End of the road

[emptysea]

VJL - you're having a rough go. As Kiowa mentioned, you seem to be coping with your situation better than most would. Please try not to be disheartened by setbacks in your recovery, but rather focus on the amazing progress you have made.

Oh, I considered purchasing your CB1100, but then realized that if I did, my wife would inflict injuries upon me that would make you feel healthy by comparison.

As they say in MSF classes: Look where you want to go.

 

[Gone in 60]

Man, sorry to hear the news! Things were sounding promising not that long ago. All the good juju I can muster headed your way! Keep the faith, brother.

 

[VLJ_imp]

So, after hobbling out to the garage to slap my 2021 registration sticker on the Honda's license plate, I managed a sort of erector-set method of climbing onto the saddle. Probably looked like a small Frankenstein's monster awkwardly climbing aboard some deeply unfortunate village maiden.

Anyway, I fired her up and sat there in the saddle for a good ten minutes, just blipping the throttle and revving the engine like a starstruck five-year old.

Satisfying, yet also very sad.

 

[max]

VLJ you'll never know how happy the battery is for that exercise:celebrate:

These bikes have a high feelgood value, haven't they?
I just hope that after many years and when the bike gets too heavy for me i can do the same and still enjoy it,
ever thought about doing some writing in your spare time?

All the very best to you veal!

 

[VLJ_imp]

VLJ you'll never know how happy the battery is for that exercise:celebrate:

These bikes have a high feelgood value, haven't they?
I just hope that after many years and when the bike gets too heavy for me i can do the same and still enjoy it,
ever thought about doing some writing in your spare time?

All the very best to you veal!

Me? Write?

 

[Chuckk_imp]

draw from life's experiences.. you certainly have them .. God heal you ..

 

[the Ferret]

So, after hobbling out to the garage to slap my 2021 registration sticker on the Honda's license plate, I managed a sort of erector-set method of climbing onto the saddle. Probably looked like a small Frankenstein's monster awkwardly climbing aboard some deeply unfortunate village maiden.

Anyway, I fired her up and sat there in the saddle for a good ten minutes, just blipping the throttle and revving the engine like a starstruck five-year old.

Satisfying, yet also very sad.

Good for you VLJ, to me that means it hasn't broken your spirit! :worship:

 

[Southwend]

At the risk of sounding like a clueless motivational speaker. After the many major crap festivals I have been through in my life, I have experienced some tendencies of the destination that lies at the end of the poop trail based on how I approach the journey.

Keep a handle on who you have always been don't let that go. Get angry, feel pitiful, just always come back to yourself. Adopt the mantra that all this is happening for a reason that is way beyond you. Focus on what is directly in front of you that instant is all you can really control. At some point you will arrive at a place in your life that you could have never anticipated, look backwards and say;

"Ohhhh, OK, well that really sucked, but I get it now!"

I know, I'm waving toilet paper pom-poms. But what do you have to lose? Anyway it strikes me you are engaging in this behavior already even though it can be really hard to see from your perspective on the inside looking out.

You will absolutely come out of this thing on the other side.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Nicely put southwend.

 

[peterbaron]

Absolutely!!

 

[Southwend]

Thanks for that.
We can do the amazing.
When there really is no other choice.

 

[the Ferret]

I saw VLJ popped in to give them some grief over on MCD. It was nice to see him out and about ( social media speaking)

 

[VLJ_imp]

Yep, and my latest post over there went into moderated status a couple of days ago, never to return. It's still not there. It had to do with how that new crated H-D motor doesn't even meet emissions standards in California.
I should also add that someone here sent me a Private Message, inquiring as to the availability of my 2017 CB1100 EX. I responded to him, letting him know that it looks like I won't be able to ride any longer, so I may as well let her move on to someone else.

As much as it pains me to do so, yes, she's available for sale.

 

[the Ferret]

you know their moderation could use some help. Half the time you post it doesn't show up, sometimes for hours, sometimes for days, sometime EVER. I wrote Dirck and asked him why I was being moderated so heavily when I have never once in 10 years gotten disagreeable, cursed, or was disrespectful to another poster and he responded that it was a software deal. That's all he would say.

