A Ride Gone Bad Part 3

A Ride Gone Bad Part 3

Continued from A Ride Gone Bad Part 2

The wait for my wife to pick us up seemed like it would last forever. My left ankle was throbbing and swelling up like a balloon. On top of that my right elbow looked like it had half a golf ball under the skin. It hurt to take a deep breath, cough or laugh. Finally my wife arrived with Jakes wife Kristen and a couple of my kids. They helped me into the cage and we started the long drive home.

After dropping Jake and Kristen off at their house we arrived home and prepared to take me to my local medical center to get checked out. We arrived five minutes before closing and they stayed to let a doctor check me out. He looked me over and I was still getting light headed when lying down and setting up, or even just moving my head fast.

The doc said I had an almost concussion or as he put it “scrambled brains”. He gave me a prescription for an anti-inflammatory and I declined one for pain. The doc also said keep ice on my ankle and heat on my upper back. The visit did not last very long and we headed for home. I stayed in bed the rest of the weekend with ice packs on my foot

I was able to gingerly limp into work on Monday with quite a bit of pain, but could not perform my duties at my normal rate of speed. I kept my ankle iced down at night and continued to take my anti-inflammatory medication until it was gone. By the end of the day Monday the bruising really started to appear. From the bruising on the front of my foot and the bend in the bikes shifter pedal I think my foot went under the shifter and got hyper extended at the ankle when I flew off.

I think Mistress, my bike, fared worse than me. The left front light bar is broken. The left rear turn signal stalk is damaged. The left saddle bag is damaged worse than it was. The left side of the wind screen was scraped as well as the shift lever, mirror, floorboard etc. The left handle bar mount was bent back. My sons handle bars were twisted and despite being in much pain managed to ride both the bikes one at a time back the next day.

My Scorpion helmet was scraped on the back and my Frogg Toggs don’t appear to have a scratch on them, even on the elbow that was scraped. There was also a small nick on the front of one of my boots. All in all as far as motorcycle accidents go it was not too bad. We both were able to basically walk away and the bikes were somewhat ride able. Now I just need to start saving up to fix the bike…

A Ride Gone Bad Part 2

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A Ride Gone Bad Part 2 Continued from A Ride Gone Bad Part 1

There we were, my son Jake and I, heading home from Cresson through Burleson on Highway 377 in what was now just a light rain. We started picking up Saturday morning traffic now among all the stop and go of the traffic lights. We were both in the right hand lane and Jake was in front of me in the left track and I was riding in the right track. Everything was going fine until the white older Tahoe in front of Jake hit the brakes for no apparent reason.

I saw Jakes brake light come on and his rear tire start to slide to the right. Everything appeared to be happening in slow motion now. I lightly applied my brakes and it was like we were on ice. I saw Jakes bike going down as he went flying towards the stopped SUV in my line of track. At the same time I felt my rear tire starting to slide out to the right. This is where things become fuzzy.

I’m guessing my tires got grip and locked up sending my high side. I remember feeling in my head like I was doing a flip midair. I remember the back of my helmet slamming down hitting the street hard followed closely by my shoulders and upper back almost simultaneously knocking the wind out of me. I remember looking up into the sky seeing stars in my head and rain sprinkling down onto my face shield.

Interesting things go through your head when something like this goes down. I was more concerned about my son than myself knowing he has a lot more life to live than I do. I definitely did not want to run into him. The other thought was the fact that if the crash did not kill me my wife would.

I heard Jake off to my right yelling “Dad, dad!” I lifted up my right hand still too stunned to get up. I realized my left ankle was hurting and that my left knee was bent and my foot was underneath me. I managed to get my left leg straightened out as my ankle started to throb. A Good Samaritan was standing over me dialing 911 on his cell phone asking me if I was all right. I tried to set up on my own and could not. The Good Samaritans wife came over and held an umbrella over me as Jake came over to see how I was. I was relieved to hear he was banged up pretty bad but ok.

I was able to slowly get to my feet just as the Paramedics arrived. I must have slid quite a ways because I wound up in the grass along the side of the road head pointed away from the road. I could barely put any weight on my left foot and my right elbow was hurting. I hobbled over to the ambulance to get examined while Jake went to push our damaged bikes out of the street.

