might be retiring

If you're not riding you might as well be paralyzed, IMHO. Damned if you do damned if you don't; the difference is the type of handbasket.

 

i would say theres no need to stop riding, but to me it sounds like there needs to be a mental change, or maybe going back on something smaller like others have said. and youd spot on about gettin comfortable. i rode my ninja 250 for a year and 10k miles, i crashed it around the 9k mark. got too confident, went in too hot and hit the pavement and went into the woods at 45mph. but i learned and now i ride more conservatively and always say to myself you dont have to go fast to have fun.

 

First off, I realized I did not wish you a speedy recovery in my first post. :crazy: I hope everything works out well for you you get back to your old self soon.

The "comfortable and confident" is the key problem I bet for a lot of riders. I keep completely focused in the twisties because I am still learning how weight shift, brakes, throttle position and everything else can effect your line through the corner (not to mention the exhiliration). But I have to mentally keep aware of everyone and every situation on my daily commute as sometimes I find myself getting into the "comfortable and confident" stage of mind. Good luck with your decision, life and your ultimate happiness...

stay safe brother

 

Jaime,

I think you had a good idea of all of the responses that you would get when you posted this. Of course, ultimately the decision is up to you. As some have pointed out, you can get hurt using your toaster or walking across the street, however, there is a higher risk involved when one rides a motorcycle daily in a sea of non-attentive drivers in 4000lb cars, no matter what others say. Would you rather hit a guard rail (or have a car hit you) while you are in a car with seatbelts and airbags, or just a helmet and leathers being tossed down the canyon? Statistically, see which one causes you less injuries most of the time.

Riding is part of my life, and I never want to give it up. However, if I had a serious accident(s), I might consider hanging it up. I will get flamed for this, but contrary to what others say, there is much more to life than just riding a motorcycle IMO. Harder to enjoy your family, and the world and it's many wonders if you are in constant pain, or paralyzed.

Obviously, lane-splitting is a bonus, but it is a hazardous trend also. I have seen several accidents from motorcyclists riding too fast between cars and a car trying to merge lanes. Despite what others may think about me, I am pro-motorcycles, it is just I am not so blind that I believe we can do no wrong just because we are on two wheels. It is your life, and there are many things to enjoy in it, don't let others calling you a quitter determine your decision.

A ride where I return home safe and unharmed is a successful ride, regardless of the pace.

Good luck and heal fast. I am sorry to hear of your injuries.

 

More like "huff" than "cough." Dave is a member of the club I am in. Good guy and boy does he like to talk..Good rider too. Very smart guy as well. d

His books are available through "Soundrider" Yeah, I know it's a plug but live with it. It's better than dying..

Don't know what to say to this guy who keeps having "accidents". Some accidents, paraphrasing Dave, happen because some folks get in over thier heads and don't find it out until somebody is scraping them off the pavement.

Inattention will kill ya on a bike. Sorry bout, that but that is just the way it is.

Could be that this poor guy has been reading and buying into having all that shit like Ipods, ET Call home communications devices, GPS units and maybe even vids of Britney Spears running around nekkid in Malibu on a tiny TeeVee.

 

LMFAO!!!!!

 

Yes...I too laughed out loud. Humor is a good thing. BUT, this is a very serious issue and kudos to you for thinking out loud with us and getting our opinions. There are some excellent ideas above. I suggest distilling them to their basics and looking seriously at each one. (I would like to point out to several members that Jaime has read at least three of the great books on MC's. That desire to learn and the fact that he is looking to us for ideas all indicate good intentions. However, surviving and thriving on a bike take more than good intentions.) I am glad to see your honesty in admitting that perhaps some overconfidence and perhaps some lack of attention got you into these accidents. THAT is the key...to USE the guidance of the books and advice of folks here. Your tendency towards more agressive riding I think is the key. We don't learn without pushing the envelope to some degree but I would suggest that you pushed a bit too hard. Your injuries (and please do recover quickly) are a great motivator. Keep that pain in the back of your mind when riding. Don't let it scare you into more problems by tensing up. Do let it keep you from getting too aggressive though. Learning is a cyclical thing...there are dangerous times each time we move our learning curve forward. I think the 3,000 mile mark and the 10,000 mile mark are times when we are apt to think we "know it all" or at least get too confident. The more you learn the more you realise you don't know much at all. And even when you are supremely skilled, someone else may well put you in a bad position. It is at that moment that you will find out if you also practiced your emergency actions well enough.
Heal up, think carefully, and then you'll see your answer. Good luck!
Life is a balance...find yours.

