was getting bigger and bigger towards the right side of the street so much that it was actually sticking 3 inches and that's where I hit the infamous bump, while leaning on the bike..
As you can imagine, it didn't go too well.. Having the bike leaned to a point I never took my bike before and hitting a 3 inch tall bump sent me and my bike flying (I was doing between 50 to 70km/h, 70 being the limit). I was still sitting on it but as we spent more and more air time, the bike was leaning more and more... At that moment, I tried to get the bike vertically but no efforts from my part were reaching a positive conclusion... At some point I had to choose between continuing my inconclusive efforts (and probably get my left leg caught between my bike and the asphalt on the landing) or try to jump off and save myself.. Well I decided to hit the eject button and jumped off the bike trying to tuck and roll.
The roll part went OK, I rolled for maybe 20 ft and the bike slid for the equivalent length with sparks flying everywhere (quite a sight when your rolling in the dark). My helmet never touched the ground
I remember getting up as soon as I stopped rolling, looking for my shoes that went flying from my feet's.. I putted my shoes back on, just by stepping in them (they were still tied tight, adrenaline makes you do weird stuff) I walked to the outside of the curve as I was hidden from oncoming traffic since I rolled following the camber of the curve, I was in a blind spot inside.. Straight in the path of anyone coming back from any downtown bar at closing time...
My helmet didn't even hit the road, but my hands and my left knee where first to hit the tarmac.. Both my gloves were utterly destroyed, getting much skin off my fingers, my pants did not held too good and both my shoes were found through the debris like previously explained..
I had some of my colleagues that were done at the same time and they were going the same way as I was.. So they arrived a short minute after these events, when I was sitting on the outside curb near my bike. One called the ambulance while 2 others came and asked me if I was OK. My reply shook them a bit : ''Does anyone of you have a strong heart ?'' They know me and knew what was coming... I asked them to take a look at my left knee as it was starting to feel more than just an itch.. at that time, both of them took a step back, it was just like a comedy show, the 2 big mafia looking guys turning white and lighting their smoke in synch. Then I decided to take a look myself. I the low orange light of some lamp post, I saw something not too pleasant.. A big hole in my knee.. about the size of my kneecap.
It's about at that moment that the ambulance came in. The medic checked the situation and went picking the right stuff in the ambulance. I asked my colleagues to raise my bike (my 2 mafiosi looking buddies) as they were fixing me and I was worried they'd faint and take some of my medics attention away..
I asked the guy who was now off the phone to help me get up and walk me around the bike so I could get an idea of my bike condition, all fluids were out, bent bars, scratched fairing, mostly in one piece.
I sat back on the curb and asked the medic that was just back from his ambulance to look in my new kneehole and asked him :
- Are those my bones I see in there ?
- Yes..
- Allright then, I'll take your lift to the hospital.
I was hoping throughout the whole time I could jump back on my bike and ride home :'(
Instead I went to the hospital, lucky me, 3 guys had a fight that turned out bad, some knives were involved. So those cases were using the ER so I had to wait a bit all taped up to those boards they use to carry peoples in ambulance...
That's when I started thinking how the heck am I getting out of here ? It's 4 in the morning, I called 2 buddies that do have a car and didn't work in 2 hours and they all came up with excuses... So I remembered that girl I met at a party 2 days before that told me that I could call her anytime, even in the middle of the night ;D I didn't knew if she had a car so I decided to give it a shot.
Guess what, she's prooven more reliable than everybody else, she came right over, in a cabbie, to provide both moral support and .. well, ahem ...to help me take a leak in one of those little cans they give you when you can't go to the restroom... It was quite a way to get those taboos off right away ;D She brought me back home, took care of getting my pills from the pharmacy and I've had my private nurse for the time it took me to heal... ;D
It took me about 6 weeks with a cane and had to change those bandages every 2 days..
Although were inseparable since that event, I am now only riding in full gear, even if it takes me longer to get dressed than to get to the grocery and back.
Do wear full gear guys, if it wouldn't be that I had experience jumping off a bumpy ride gone wrong (did some downhill moutain biking back in the days) the outcome could've easily been worst... Don't wait for this to happen to you, learn from my past mistakes.
I've fixed my ride, luckily the frame wasn't bent and I am now back on the streets
Ride safe.
Frog
These events happened late August of 2006.. at 3:15 am.
I came to work on my bike as usual that night (no parking fee downtown Montreal)
When my shift was done at 3:00 am I got out of work, put my gear on : Jacket, motocross gloves and my helmet..
That's right, no pants, no boots, no real motorcycle gloves..
And I went on my way, the same ride as usual, down the Metcalfe street, into the Ville-Marie tunnel going east, then Notre-Dame all the way down to my apartment (at that time).. Or so I thought..