Jake joined me in the ambulance as they checked me out. They asked for all our pertinent information and a police officer also quizzed us while they checked Jake out. The only blood was from my right elbow which was scraped and starting to swell up like a goose egg. We turned down a ride to the emergency room and Jake exited while I limped off the ambulance. It was still sprinkling.

Jake had called his mom, my wife, earlier and told me to call as I limped over to the nearest strip center building, a Texas Car Tittle and Payday Loan Services building next to a Domino’s Pizza, to hopefully get out of the rain. I called and she was already on the way to get us so I gave her directions. Just as I was about to set down and the cement in front of the building a young lady named Melisa asked if we would like to come inside and sit down. After explaining we were soaking wet she still offered us some chairs at one of the tables inside so we thankfully obliged her. She also explained that she would enjoy the company because the business had been held up, robbed, just the day before.

We set down a second and Jake suggested I take off my left boot before it swelled up any more. So while I struggled with my boot Jake went to roll the bikes up to one of the parking spaces in front of the store. While he was doing that the Domino’s Pizza manager offered to lock the bikes in his storage area which we politely declined.

I was feeling light headed again and when Jake came in I asked him to get me a bottle of water from my saddle bag which he promptly brought me. He went back out as I drank and then I got dizzier and had to lie down on the floor for a few minutes. Jake came back in and then I was feeling level headed again and I crawled back into the chair again. My head felt like I had an inner ear infection and made me dizzy every time I moved my head fast....

To Be Continued.....

Ride on,
Torch

A Ride Gone Bad Part 1

Jake

A Ride Gone Bad Part 1

It all started on a gloomy rainy Saturday morning with plans for my son Jake and I to take a short ride down to Cresson Texas to the Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association bike races. I planned on leaving early enough to get there for the opening mini races. The weather forecast for that morning said scattered showers for the morning and a lessor chance for the evening. There were also flash flood warnings for the area we were riding to. On top of that there was also a cool front coming in the afternoon.

I loaded 4 water bottles in my left saddle bag and my mesh jacket in the other with the liner, just in case it got cold. I also grabbed the camera and stowed it in a zip lock freezer bag for water protection in the saddlebag. I put on my riding boots, my new Frogg Toggs, which my son had given me, and my half helmet with clear glasses. I also grabbed my old frogg toggs pants to give to Jake to ride in. I had lost the jacket that went with them one day on my ride to work when my saddlebag had flown open.

It was raining when I left the house on my V-Star 1100 Classic. I rode two blocks before turning around to go back home to switch to my full face helmet. That done I headed to Jakes house on the other side of Bedford. As I pulled up he was in the garage to greet me and he put on my old frogg toggs pants and his mesh jacket with water proof liner. Before we left I told him we had no time deadlines and take it easy on the speed going down to Cresson figuring he local authorities new which days the races were as well. He would lead and I would follow him.

Jake put on his Bell Full-face and fired up his Kawasaki Vulcan 750 and we left Bedford Texas and headed down westbound 183 Airport Freeway towards Fort Worth where we hopped on I35W heading south with the rain stinging my unprotected hands. A little ways down we pulled over for refueling. It was still raining and very gloomy out. I dug out the camera and snapped a picture while there. After we both filled up I packed up the camera again and we headed south again. It was still raining.

Then we picked up I20 headed east as the rain seemed to pick up a little. We rode I20 to Benbrook where we headed south on 377. The sky just kept getting darker and darker and the rain was increasing in intensity. I could feel the sting of the cold raindrops through the frogg toggs. The black carpeting of clouds covered us and occasionally I thought I heard thunder and saw lightning off in the distance.

Jake reported later that he thought he saw a wall cloud off to our left trying to shape into a tornado. The rain was coming down with so much ferocity now that you could not see the white lines on the road. I noticed it looked like he was following some of the other vehicles a little closer than he should be considering the weather and made a mental note to mention it to him later.

Then the rain let up a little and we were in Cresson. We found the road off to the left going to the racetrack and followed it up to the gate. It was still raining. The people at the gate said to come back after the rain stops so we left to search out a dry spot. My feet and boots were soaked by now and I was sure Jake was probably in worse shape. Cresson was not much of a city but we found a Subway restaurant open so we turned in there.

