Unplanned off road excursion

[Sin City Stan]

I’ve put off writing this because of the injury to my right shoulder which prevented long stints at the keyboard.

On Tuesday, August 23 on the way to the Rally in the Redwoods we went down on the bike. We were on CA Hwy 36 about 90 miles West of Red Bluff, CA. You have probably seen a picture of the sign as you get on this highway at Red Bluff.



With Rita on the pillion we were winding our way across the summit and heading downhill. We entered an unmarked curve. I downshifted, then realized that there was more curve than I initially realized. It was also pitched to the outside and was downhill. I was setup on the outside edge planning to cut the apex except this curve was quite a bit more than 90 degrees. We were traveling 30-35 MPH.

About halfway through the curve the bike left the road and continued up a grassy slope. I got the bike around the curve on the side of this slope and was headed back toward the road but a quick double tank slap and we were airborne. Rita ending up about 15’ in front of the bike and was up walking in a couple minutes. She got a little road rash where her jacket rode up and lots of large bruises. I think she bounced mostly though the grass as we were picking grass and brush off of her for the rest of the day and night. Her helmet was scratched up but no impact marks. Her jacket or jeans were not ripped or torn. Her boots had scuff marks on the toes.







I stopped 30’ in front of the bike on the blacktop shoulder facing the back slope. I don’t remember being launched off the bike. I do remember landing on my right shoulder and sliding a bit.

My helmet was scratched up all the way around but showed no impact marks. My jacket had a fist sized hole on the back of my right shoulder. My jeans were not ripped of torn. My left boot was ground down a bit.






I’m laying on the road. Rita’s calling to see if I’m OK. I’m checking fingers, toes, arms, legs, shoulders . . . sh*t!!! I tell her I’m OK, but my should hurts a bit.. She says she’s OK. Actually my shoulder is numb all the way to my fingers and feels loose in the socket. I’m checking the collar bone knowing it helps to hold the shoulder in place. It didn’t feel broken or even hurt.

In 4-5 minutes all the numbness went away and as long as I held my right arm across my stomach I had no pain. Rita’s by me and people are showing up all around me. An ambulance has been called. I found out even a helicopter was in route but was later cancelled by the Paramedics.

It’s getting hot lying in the sun on the blacktop so I get help to spin me around while I hold my right arm. Now I’m lying somewhat upright on the grassy slope. I get my helmet and even my jacket off and bottles of ice water appear and we wait for the ambulance.

While waiting I start looking around and see the bike on its side facing the other way. Everyone thought we were going uphill. The ambulance arrived. The put me in a neck brace. I was helped to my feet and walked to the ambulance where they promptly strapped me to a board for the two hour ride to the hospital.

After four hours in the EM they determined Rita had no broken bones or any other severe trauma. I have three fractured ribs below my right shoulder. The shoulder was severally bruised and a tendon from my neck to my right shoulder was torn. I have to have a follow up exam to check for a torn rotator cuff.

We walked out of the EM at 8:30 that night and got a motel room. Rented a car the next day, saw the bike and crash site, collected our belongings and went on to finish our trip on Sunday.

At the crash site I could follow our tracks through the incident and saw what started the tank slapping and prevented us from getting back on the road. We hit a mile marker post almost “dead on” that was about 2’ off the road. You can see the front fender and windshield hardware damage from it. A couple feet either way and we would have just had to change our underwear.




It amazed me that Rita said she never thought we were in “real” trouble until I said “oh sh*t” when the tank slapping started. Didn’t know she had that much confidence in me. ;) I was sh*tting all the way thinking this can’t be happening.

All in all it comes down to this; I was going too fast. No matter what you think, even at 35 MPH you’re moving 52 feet per second. It takes 200 milliseconds to turn a light switch off and on as fast as you can. That’s over 10’ of travel at 35 MPH. Your mind and body cannot react that fast. If I even saw the milepost I couldn’t have done a damn thing about it. When the sh*t hits the fan there are no heroics involved. It’s all a matter of luck and instinct if you make it or not. Instinct got us around the curve and back toward the road. Bad luck put the mile post in our path.

Finally, we always have practiced ATGATT since we started riding again. I honestly believe if it were not for the armor in the shoulder of my jacket I would have shattered my shoulder. If it was not for all of the rest of the armor who knows how much worse this would have been. Most likely I would not have walked to the ambulance or out of the EM that night.

One more item of note. I have to recommend the Canon T2i DLSR. It was around Rita’s neck. It ended up about 5’ further down the road from her. It still works! Sent it to Canon for cleaning and refurbishing. Might even get a new camera if they use it for advertising.





