Back on a Bike

[tanstaafl]

I was never a big poster on Pashnit, but I would like to share some good news - at least it worked out to be good in the end.

Last November 15th I was riding my Rocket III home from work when an unobservant person driving a Nissan turned left in front of me on Bruceville Road in Elk Grove. After waking up in the middle of the road to find an Elk Grove PD motor officer standing over me, holding my helmeted head and telling not to try to move, my journey began.

I was transported to the trauma center at Kaiser South. Ended up with seven ribs on my left side broken in multiple places, a broken left shoulder, a ruptured spleen and a concussion. Thank goodness I was wearing ATGATT. While they were rmoving my spleen, they found cancer and took out a large tumor.

After seven months of healing up and CT scans, I have a clean bill of health - no cancer, no lasting effects of crash except some pain and limited motion with left shoulder. I choose to look at accident as a disguised blessing - without this experience, the cancer might have gone undiscovered until too late.

After the woman's insurance finally paid up, I was able to purchase a new 2012 Triumph Thunderbird. It is all mine, not the bank's. See pictures below.

[Old Surf Dog]

Glad that your all healed up and things turned out good. The good Lord was looking out for you that day. Must not have been your time to go. Funny the way things work out sometime. There is a reason for everything even if we don't understand it.

[RobertVP]

Glad you are all healed up (mostly) and good-to-go.

The glass half full side of me says to keep concentrating on the fact they found the as yet undiagnosed cancer.

Enjoy your sweet new ride.

[Turkus]

Welcome Back Ric !!

Life's blessings are many if you just look for them

Stay in the present, stay amazed, and live life one day at a time

[tanstaafl]

Thanks for the comments. It was quite an experience but, all things considered, I would have to say I am glad it happened.

[FishWitch]

Great new bike & welcome back!!! As you said not the way you want to find out about things but glad they got ya all fixed up!!! A true blessing in disguise.

Change your wicked ways & take that pretty new bike on some road trips & share them with us.

[demenshea]

Welcome back, Ric, I am sooooo glad to see you again!! My bro just bought the same bike, i believe. He LOVES it. Here is his...let me know if it's like yours. He rides with his son. He had a Kawasaki Vulcan prior but has found this to be a much better bike.

I hope you enjoy your new machine and have striped the heck outa it, with glow in the dark and light safety stripes. I want everyone on the road to know you are out there and enjoying yourself and to be aware!!



Enjoy, m'friend!!

[tanstaafl]

Thanks, Donna.

That is indeed the same type of bike, just blinged out with a lot more goodies than mine. I did found out from the dealer that I will be getting about $1200 of free accessories as part of a promotion, so my bike might get a little bit shinnier later!

I have gone on three or four shorter rides with my brother, 150-200 miles each so far, easing back into it.

Will probably be adding some extra lighting in the future. Hopefully that will help, although I had some very bright PIAA driving lights on my Rocket and she still did not see me! I have also changed to a mostly white jacket and a mostly white helmet (previous jacket and helmet were black) so maybe that will also help.

[Ally House]

Welcome back, Ric. And Happy New Bike. Hearing the "C" word as part of anything really puts stuff in perspective (DAMHIK) and I love how you're framing the crash, your diagnosis and your travel path into something positive.

[viffergyrl]

It seems that it is all a mystery sometimes. I've enjoyed reading Ernest Gann's stories about flying and there is one quote that comes to mind. I'm going to have to fake it a bit, but it goes something like this:

"There is a degree of mercy beyond which it is rude to inquire."

It's a gift. And it's a gift to us to have both Ric and Kurt with us and posting up again.