We walked into the Subway dripping wet taking off our helmets while the young guy at the counter just looked at us like we were crazy. We apologized for the water we dripped everywhere and ordered some breakfast things that actually turned out to not be that bad. We sat down at the table to talk while the food was prepared and Jake was worse off than me for sure. Water has gotten under his jacket from the bottom side and had wicked underneath his frogg toggs pants and his blue jean pants were soaked. He had on a pair of waterproof hiking boot type shoes but that did not keep water from splashing in over the top and they held the water in. He went into the restroom to drain the water out of his boots.

We ate our food and talked while watching the few vehicles going by on 377. While we contemplated our next move we saw an ambulance, lights a flashing, speeding by. Foreshadowing perhaps? We stayed there for a little over an hour watching the huge storm over the internet on our phones. The storm looked like it was not in any hurry to get by and was massive in size and severity so we decided to head home.

We donned all our soggy gear again and left the cover of the Subway restaurant venturing back out into the storms teeth to head for home. I felt goose bumps building on my forearms because it was considerably cooler out now making me wish I had my mesh jacket and liner on underneath my frogg toggs. It was still raining as we headed north on 377. It was then I remembered that I had forgotten to tell Jake to allow more distance between himself and the traffic in front of him, not that this would have made any difference in the outcome later.

As we got closer to Burleson the rain slowed down a little and the traffic increased. The further north we went the cooler it got as well. The frequency of traffic lights increased the closer we got into Burleson as well.

This is where things started to unravel ….

To Be Continued…..


Ride on,

Torch



Riding in the Rain

Riding in the Rain

For the ease of writing this blog post I will refer to anyone who pilots a motorized two or three wheeled vehicle as a “rider”. This will include; scooterists, bikers, motorcyclists, motorcyclists with sidecars, trikes or three wheelers such as the Can-Am Spyder. If I left anyone out I apologize in advance. We all ride, so I group us all together as riders.

I have been commuting by motorcycle now for a couple of years and have noticed some interesting trends. One of these is that a lot of riders are fair weather riders. Don’t get me wrong, I am not bringing this up to tease or condemn you. I am just stating what I have observed commuting every day.

When it is freezing cold outside I usually do not see other riders on the road to wave or nod to. I remember one Saturday that I had to work last winter when it was 15 degrees out, (cold for us Texans) and I did not see one other idiot, I mean rider, out on the road. However, the first day of fair warm weather of Spring I see riders out everywhere and I wonder, where have they all been? It gets lonely out on the road by myself; get some cold weather gear riders.

The fact is I miss you all when you are not out there. I think the cagers miss them too and because of this they tend to start to forget that we are out there at all. This lethargic attitude is not good for us. I would much prefer cagers to always be on the alert for us riders.

It seems that only a very few riders like to ride when it is wet out or raining. I feel there are several reasons for this. One of these reasons is that they are not prepared to ride in the rain. They may not have rain gear which includes waterproof; jacket and pants or a one piece, anti-fog spray, boots, gloves, waterproof storage for other items, and a full-face helmet. Bright and reflective gear also helps visibility so people can spot you. Honestly, good gear is hard to come by and you tend to get what you pay for.

Another reason is that they may not be confident enough in their riding skills or in the capabilities of the machine on which they ride. When I took the MSF Basic Riding Course most of the riding part of the course was in the rain. I was a new rider, still am really, and one of the most memorable things I learned was just how amazing the motorcycles could grip the road surface leaning for turns, taking off, and when braking. That really bolstered my confidence in what motorcycles could do. I am still learning and I know the bike can handle a lot more than I am capable to do as a rider.

Still, one of the most common responses I get when asking fellow riders why they did not ride when it is wet out is that it is too slippery. I disagree, there may be less traction, but it is not too slippery to ride. Ever watch a MotoGP, AMA Superbike, World Superbike or similar race being run in the rain?

Another excuse I hear a lot is that, “I just washed my bike.” So let me go ahead and say this, a clean bike is not a ridden bike. There, I said it. Now I have an excuse for my Mistress not always looking like a Garage Queen. I feel much better now, thank you.