The facts were different.. The entrance to Ville-Marie tunnel is a superb curve that goes left, with the proper camber (tilted left) with a tight entrance that opens progressively.
I wasn't leaning the bike very much, having a whopping 4 months of experience at that time so that night, I decided to go wider than usual and to lean the bike a bit more than what I'm used to.
Everything would've gone well if I would've remembered that there was a bump on the road caused by a an underground drain pipe that was slowly moving up from all those winter/summer temperature changes we know here..
That bump was maybe 1/2 an inch on the extreme left of the lane (the one I was used to) but it was getting bigger and bigger towards the right side of the street so much that it was actually sticking 3 inches and that's where I hit the infamous bump, while leaning on the bike..
As you can imagine, it didn't go too well.. Having the bike leaned to a point I never took my bike before and hitting a 3 inch tall bump sent me and my bike flying (I was doing between 50 to 70km/h, 70 being the limit). I was still sitting on it but as we spent more and more air time, the bike was leaning more and more... At that moment, I tried to get the bike vertically but no efforts from my part were reaching a positive conclusion... At some point I had to choose between continuing my inconclusive efforts (and probably get my left leg caught between my bike and the asphalt on the landing) or try to jump off and save myself.. Well I decided to hit the eject button and jumped off the bike trying to tuck and roll.
The roll part went OK, I rolled for maybe 20 ft and the bike slid for the equivalent length with sparks flying everywhere (quite a sight when your rolling in the dark). My helmet never touched the ground
I remember getting up as soon as I stopped rolling, looking for my shoes that went flying from my feet's.. I putted my shoes back on, just by stepping in them (they were still tied tight, adrenaline makes you do weird stuff) I walked to the outside of the curve as I was hidden from oncoming traffic since I rolled following the camber of the curve, I was in a blind spot inside.. Straight in the path of anyone coming back from any downtown bar at closing time...
My helmet didn't even hit the road, but my hands and my left knee where first to hit the tarmac.. Both my gloves were utterly destroyed, getting much skin off my fingers, my pants did not held too good and both my shoes were found through the debris like previously explained..
I had some of my colleagues that were done at the same time and they were going the same way as I was.. So they arrived a short minute after these events, when I was sitting on the outside curb near my bike. One called the ambulance while 2 others came and asked me if I was OK. My reply shook them a bit : ''Does anyone of you have a strong heart ?'' They know me and knew what was coming... I asked them to take a look at my left knee as it was starting to feel more than just an itch.. at that time, both of them took a step back, it was just like a comedy show, the 2 big mafia looking guys turning white and lighting their smoke in synch. Then I decided to take a look myself. I the low orange light of some lamp post, I saw something not too pleasant.. A big hole in my knee.. about the size of my kneecap.
It's about at that moment that the ambulance came in. The medic checked the situation and went picking the right stuff in the ambulance. I asked my colleagues to raise my bike (my 2 mafiosi looking buddies) as they were fixing me and I was worried they'd faint and take some of my medics attention away..
I asked the guy who was now off the phone to help me get up and walk me around the bike so I could get an idea of my bike condition, all fluids were out, bent bars, scratched fairing, mostly in one piece. I sat back on the curb and asked the medic that was just back from his ambulance to look in my new kneehole and asked him :
- Are those my bones I see in there ?
- Yes..
- Allright then, I'll take your lift to the hospital.
I was hoping throughout the whole time I could jump back on my bike and ride home :'(
Instead I went to the hospital, lucky me, 3 guys had a fight that turned out bad, some knives were involved. So those cases were using the ER so I had to wait a bit all taped up to those boards they use to carry peoples in ambulance...
That's when I started thinking how the heck am I getting out of here ? It's 4 in the morning, I called 2 buddies that do have a car and didn't work in 2 hours and they all came up with excuses... So I remembered that girl I met at a party 2 days before that told me that I could call her anytime, even in the middle of the night ;D I didn't knew if she had a car so I decided to give it a shot.
Guess what, she's prooven more reliable than everybody else, she came right over, in a cabbie, to provide both moral support and .. well, ahem ...to help me take a leak in one of those little cans they give you when you can't go to the restroom... It was quite a way to get those taboos off right away ;D She brought me back home, took care of getting my pills from the pharmacy and I've had my private nurse for the time it took me to heal... ;D
It took me about 6 weeks with a cane and had to change those bandages every 2 days..
Although were inseparable since that event, I am now only riding in full gear, even if it takes me longer to get dressed than to get to the grocery and back.
Do wear full gear guys, if it wouldn't be that I had experience jumping off a bumpy ride gone wrong (did some downhill moutain biking back in the days) the outcome could've easily been worst... Don't wait for this to happen to you, learn from my past mistakes.
I've fixed my ride, luckily the frame wasn't bent and I am now back on the streets
Ride safe.
Frog
