Update: The (un)luckiest day of my life (Passed my test! )

[ColdInsomnia]

Let me start at the beginning.

Tomorrow, I have an interview for a management trainee apprenticeship at Wimpey Homes, which is in Cardiff Gate Business Park. I don't know the area very well, so the other day I made a journey up there to make sure I knew where to go, when the day comes.

Sadly I got hopelessly lost and ended up in an area called Coreton, which is nowhere near where I wanted to go. I admitted defeat and rode home.


With my interview coming up tomorrow, I figured it would be wise to head down there today to make sure I knew exactly where the building is. I grab my helmet, put on my jacket, and head downstairs.

As I reach the bottom of the stairs, I stop and think for a minute. It's a pretty long journey, about half an hour, I should put my trousers and bike boots on too.

I have no idea why I thought this. I have the gear, but due to them being so heavy and annoying to wear, and 99% of my rides are 5 minute journeys to friends houses at the moment, I usually only wear jeans, and my bike jacket. But something stopped me today, and I put my full gear on.

I jumped on my bike, and headed off towards Cardiff Gate.

Within a few minutes I was on the A-road, doing about 45mph (limit being 40). Up ahead the traffic lights were green. Seeing the green lights I eased off the throttle, expecing them to change to red. They didn't. So I carried on.

As I went across the junction, there is a very slight turn to the right to carry on. You likely don't notice it until you're already going across. But worst of all, there is a small bump in the road in the middle of this turn.

And the conditions were slightly damp.

As I was turning slightly to the right, the bike hit the bump. The front wheel lifted off the ground, and landed at an angle. The handlebars flew left and right at a stupid speed, the bike wobbling with it. I knew what was coming.

Before I knew it, I was on the ground rocketing down the A-road. My first concern was to keep my head off the ground, and whilst lifting my head up and flailing helplessly down the road I could see my bike, my pride and joy, flying onto the other side of the 4 lane road.

It seemed to take forever to stop sliding. I was just waiting to hear the crash of my bike hitting something, or worse, hit something myself.

When it stopped, I stood up straight away, a little dazed. My first concern was to grab my bike, and myself, and get off the road as soon as possible. I looked around and, amazingly, there was only one car coming the other way, and one behind me (both at a good distance). The oncoming car pulled his window down and shouted "You alright mate?".

I gave him the thumbs up and he slowly drove off. The car behind me pulled over, a guy got out and helped me drag my bike to the side of the road. Once there, he told me to sit down, asked me if I was hurt. I said no.

His wife got out the car. Turns out that both of them are physiotherapists. Stroke of luck for me! They asked if I wanted an ambulance, I said no because I don't think I'm hurt at all (I was walking around a second ago).

Then a paramedic just happened to drive past in his car. He pulled over and came to see me.

Then the police just happened to drive past. Within a minute I had two physiotherapists, a paramedic and two police officers with me.

The police called an ambulance on the advice of the paramedic, just to get me checked over. The physio's said their goodbye's and drove away. The paramedic stayed with me until the ambulance arrived (he was on his way to somewhere). The police kindly told me I could leave my bike on the pavement and they'd make sure it doesn't get towed away or given a ticket until I come pick it up.

Had a nice chat with the paramedics, got to the hospital, nothing wrong, got out.

My mum had arranged AA cover for me only a week or two earlier. So I gave them a ring, they sent around a really nice guy who picked me up from the hospital, then picked up my bike and dropped it off at my house. He then spent some time with me going over the damage and what he thought to do about it. I gave him a tenner for his trouble (Ain't I nice )

Upon inspection of my gear, my jacket is largely undamaged. My trousers though, have taken a hell of a beating, along with my boots. My helmet seems to have suffered no damage at all (even though the physio's said I did roll a few times, I don't remember that).

It's amazing, when I think of it. I hadn't worn protective trousers in months, the same with boots. The ONE day that I, for seemingly no reason, think it would be a good idea, is the same day that I could have easily caused myself huge damage had I not worn them.

Anyway, I thought I'd tell you about this. For the record, I have no damage at all, apart from a little bruising. The bike is in a bad state, the exhaust can has a large dent in it, and a lot of it has simply just been ground away. The brake lever has snapped off, the wing mirror has basically been ground to dust, the throttle has been bent and won't turn, and the grips are in shreds. The bike won't start either - I'm not sure what to do with it.

Either way, the moral of the story is this, especially to the younger members of this forum.

ALWAYS WEAR EVERY PIECE OF PROTECTIVE GEAR THAT YOU HAVE





On a side note, do you think it is worth me contacting the council about this bump on the road? I spoke to one of the police officers, he told me that he also rides a bike and he's had a few close calls with the same corner. I'm not expecting to have any compensation - in my opinion I was probably driving too fast for the conditions of the road and I should have assumed that the surface could have been uneven. But I would like the council to at least consider re-surfacing the road there - I could have easily been killed today had there been any traffic around (And it is a very busy road - I don't believe that it was empty when I fell).
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Yamaha YB100 | Yamaha TZR125 | Yamaha XJ600S | Suzuki GSF600
"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it."
John Lennon

[Mr.Everready]

Your not related to Killa are you ?
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the undemocratically unelected mod of the Scottish section

[TheDonUK]

Glad you are ok mate...