Here is some wet weather riding tips:

• Remember that it is going to be slicker when it first starts to rain, especially if it has not rained in a while.

• Avoid the center section of the road where most of the oil leaks are going to wind up.

• Watch out for road snakes, metal grates or covers, and painted lines or road markings because they are all slick when wet.

• Plan ahead where you are going to plant your feet, they can slip too.

• Try not to make any sudden moves taking off, stopping or turning.

•  Stay prepared and brace for strong wind gusts.

• Leave more of a buffer space when traveling behind other vehicles.

• Watch out for the spray from larger vehicles which can cause your vision to temporarily go away.

• Wait for any lightning to pass.

• Find cover if you encounter hail.

• Pay even more attention to what is going on around you.

•  Do not outride the view of the road in the rain; it is just like out-riding your headlamps at night.

• Lastly, and most importantly, just slow down!

How does one get proficient at riding in the rain any way? Get the gear and get out and practice. Yes, it is a little more slippery and you just have to adjust how you ride for it. Yes, it is more inconvenient, but the ride is always worth it. The sky is crying so I’ve got to go. See you out there. Have a safe Fourth of July and Happy Birthday America.

Ride on,
Torch

When It Rains On A Motorcyclist, It Pours

Classic Pro Action frogg toggs Review

When it rains on a motorcyclist, it pours. I wanted to be able to ride my motorcycle every day possible, even in the rain. Soon after I got my Texas motorcycling License I began to research wet weather gear. I scoured the Internet reading blogs, forums, ads, and articles. One name that kept coming up was frogg toggs. The name really stands out and a lot of motorcyclists were recommending them. So I decided to check them out.

There I was again browsing around Cycle Gear again looking at motorcycle jackets, and anything else that caught my eye, when I saw a frogg toggs label. I looked at them and compared them to the other rain suites they had on display. The first thing I noticed was the Frogg Toggs were made of a thinner material making them much lighter and less bulky. The material itself felt like it had an almost waxy feeling to it. I picked up a black pair and headed toward the checkout with them. On the way I saw a sign that stated all the frogg toggs were on sale. It must have been my day.

A couple of months later I had purchased my V-Star1100 Classic. I kept the Toggs in my saddlebag. Thomas Ramirez and I rode to Bates Discount Cycle #2 to look at leathers, helmets and everything else. They had a fascinating frogg toggs display on the counter. It had water in it and showed how the frogg toggs material was 100% water proof, but would still breathe and let air through. I knew then that I had made a good choice in rain gear.

The frogg toggs Classic Pro Action jacket had 1 inch elastic bands on the waist and wrists. It is equipped with a nylon zipper and a protective storm flap that snaps closed. The snaps are nickel coated to prevent rust. They had adjustable locking draw chords around the hood opening. The hood rolls up and tucks neatly into the compartment in the collar designed for it and zips closed.

The frogg toggs pants have 8 inch zippers on the leg openings that make them easier to take on and off with boots on. The pants had 1 inch elastic bands on the leg openings. They came with adjustable locking draw chord around the pant waist. The toggs have right and left front pass through pockets so you can still get to things inside your regular pants pockets.

The rain suite is water proof, not just water resistant. This also means that they are wind proof. The toggs come with reflective piping around various seams to help you be more visible at night. To top all that off, the frogg toggs rain suite came with a small compact water proof duffel bag with locking draw chord to store them in. All these features made this rain suite a very attractive ensemble for a motorcyclist.

I commuted around for a couple months with the frogg toggs tucked away in my saddlebag. I got caught in some showers and downpours in the morning and afternoons coming and going to work. Finally, I got to test the frogg toggs first hand. I put them on with ease. They fit over my leathers and helmet just fine. They worked fantastically, and kept the rain out while driving down State Highway 121 in a downpour. The zipper, storm flap, elastic, and draw strings did a pretty good job of keeping the water from creeping into places you don’t want it to. I felt that they performed up to their reputation. Torch gives the Classic Pro Action frogg toggs a M.M.M. rating of 9 on a scale of 1-10.

Ride on,
Torch