SV650.org - SV650 & Gladius 650 Forum - PT6... one lucky, lucky boy...

So it's January the 2nd... I've eaten my porridge, drank a litre and half of water, had my banana and am getting my stuff together for the gym. News resolution waffle and all that. Then I get a call from one of my best mates Mark saying "feck off all your plans for the day and lets go riding.. the sun is out, the roads are drying up and it's 2014 baby!"...

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-O...s576/Paul.jpeg

I suit up, look at my brand new Tour X4 helmet which I bought myself as a christmas present and think "you're gonna have to wear it at some point mate". Stick it on complete with intercom and head off with Mark for fuel before attacking the Helmsley TT.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-h.../helmsley.jpeg

We arrive in Helmsley and grab a pasty, discuss how we're both a little rusty (Mark makes me look like I'm standing still, despite my best efforts). Mark chirps up "you can lead for this next bit mate". Bring the noise buddy.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-m...24/bakery.jpeg

Anywho, we're making great progress and only had one silly little fluff up where I ran wide upto the white line, nothing too dangerous but I set really high standards of roadcraft for myself, so I'm very disappointed that I let it happen... 'Hmm better chill out a little bit before I make a fool of myself'.

We exit out of a left hander over a crest onto a straight-ish stretch, around 60mph and accelerating. There's a split second flash of brown feathers, a horrific sounding smash off my lid (with ear plugs) followed by blinding pain, not being able to breath in or see anything. All I remember is trying to get the bike stopped as best I could, Mark said the rear was sliding around all over the place. I came to a stop, still with no vision, scrambled for about 10 seconds to get my side stand down (felt like 5 minutes) then collapsed on all fours trying to get my breath back.

Mark strolls up laughing and says "what the f*** was that mate?"... but since I can't breathe or speak he soon realises I'm not quite right. I finally manage to get a breath in and start to try and work out whether I've broken my nose, eye socket or neck (my head got fully knocked back to the stops).. I managed to remove my gloves, lid (gently), ear plugs and then stand clinging to my bike trying to compose myself. I've been knocked out by a punch before... but this was about 8x worse than any blow I've ever taken to the head. Felt like taking a baseball bat to the face.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-E...02_135753.jpeg

We walked 100 metres back to where the pheasant was lying in the road (100 metre braking distance with eyes closed?!). Fred was long gone. Just hope he didn't suffer as much as I did.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-g...0pheasant.jpeg

We decide to ride back so I can get checked at A&E, stopping at Helmsley to txt my dad to let him know we won't be meeting him at Whitby trainstation for a brew after all.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7...s576/photo.JPG

Arrive at A&E: Turns out concussion, whiplash and soft tissue damage. No broken bones or damage to my sight.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-9...k%2520bat.jpeg

On top of managing not to fall off the bike, not crashing into any oncoming traffic or road furniture, and not collecting mark up while blindly trying to stop the bike.. Only a new helmet fugged up and intercom ripped off. Bit of a result. Oh and with some extra good luck, my looks have also been improved. Must say I look rather dashing this morning.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-R...s576/photo.JPG

A few of the lads on the fireblade forum (where Mark lives) have asked what the helmet was and if it was too big "it shouldn't have allowed that to happen mate" etc. etc. It was a brand new Arai Tour X4 in Large, measured my head when I bought it so is correct fit. I think the pheasant managed to get wedged under the sun-peak, which in turn forced the helmet to rotate upwards, so the chin bar is what has done the damage to my left cheek/eye socket. Factor in that I hit the little plucker at around 60mph; the forces involved would have been enough to bring most people off. Luckily I'm 6ft 2'' and still carrying 18 stone of christmas ballast. I know of two other people who've hit pheasants and haven't been so lucky (come off, broken pelvis, broken ribs, broken nose etc.) and a friend in the police said he responded to a fatality where the rider had hit a pigeon.

So in summary, I'm a lucky lucky boy... and it turns out 2014 is year of the pheasant.

Ride safe out there guys! PT6