Josh is down

[DHB_imp]

Speaking to everyone as a RiderCoach, remember your 2-, 4-, and 12-second space cushions, and your 360° awareness.

Get well, Josh.

 

[Nortoon_imp]

After reading about Josh and The Ferret, I began thinking I was pushing my luck having spent 28 years riding motorcycles. However after one long ride in the country last week, all the anxiety disappeared.

Today it is 85F, but feels like 95F. Ordinary that's too hot for ATGATT, and I don't ride. But I have a modem sitting on my desk that I was supposed to return to my Internet provider several weeks ago.

Grabbed a helmet, and it turned out to be my full face Shoei RF1200. Paused and though too hot for that, and grabbed my open face Bell MAG-9 instead. Well since I was not going to wear my safest helmet, might as well just stay in my T-shirt, shorts and sneakers. But I did grab my deerskin gloves.

First couple of blocks felt a little odd, but that quickly melted away. Kind of reminded me of my 20s when riding was all fun and nobody worried accidents.

After the trip to the Post Office, I decided to ride to the A&W for a Teen Burger and frosty mug of root beer. Yup, tasted just like they use to many years back. Maybe I will take the long way home. Seemed like a good idea until I reached highway speed and the wind noise was too much to bear without ear plugs. Odd I though, I am willing to chance suffering severe pain in an accident, but not the discomfort of a noisy helmet.

 

[LongRanger_imp]

I don't understand the rationalization but I'm glad you had a nice ride!

 

[emptysea]

First...I love that they still call it a "Teen Burger" up there. I think the A&Ws around here just call them "singles", "doubles", etc.

Second...not much better than a frosty mug of root beer unless it's a frosty mug of root beer book-ended with motorcycle riding.

Third...wear whatever you want whenever you want to. I don't think that 85f is anywhere near "too hot" for ATGATT, but I'm not you. I would never ride any distance with an open-faced helmet, but that's just me. Enjoy the ride, that's what's important.

 

[Houtman_imp]

Better sweat than dead.

 

[misterprofessionality]

i can agree with this sentiment. I've spent most of my life riding with less than adequate gear primarily due to financial constraints. I remember what it feels like to just go out in a tshirt and jeans, no helmet, no jacket, no gloves, no nothing. It's better than skydiving. over the years i've managed to slowly upgrade my protection bit by bit, but i still remember.

I can't say i understand the wind noise thing though. even over 90mph i've never heard wind anywhere near loud enough to be uncomfortable.

 

[Nightengale_imp]

Just saw this post. Sorry to hear about the accident.

Something to consider for those who wonder about this and what can be done -- another rider went down on another board and I asked him about his "full MX boot". He suffered substantial foot injuries despite this gear.

Turns out that though he described it that way, it was a rather poor boot, definitely on the low end of the scale and not much better then a plain hiking boot. I did a quick search of this particular boot and found a video where a guy spent 16 minutes torturing his pair - because they left him with a lifetime injury.

The Icon Reign boot is, well, definitely not a full armored boot either. Not my intention to nitpick, especially "after the fact", but I've suffered through a terrible wreck wearing the wrong gear myself and have paid for this poor decision for decades, and will for the rest of my life. When I got back into riding, I had a change of mind about what I'd wear and what I wouldn't. Just to eliminate "me" in the equation (stuff I can do to stay safer).

Today, after decades of cutting tons of firewood and dropping trees, I opened up my leg with a chainsaw, first time, after the last and final cut dropping a large dangerous tree. Wouldn't you know it... the only thing I did right is I wasn't alone. And no, I was not wearing kevlar pants or chaps (and should have). I won't cut another piece of wood until I have this safety gear on.

 

[the Ferret]

Last cuts are when it generally happens. Chainsaw cuts are ugly and nasty. Hope you heal quickly Nightengale.