 

I cant say how many times I recommend this to new riders. you will gain a good comfortable confidence on the bike, and easily be able to do its basic functions. Not to toot my own horn, but I have been riding dirtbikes since I was knee high to a duck. we have family videos of me on a PW 50 with training wheels on it. I now race hare scrambles every weekend in the fall and spring. Anyway I digress. Maybe just ride a dirtbike for 6 mo. or so and see how that goes. it will improve all of the aspects above, and you will feel much more confident on your bike and be able to focus on avoiding all of the cages out there to kill you. with a good use of all the functions on your bike, you will be able to divert attention to other cars and road dangers as well. this is not a sport to just "dabble" in you must be good at it to keep your hide on the road.

also, and I don't mean to call you out, (because we are all guilty of it!!) but speed kills. the difference between a Squid and a good rider, is the knowledge of when and where to go fast. remember, its not how fast you can go, but knowing the right time to lift and put on the brakes, that saves you from getting scraped from the pavement.

I agree. I took the MSF class. I was the only person in the class who could ride a bike. But all in all it helped me learn how to avoid accidents. I think that alone was worth the $200 for it. That is the first link in there. I would take this class. it is worth every penny, and will save your butt, i know it has saved mine. Worth it! do it!! :thumbsup:


all in all good luck making a decision. I often take/ do safety precautions because i know if i don't, it will be that one day that I don't do everything to pay attention to whats going on, I will get nailed. If you go two rides without at least one potential accident that you could have seen happen, and there were other cars on the road, you were not paying attention. Just another game I use to avoid an accident.

 

I hate double posting but I always keep this in mind as well;

"in an accident, a car always beats a bike. always"

 

Jaime,

In addition to being a new rider, are you also per chance a young rider as well? (This is a polite way of indirectly asking how old you are.) At any rate, I along with everyone else here wishes you a full recovery.:thumbsup:

You're to be commended for having the wisdom and courage to openly discuss your ordeals here, and to actively seek the advice of others.

I'm a physician whose only been riding for going on 4 years, and I've logged ~ 25,000 miles so far. I've gone down twice myself, and what largely saved my bacon in both instances was that I always religiously wear full riding gear, from head-to-toe.

In the spirit of trying to be helpful, I offer the following thoughts and reminders for you to consider as you recover from your physical and psychological injuries...

1) The fact that you briefly lost consciousness during you last accident suggests that you may have suffered more than a mere brain 'concussion'. The term 'brain contusion' (bruising of brain tissue) may be more accurate. The point here is that your brain will need time to heal as well as the time needed to heal the T-9 thoracic vertebral 'compression fracture' that you suffered. Therefore, it may wise for you to postpone riding for the next 1-2 years, during which you'll have plenty of time to think about whether you're cut out for riding on the streets again. (By the way, be sure to follow your prescribed physical therapy to the fullest extent.)

2) You may have never used a recreational drug in your life, and I hope that's the case. That said, you may know friends who see nothing wrong with smoking some pot and having a nice little buzz on and riding while stoned. As you can surely imagine, riding while stoned would be a bad idea because it impairs the user's mental focus, concentration, and judgment in such a way that they may overestimate their abilities and thus become more likely to take risks and ride in a reckless manner. Those who ride while stoned are more prone to spacing out and feeling invincible.

3) The VFR is really not a good choice for a first 'learner bike' for several reasons, particularly its weight (~550 lbs.), as well as engine power/torque. With that much power suddenly at the disposal of a new rider, it can be very seductive to wanna whack the throttle and go like a bat out of hell on straightaways, maybe not paying attention, only to suddenly find one's self entering a curve or other problematic situation way too hot. This is a recipe for having a very bad day.

4) Always remember, a motorcycle will always rather quickly tend to go wherever your head and your eyes are pointed. If you even briefly become distracted and you fail to keep your head up, chin up, and your gaze looking at where you want the bike to go, and looking through the turns, etc., you will likely have a bad day.

5) Common mistakes that we all repeatedly see unwise motorcyclists making include aggressively, impatiently and recklessly tailgating cagers; aggressively and rapidly weaving through congested lanes of traffic; lane-splitting; passing slower traffic over double-yellow lines; wearing little if any protective riding gear, etc.

6) While riding twisty roads, newbies may often unwisely fall into the bad habit of riding in too high a gear, rather than keeping to lower gears and higher RPM's, which allows for significant engine braking so that the bike will have much less a tendency to run away and enter sudden blind curves, or other such situations, too hot.

 

Spin chamber, apply barrel to head, pull trigger--- CLICK.
Spin chamber, apply barrel to head, pull trigger--- CLICK.
Spin chamber, apply barrel to head, pull trigger--- CLICK.
Spin chamber, apply barrel to head, pull trigger--- ?????


Decide what you need to do, but realize that you need to do something different than what you are doing now.

