After much contemplation, I decided I would write about this. I also thank all the people who have kept this to themselves as promised over the last little while during my recovery.
Having covered 16,000kms from Sydney through to South Australia and everywhere in between over the last 6 months, the uneventful finally happened to me.
My unblemished no crash record is now officially flushed down the toilet bowl!
From the start, I've always known that motorcycling can be dangerous and sometimes things are not always in your control.
My crash happened ~400kms from home.
The weekend plan when this happened was to ride via Putty through Gloucester and onto the Oxley before the planned stop at Port Mac.
About 8 hours into the trip while we were riding on a straight road 20-30kms before Walcha (past ingleba creek along the white concrete bridge), my worst nightmare happened. The bike may have hit something on the ground and before I knew it, my front wheel was wobbling violently. I had no recollection of how I came off but I do remember picking myself from the road and dusting myself off.
At that moment, I recalled thinking very logically... "Right! I crashed. Need to get off the road so I don't get run over. Phone.. where is my phone? I need to call the ambulance. Where is my bike?".
Once I was on the side of the road, I proceeded to taking off my gloves, helmet and earplugs as I normally would at the petrol station and waited for Thomas to turn up. We had never lost each other in the last 16,000kms and I was 100% sure he would turn up within the next little while.
Before I knew it, 3 cars and T were on site and everyone did what they could given the situation. A man from the fire brigade assisted me and made me lie on the ground, T gathered all my belongings which had been scattered and a guy with a satellite phone rang for help as there was no mobile phone reception in the area.
Two ambulances, two police cars and a helicopter arrived very shortly and the road was closed for the helicopter to land. I was transported to Tamworth hospital by air (and the boys in the heli were all motorcyclist themselves!)
Given the nature of the crash and the speed at which I came off, I count myself extremely lucky to have sustained no major injuries. All the visible damages were a small bruise on the inside of my lip and two pinhead sized scratches on my fingers. Besides that, most of the recovering I needed was from the pain in my left hand and upper body.
I also finally had the chance to see my bike and it is not in great shape. =(( The front part is smashed, my wheels have eaten grass, my ventura rack broken, my exhaust scratched and there are a few cracks and scratches all over the bike.
Looking back at my experience, there are two really important lessons I would like to share...
1) Always wear full gear with armour on all joints - Elbow and knees. You never know what can happen and sometimes, not everything is within your control.
2) Always ride with someone you trust and someone who will watch your back. I recently became aware of a rider in a group who was left behind. He crashed and no one bothered to look for him until nightfall when his wife made phone calls to everyone he knew. He was found dead the next day.