Sorry to see you are selling your CB Veal J, but it's understandable why. I pray that someday you recover enough to ride again, if that is your desire. Hope you stick around both her andon MCD. I like the conversations we have.

 

[the Ferret]

Hey VLJ, your post finally showed up on MCD

 

[VLJ_imp]

That's crazy. Two days later, they finally drop it into the thread?

Wow.

Anyway, I doubt I will stop reading MCD, or posting there. Force of habit, I suppose. These days, I don't bother posting to every thread. This new Harley thing, however, simply blows my mind. It's borderline larceny, and so poorly executed.

Imagine if a Japanese manufacturer attempted to foist such a concept onto its customer base. Can you ever picture Honda doing such a thing, including making it non-compliant for California emissions?

As for posting here, man, this really hurts. In an effort to sell my bike, I just posted a thread in the Classifieds section here. It makes me sick to my stomach. Such an empty feeling. My emotions literally ache at the thought of selling this bike, and of the loss of so many other basic aspects of living my normal life, all because some eighty-five-year-old who shouldn't have been allowed to drive decided to choose me in order to prove it.

Back when I sold my '94 VFR, my wife cried. I was a motorcycle lifer, and sold bikes for a living, so she was well used to such things, but she really loved that one bike. She wasn't a crier, either, but she cried when we said goodbye to our beautiful red jewel.

Now I feel the same. The enormity of what's happened to me finally hit me, when I posted that accursed ad. I don't want to give her away. Even worse, I don't want to be FORCED to give her away.

It just isn't right.

 

[Houtman_imp]

Reading your last post and feeling sad for you would it be finically possible for you just to keep your very last and perhaps most loved bike ?
At least than you can look at , sit on it and start it once in a while.
AND you never know what happens in the future ; perhaps you might be able to ride it around the block . Just my thoughts.

 

[VLJ_imp]

Sure, I could eventually ride her around the block again. All I'd have to do is be able to walk her out of the garage and hold her up at stop lights. In order to ride somewhat safely, however, I need to be able to tilt and turn my head enough to check my surroundings.

I don't want to be like the guy who hit me. I don't want to be a hazard to everyone else.

 

[the Ferret]

so VLJ, any good news you can share with us on the medical front?

 

[VLJ_imp]

Nothing new to report. I get another CAT Scan and see the neck surgeon on April 15th, at which point he will inform me as to whether the electro-magnetic bone stimulator collar he has me wearing thirty minutes each day has had any positive effect. The last time I saw him, he was surprised and dismayed to see that not only had the broken vertebrae not showed any signs of healing, it had actually gone the other way, with the bone shards having moved further apart. He was expecting them to have come together and healed, as the femur, calcaneous, and other bones did.

This news left us in a very uncertain, uncomfortable gray area. At last report, he had changed his mind about doing another fusion surgery, knowing that such a surgery would leave me with only one functional vertebrae. I'd be locked nearly solid. So, instead, he said he will likely just let it be, hoping that the magnetic stimulator will kickstart the healing process. If that doesn't work, then it sounds like he still plans on letting it be, which would mean, what, exactly? I go through life with a permanently broken neck, and an unprotected spinal cord?

That sounds mighty sketchy to me, especially with random bone shards floating around the exposed spinal cord.

Otherwise, I have ditched both the wheelchair and walker and am now using only a cane to tool around. I can do a hundred yards or so without the cane, entirely on my own. It ain't pretty, though. It's an ugly, awkward hobble when I ditch the cane. Also, I still can't get a sock or shoe to fit over my swollen balloon foot and ankle. I have to wear a slider-style sandal on my right foot, which means I can't put on a riding boot, either.

As of right now, I'm not sure whether I could take the CB down from her centerstand. Probably, but it would be iffy. I know I wouldn't even try to force her back up onto the centerstand. I can't press down hard enough on the bad foot to lever her back up.

I haven't been able to sell the CB, which has me pondering the possibility of having to keep her and ride her again. In order to do so I would have to be able to put on a shoe or riding boot, and be able to turn and tilt my head, at least somewhat. Don't know yet whether either of those abilities will come to pass.