 

First of all, get better soon! I'm always sad to hear that someone got hurt in the activity that i love so much. Here is a suggestion i'm surprised no one else offered, but you sort of touched on in one of your posts. Consider riding with at least one other "good", experienced, rider. By "good" i mean safe. I was not a safe driver in a car much less on the motorcycle at first. I was definitely on the Golden Paved Squid Highway to Hell. I attribute 90% of my continued living and enjoyment of riding to my buddies Stan and Joe. Joe sold me my VFR with the clause that he would take it back (i paid him in installments so he held the title for a time) if he ever heard of me riding without my gear or in an unsafe manner...and he would have. Then after I got my endorsement, my buddy Stan rode with me most of the time in the beginning and SHOWED me the rules of the road and how to be a safe rider, as opposed to just telling me. That was worth more than any other advice, training, or anything i have gotten with the exception of the MSF course. Riding in pairs (or more) is far safer due to the visibility afforded by numbers. That being said, I don't know your Dad, as to what kind of rider he is, but that may be something to limit yourself to for a little while after you heal up. Also a club will definitely help here, as group rides are a great way to gain experience and sharpen your skills while keeping safe as they will have rules during rides, a set route to ride, and designated safety riders in front and behind and sometimes in the middle if its a big group. So its really up to your judgment to select careful riders, and you really have to be careful here, because in reality you are trusting your life to the other rider nearly as much as yourself. Your on a good path right now, you realize you're mortal. Now find a way to keep that in mind and still enjoy our favorite activity, and you should be ok!
P.S. always wear your gear, no matter if its gonna be 5 minutes or 90!

 

Jaime,

Mrbugfish has offered some very good advice. That said, if you ride with others, take your rime, and 'ride your own ride'.

 

Once again, thanks for all the replies and all the wishes for a speedy recovery. Well, I had surgery on my shoulder on Tuesday and am doing well. The pain meds definitely help!! My back does not hurt at all, but I wear the pain-in-the-ass back brace all day when I'm not lying down.

Just want to give a bit more of my history. The VFR is actually my second bike, my first being a 2005 SV650. I had that for about 8 months and 10k miles and for some reason got the itch to buy a VFR. I had both of the bikes for about a month and decided to sell the SV650 since I never wanted to ride it. The difference in power was noticeable at freeway speeds but not at lower speeds since the sv650 has a lot of torque.

I've logged about 23k miles during my time riding, which is about a year and three months. I am 29 years old (someone asked my age, so here you go). Before my accident, I used any excuse to ride. Weekends were spent riding to the nearby mountains for some spirited twisty riding. I also used to my bike to commute to work on the freeway, weather permitting. I hate driving my car, but I have no problem riding to any place at any time.

I'm still having my internal wrestling match concerning this topic. On one hand I think that I can be a responsible, cautious, alert, controlled rider. But on the other hand, there are other people on the roads who may not have those same aspirations. We'll see what happens. All of the replies have been very interesting to read. Thanks for taking the time to write.

-Jaime

 

wow thats a lot of miles for just over a year :thumbsup:


id have to agree with redrover, take a year off, take the msf class, and maybe you should conside going back to the sv for a little bit after that. get out to the parking lots more often and go over your skills. i know i dont do that enough.

when i crashed my ninja 250 i wasnt stunned by it at all, as soon as it was fixed i was out riding agian. but looking back, i should have done more to prepare myself again, almost start from the beginning again.

 

just about everything helpful has been said here, so i really don't have a lot to offer other than i sincerely hope you heal well and quickly. best of luck with your dilemma; i'm sure the final decision you make will be the right one. take care of yourself brother.

 

Dang, a year is a long time. If I decide to continue riding it probably won't be for another 4-6 months, as long as I'm cleared by the docs. I used to work on my low speed maneuvering in parking lots from time to time, but I could always do more.

I honestly think I have the foundations down well; I'll continue reading and practicing because one can always be better, but I think my principal problem has been my confidence in my skills and the resulting pushing of the envelope. If I do continue riding I feel that a change to my old way of thinking (when I first began riding) will be better for my long term living plans. I don't think that the size of the VFR has much to do with my accidents. My first crash was with my sv650 and I wasn't going fast when that one happened. I think it has more to do with one's attitude. You can go fast on a 250; it takes discipline to ride slower and controlled. Rather than change my bike, which I love very very much, I feel I must change my attitude and stop lane splitting, speeding, passing on double yellows, racing up the mountain twisties, and other dangerous behaviors.

 

I just thought of something that may be a good solution for anyone, but might especially help you out since you love to ride everywhere, not just for fun. Have you done any track days? I have to admit, i never have, but its something i've wanted to do. The reason i think this may apply to you more than some others, is that perhaps a track day at a nice twisty track once a month, or more if desired, may be all it takes to satisfy your "envelope pushing bug" for lack of a better term. Get your speed "fix" out on the track where they have the safety equipment and people of similar mindset to yours. And best of all, no daydreaming cage drivers to run you over... Mabye someone with track day experience can give you better details (or perhaps i don't have something right, i don't know). Then on the road you can concentrate on traffic and surroundings as opposed to "scratching that itch" (which all of us get from time to time).
We'll keep throwing stuff out there till we get something that keeps you with us! lol.

 

maybe for the time being

maybe not a full retirement, but i think you should take some time off on something like this. after a full clean year try the veefer again. i do definitely support the safety courses too.

PS im not trying to be a dick. i got my first year done on one of these, but i guess its a little more socially acceptable down here... lol