 

[Cormanus]

Crikey, Nightengale. That is not good news. I also hope you heal quickly.

i can agree with this sentiment. I've spent most of my life riding with less than adequate gear primarily due to financial constraints. I remember what it feels like to just go out in a tshirt and jeans, no helmet, no jacket, no gloves, no nothing. It's better than skydiving. over the years i've managed to slowly upgrade my protection bit by bit, but i still remember.

I can't say i understand the wind noise thing though. even over 90mph i've never heard wind anywhere near loud enough to be uncomfortable.

Mr P, I say this with the utmost respect: you may think you're fine, but if you don't act now to protect your hearing, you'll come to understand exactly what Nortoon is saying. I never want to hear you say, "I should have listened to Cormanus."

 

[KiowaEagle_imp]

i can agree with this sentiment. I've spent most of my life riding with less than adequate gear primarily due to financial constraints. I remember what it feels like to just go out in a tshirt and jeans, no helmet, no jacket, no gloves, no nothing. It's better than skydiving. over the years i've managed to slowly upgrade my protection bit by bit, but i still remember.

I can't say i understand the wind noise thing though. even over 90mph i've never heard wind anywhere near loud enough to be uncomfortable.

I have to agree. I spent 35 years as a contractor running all kinds of power tools without ear protection all the while with a penchant for loud music and other loud pursuits so a little wind noise seems very low on the scale to me, hardly noticeable. Maybe it's my RF1200 helmet but I'm not going to take it off to find out.

I was at my ear, nose, throat doctor last month and had my hearing tested and she told me it's normal. I said "normal for my age?" and she said no, just normal. So it's not like I can't hear it.

 

[misterprofessionality]

Crikey, Nightengale. That is not good news. I also hope you heal quickly.

i can agree with this sentiment. I've spent most of my life riding with less than adequate gear primarily due to financial constraints. I remember what it feels like to just go out in a tshirt and jeans, no helmet, no jacket, no gloves, no nothing. It's better than skydiving. over the years i've managed to slowly upgrade my protection bit by bit, but i still remember.

I can't say i understand the wind noise thing though. even over 90mph i've never heard wind anywhere near loud enough to be uncomfortable.

Mr P, I say this with the utmost respect: you may think you're fine, but if you don't act now to protect your hearing, you'll come to understand exactly what Nortoon is saying. I never want to hear you say, "I should have listened to Cormanus."

You know i've heard lots of people complain about wind for various reasons over the years and I've come to this conclusion:

Though on the surface it looks like a matter of toughness or of tolerance, it's really not. I think some people are just more sensitive to these things than others. When people complain about being buffetted or exhausted by wind battering at high speeds i just can't relate. even at high speeds travelling across bridges i've never felt wind that made me think "gee that's uncomfortable." likewise with the sound. it isn't even as if i'm saying "that wind noise isn't loud relative to other loud noises." what i'm saying is that it isn't a noise I would characterise as loud at all. it's just kind of a gentle fluttering sound. even when i didn't wear a helmet at all i never got the impression that it was a strong sound.

I could see the need for earplugs with certain exhausts on certain bikes, but wind is just not even really a noise.

 

[Houtman_imp]

I have been wearing earplugs for decades riding my bike and more for wind noise than anything else. (wear full helmet )
The one thing I get is that the earplugs push ear wax deeper into my ears and once a year I have them cleaned out.
And yes I do clean my ears when I have a shower !

 

[nhawk7504_imp]

Hope your gradually feeling better, Josh. This may be a case for ABS, I don't know. I tend to always count one thousand one thousand two one thousand three at least on a bike. It's tough with a car in front and behind sometimes. New England tends to be fairly quiet in the countryside so I can pull over if I have to. Florida on the East Coast has been terrifying to ride at rush hour and my brother and others stopped riding for that reason til he moves to Northeast Georgia where I had a peach of a quiet ride on his Duc Multistrada. These people who pull out in front of us (and those in front of us) make it tough.