Will we ride again?? We’re just waiting to see if they total the bike (I think they will.) and then we will start looking for a new one. My boss suggested maybe we should consider a Corvette convertible.

Be safe and always practice ATGATT.

[jwg383]

Sorry to hear about your mishap Stan. It could have been much worse. Fortunately, your still here to tell us about it. Get well soon!

[usranger74]

Thanks for the write up and glad to see you and your wife are for the most part ok.

[rolfe]

Good Grief I have never met you two and now possibly I will in the future. Thank Goodness you are in pretty good shape. I think you would be sitting with the Angels above if you both had not protective gear on. Dont beat yourself down on this because you both made it. The bike can be replaced. Thank You So Much for Sharing this story as it re-enforces the need for protective gear. =r=

[ray2]

Good to hear you and your wife will be OK Stan. Also am glad you posted pic's of gear you were wearing. Do you think you will get another Nomad?

[cactusjack]

Stan, having ridden that same road a day before you, I can tell you two things...

1. You are both damn fortunate. It could have been so much worse.
2. I don't care to ever ride that road again. 4 hours on that twisty, hilly, narrow road is enough for one lifetime.

I hope you are both feeling better now. I'm very sorry about your bike, but glad to see you both in Crescent City. Take care.

[rickyboy]

Stan, I spoke briefly with you at Crescent City, with C.J.. Glad to see you are well enough to at least post. I thought you were quite the hero just showing up at the rally, even if it was by car.
You talked about the armor and how it helped. I saw people, {male and female} riding in T-shirts and vests at the rally and shuddered to think what they might feel if/when they come off. {having come off my bike a couple of times.} I never will ride without at least an armored mesh jacket. I wish everyone would realize that $hit can happen to them too.
See you at the next rally.

[ringadingh]

Im sorry to hear about your accident, like the others have said it could have been a lot worse. I know all too well how things can happen in a split second. Hopefully you will make a full recovery, I also know how painful broken ribs are.
Heal well and ride safe, probably on your new bike.

[2x18wheeler]

Stan, I am glad to hear that you and your wife are OK. Thanks for sharing your story. It is a great reminder to all of us how quickly something can happened.

[Sin City Stan]

Originally Posted by ray2

Good to hear you and your wife will be OK Stan. Also am glad you posted pic's of gear you were wearing. Do you think you will get another Nomad?

Nomads are at the top of my list but as before I will "check around". There are not allot of Nomads within 5-6 hours of Las Vegas for sale.

I am not looking for a new bike as I don't want to lay out the cash (for a big purple HD ) as retirement is getting closer.

So whatever I get for a totaled 2009 Nomad will pay for the replacement. The insurance company picked up the bike yesterday. Still waiting for them to assess the damage.

[Top Cat]

Glad you both came out as well as you did.
Pretty unlucky that post was right where you were headed.
Cindy and I went down a few years ago you can see our tire tracks.
I never saw that post to the left. Lucky as hell I was to the right of it.
We just slid in the clover field and not one mark on us.

[Sin City Stan]

Originally Posted by Top Cat (TC)

Glad you both came out as well as you did.
Pretty unlucky that post was right where you were headed.
Cindy and I went down a few years ago you can see our tire tracks.
I never saw that post to the left. Lucky as hell I was to the right of it.
We just slid in the clover field and not one mark on us.

As I've said in the past, I'd rather be lucky than good.

[BudMan]

Sorry to hear of your accident.
It's a wonder you're and Rita's injuries were not more serious.
Good point about the speed.
People tend to think of 35 mph as slow.
In a split second you can realize it not.
I hope you heal quickly.

[cnc]

Wow you both were lucky. I wish you a speedy recovery. Thanks for the pics and detailed write up. Your experience along with the write ups of others on here is never pleasant to hear about, but hopefully they are a reminder to us all of how fast a ride can go from carefree to holly crap and to dress for it. I am a firm believer in ATGATT as well and went as far as going to a full coverage helmet this summer after reading about about a few of the other mishaps on here.

[AlabamaNomadRider]

Thanks for the write up and the pictures. Sure glad you and Rita weren't hurt any more than you were. I know broken ribs and a messed up shoulder is bad and very painful. I have had both. Should in a bike accident several years back when I was hit by a car. Ribs when I sort of fell into a guardrail while climbing some steep outdoor stairs. Get well soon and hope the insurance company treats you fairly.