However if you had ov had an accident involving other vehicles you would have been very unlucky at the passing police... I have found unless police are called to the scene for you and you alone after the accident, dealing with the insurance is a fucking nightmare...

Perhaps you had a bad feeling (that made you want to wear all your gear) and that bad feeling also made you push too hard and or crash...

[ColdInsomnia]

[shaun_04]

Well there is no harm in contacting the council, so go for it.

Glad you're alright, just goes to show about wearing your protective gear and all that...

[Dragonfly]

Thats a bit of bad luck, i also crashed when i didnt have protective trousers on and done my left knee in permantly. Happened another time when i first started i went to the shop and just through on my normal jacket as it wasnt far and i came of and had nasty road rash.

Glad your still alive and you had the help you needed there looking after you, poor bike though.

Think you should write to the coucil about that bump even if you get something or not as other motorcyclists could be killed on that or seriously injured. You where lucky maybe.

Are you fit to go to your interview tomorrow and how you going to get there, will the bike be fixed if you get the job?

sorry loads of questions there.
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All the breast.
Muzza on Binge:
He's too busy beating the everloving shit out of Lizzie to notice this thread has taken a turn down Drama Avenue and stopped off at the popcorn shop.

[Finglonga]

[ColdInsomnia]

[ColdInsomnia]

[extreme3d]

Glad to hear you are ok . It's a horrible noise the bike makes when it's sliding down the road isn't it!

Hope the interview panel were sympathetic and arranged another time?

[Zen Dog]

Sorry to hear about your accident mate, and damn lucky you had your gear on! I always wear my gear ever since some bloke spent half an hour showing me the state of his legs after all his bike offs.

While i appreciated the concern, standing on a mountain top smoking a fag while a half-naked man hopped around on one leg just so he could show me the "really impressive one" on his thigh was an experience i could have lived without. But i always wear my gear so it worked!

About the council though, call me mr cynical, but they'll probably just ignore it till someone sues...

Zen Dog
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Current - '94 VFR750FR (Dead), '00 VFR800FI, 2011 CBF125 Previous - '10 Street Triple R, '92 MZ ETZ301, '05 TTR250, NSR125R, KMX125, "Honda" Win (chinese copy of an old Honda design with a C90 engine)
My bike trip around S.E. Asia 2010/2011

[ColdInsomnia]

[jonboy22]

Very lucky indeed, could only have been bettered if you had fallen into the back of a matress truck spilling its load.......glad your still with us all the same.

Bit of a post hi-jack but just down Bird Cage walk this morning I saw a cyclist come off at hardly any speed at all. He was in shorts and a T-shirt and came out looking like something from a Wes Craven film, so yeah ALWAYS WEAR PROTECTIVE CLOTHING.......even in bed.
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current bike: GSX-R 750 K6 stolen, found the next day in a van in Durham, returned to me 3 months later costing me my NCB and my excess...
last bike: GSXx-R 600 K4 - written off, now converting to track bike

[ColdInsomnia]

[SoulRider]

Speak to the council mate, go there take a picture of the bump and advise the council that this is what caused you to come of your bike. They should hopefully sort it out then.

You might even be able to swing in some compensation for damage to bike, but id imagine they would have some disclaimer for damage to vehicles caused by road damage.

Glad to hear you were wearing your gear, i came of mine once without trousers on, just jeans on and it hurt. Never make that mistake again.
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My Bike Pics

[map]

[Rookie]

There's an internet link Toby R posted up where you can report dodgy road surfaces to your local council, have a search for it.

Good write up though, bad luck with the off.

[andrea]

Sorry to hear about your unlucky (lucky?) day.

Good luck with the interview tomorrow and with your test

On a sidenote i used to work for Wimpey, they're alright

[davidimurray]

Hey man

Good to hear that your Ok - shame about the bike but thank god you had your gear on.

Out of interest, any chance of a heads up on where this is ? I'm in Cardiff as well, I ride from Penylan to the city centre every day, and my girlfriend works in Swalec on the Cardiff gate retail park so she rides her bike up there every day.

Cheers

Dave

[ColdInsomnia]

For those that are wondering, and because I am bored, I've made a little diagram of what happened
____________________
Yamaha YB100 | Yamaha TZR125 | Yamaha XJ600S | Suzuki GSF600
"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it."
John Lennon

[ColdInsomnia]

And here is a larger view of the area where it is for the guy that requested a head's up. I've indicated where UWIC and Tesco Extra are for comparison
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Yamaha YB100 | Yamaha TZR125 | Yamaha XJ600S | Suzuki GSF600
"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it."
John Lennon

[jay_666]

Funnily enough the one time i decided NOT to put on my biking trousers, and go for the cool jeans option, i went into the back of a car

Luckily i'm ok, the car was ok and there is just scratching on the bike.

Still, it shit me up
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CBT - Done | Theory - Passed | Test - 4th Oct [PASSED!]
https://www.bikepics.com/members/jay666/

[stinkwheel]

[cestrian]

You really should make a claim against the council. Did you accept the cover for legal fees when you took out your insurance? I hope so.

Gordon

[ColdInsomnia]