 

[apex1_imp]

i can agree with this sentiment. I've spent most of my life riding with less than adequate gear primarily due to financial constraints. I remember what it feels like to just go out in a tshirt and jeans, no helmet, no jacket, no gloves, no nothing. It's better than skydiving. over the years i've managed to slowly upgrade my protection bit by bit, but i still remember.

I can't say i understand the wind noise thing though. even over 90mph i've never heard wind anywhere near loud enough to be uncomfortable.

I have to agree. I spent 35 years as a contractor running all kinds of power tools without ear protection all the while with a penchant for loud music and other loud pursuits so a little wind noise seems very low on the scale to me, hardly noticeable. Maybe it's my RF1200 helmet but I'm not going to take it off to find out.

I was at my ear, nose, throat doctor last month and had my hearing tested and she told me it's normal. I said "normal for my age?" and she said no, just normal. So it's not like I can't hear it.

Huh? What did you say???

 

[KiowaEagle_imp]

i can agree with this sentiment. I've spent most of my life riding with less than adequate gear primarily due to financial constraints. I remember what it feels like to just go out in a tshirt and jeans, no helmet, no jacket, no gloves, no nothing. It's better than skydiving. over the years i've managed to slowly upgrade my protection bit by bit, but i still remember.

I can't say i understand the wind noise thing though. even over 90mph i've never heard wind anywhere near loud enough to be uncomfortable.

I have to agree. I spent 35 years as a contractor running all kinds of power tools without ear protection all the while with a penchant for loud music and other loud pursuits so a little wind noise seems very low on the scale to me, hardly noticeable. Maybe it's my RF1200 helmet but I'm not going to take it off to find out.

I was at my ear, nose, throat doctor last month and had my hearing tested and she told me it's normal. I said "normal for my age?" and she said no, just normal. So it's not like I can't hear it.

Huh? What did you say???

I SAID....

 

[peterbaron]

i can agree with this sentiment. I've spent most of my life riding with less than adequate gear primarily due to financial constraints. I remember what it feels like to just go out in a tshirt and jeans, no helmet, no jacket, no gloves, no nothing. It's better than skydiving. over the years i've managed to slowly upgrade my protection bit by bit, but i still remember.

I can't say i understand the wind noise thing though. even over 90mph i've never heard wind anywhere near loud enough to be uncomfortable.

I have to agree. I spent 35 years as a contractor running all kinds of power tools without ear protection all the while with a penchant for loud music and other loud pursuits so a little wind noise seems very low on the scale to me, hardly noticeable. Maybe it's my RF1200 helmet but I'm not going to take it off to find out.

I was at my ear, nose, throat doctor last month and had my hearing tested and she told me it's normal. I said "normal for my age?" and she said no, just normal. So it's not like I can't hear it.

Did SHE have to whisper to your ear???

 

[PowerDubs_imp]

Hope your gradually feeling better, Josh. This may be a case for ABS, I don't know. I tend to always count one thousand one thousand two one thousand three at least on a bike. It's tough with a car in front and behind sometimes. New England tends to be fairly quiet in the countryside so I can pull over if I have to. Florida on the East Coast has been terrifying to ride at rush hour and my brother and others stopped riding for that reason til he moves to Northeast Georgia where I had a peach of a quiet ride on his Duc Multistrada. These people who pull out in front of us (and those in front of us) make it tough.

Silly as it sounds- ABS may have saved my ass, I don't know. Don't remember much.

That being said it is 4 weeks today since I crashed and I am still in a lot of pain although a little better every day.

I loved riding a motorcycle- have done it since I was a small child and I am in my mid 40's. I guess I was lucky to never have injured myself before.

This was my first (and only) wreck on the street. I used to fly off dirtbikes and quads all the time with jeans and a t-shirt when I was 12-14-16, etc and amazingly just got up and kept riding.

This is different. It is not worth this constant pain and sacrifice both to me and my wife and family, much less my job and finances.

And before you guys say suck it up- I was a medic in the Army. I am well aware of suck it up, keep moving. This is different.

What keeps sticking in my mind is that I wore the best gear I could- top dollar leather jacket & pants with chest pads, spine pad, shoulder pads, elbow pads, hip, knee and shin pads, etc etc- and I must have went down relatively slow as there isn't much damage to the bike- and I still hurt myself quite a bit.

Pretty much everybody wears less than what I did, and I'd imagine a lot of crashes involve higher speeds or impacts with something- car, deer, tree, guard rail...

If it hurts this much with what I did, how much worse could it easily have been? Uggh.

 

[hb9400_imp]

Sorry for your pain, don't have to imagine it. Your thread and a thread on ADVRider convinced me to buy a Helite airbag turtle vest. Just trying to reduce the odds. Speedy recovery.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[misterprofessionality]

Hope your gradually feeling better, Josh. This may be a case for ABS, I don't know. I tend to always count one thousand one thousand two one thousand three at least on a bike. It's tough with a car in front and behind sometimes. New England tends to be fairly quiet in the countryside so I can pull over if I have to. Florida on the East Coast has been terrifying to ride at rush hour and my brother and others stopped riding for that reason til he moves to Northeast Georgia where I had a peach of a quiet ride on his Duc Multistrada. These people who pull out in front of us (and those in front of us) make it tough.

Silly as it sounds- ABS may have saved my ass, I don't know. Don't remember much.

That being said it is 4 weeks today since I crashed and I am still in a lot of pain although a little better every day.

I loved riding a motorcycle- have done it since I was a small child and I am in my mid 40's. I guess I was lucky to never have injured myself before.

This was my first (and only) wreck on the street. I used to fly off dirtbikes and quads all the time with jeans and a t-shirt when I was 12-14-16, etc and amazingly just got up and kept riding.

This is different. It is not worth this constant pain and sacrifice both to me and my wife and family, much less my job and finances.

And before you guys say suck it up- I was a medic in the Army. I am well aware of suck it up, keep moving. This is different.

What keeps sticking in my mind is that I wore the best gear I could- top dollar leather jacket & pants with chest pads, spine pad, shoulder pads, elbow pads, hip, knee and shin pads, etc etc- and I must have went down relatively slow as there isn't much damage to the bike- and I still hurt myself quite a bit.

Pretty much everybody wears less than what I did, and I'd imagine a lot of crashes involve higher speeds or impacts with something- car, deer, tree, guard rail...

If it hurts this much with what I did, how much worse could it easily have been? Uggh.

You're touching on a truth that the ATGATT crowd has a hard time with. I've been in wrecks with gear, and without, and I gotta tell you, even the best gear seems like it only mitigates abrasion and slides. a helmet will protect you from a blow to the skull, but only up to a certain velocity (which is surprisingly low), and it doesn't really protect you from a broken neck. I guess this why I kind of shrug when people ask me why I don't wear armored pants over my jeans and armored boots instead of converse ect. i'm dressing for a slide because i know the gear isn't going to do anything beyond that.

All that said, you may not feel it in your bones, but i'm certain the extensive expensive intensive gear you wore protected your skin, your brain (where it counts), and your pretty face. it's because of the gear that you won't be laid up as long as you could have been, and it's probably because of the gear that you still have the choice of whether or not to get back on.

I hope nobody is really telling you to "suck it up" because that's unfair. It's tempting to say that to somebody in your position, but it's really hard to jump into your shoes because most people go through their first crashes pretty early on. you rode for a long long time without ever having this experience, so it must be a much more extreme shift in perspective. Kind of like the Chicken pox.

 

[PowerDubs_imp]

I googled that vest out of curiosity wondering what it could have done for me.

Just to give you a heads up- my broken rib on my left side under my armpit would be above the area that vest covers and my bruised and now line of scar tissue on my ab muscle just above my hip from my iphone in my pocket is below where the vest would have covered. Would it have saved my lacerated spleen? Maybe.. maybe not.

No more roulette for me.