Welp, after 57+ years of riding....

[Howabusa]

Glad you are going to be ok!

[max power]

Sorry to hear and glad you kind of walked away. It’s a shame people like that are allowed to go on living free off the system.  Her irresponsibility should be punishable.  You know if the tables were turned, she would come after you full on!  

[Helmutt]

Damn, Bubba.  Glad to hear you're not physically worse off.  Fuckin swear, some cagers.  The inattentive, skill-free, phone-fried brains we have to watch out for anymore...sickening.  

Side note, I was strongly considering the RS myself a few years back before I settled into a used SprintGT.  But I've since left the sport tour realm and traded into a Duke 890 that is just a superb blend of everything light, nimble, comfortable, lots of gadgets, it's power to weight is really fun, and priced nicely for everything you get.

[Bubba]

If it's possible to throw good money after bad, I must be the King of Stupid!  Heading out'a Dodge tomorrow early with a bud to go pick up a 2018 R1200RS from Gateway BMW in St Louis MO.  Still not "authorized" to resume normal activities, whatever those are for someone 71-going-on-18, but my friend is riding the Beemer back for me.  This is the best way I could think of to say "Fuck you, Lyshawnda!  You tried to kill me but I lived, so piss off."  Another 2 weeks before I go back to the ortho for more x-rays and hopefully the collarbone will be knitted well enough to avoid surgery and plating and get me back in the saddle for the great fall weather.

https://www.gatewaybmw.com/default.asp?page=xPreOwnedInventoryDetail&id=12540182&p=2&make=bmw&s=Year&d=D&fr=xPreOwnedInventory

Edited August 16, 2022 by Bubba

[Pauly]

My passion for riding was touch and go after my incident. Now that I have worked through my demons I can say it has never been this intense. My safety gear selection has been moved from "good enough" to "full tilt", but this season has been more fulfilling on two wheels than it has ever been. It always feels good to be alive and well enough to enjoy everything motorcycling has to offer. If death wants me, it's gonna need a faster bike. 

Nice Beemer. Glad you are amped to ride, again. Keep us updated, Bubba. 

[Bubba]

9 minutes ago, Pauly said:

My safety gear selection has been moved from "good enough" to "full tilt"

Good call.  Nobody can tell you that ATGATT is the most comfortable way to ride on a hot day, but I've lost several good riding friends over the course of the years and seen too many really UGLY injuries from riding without appropriate gear.  I can't bring myself to roll out of the driveway unless I'm in full armor.  The night of my accident, I was only riding 5-6 miles on urban side streets to visit a friend, but I still wore the full monty of protection and although I was wearing jeans, I always wear the hard ABS MX knee/shin guards underneath.  Sometime between the initial hit and the hard stop at the end, my knee dug into the street hard enough to completely wear through the jeans fabric and grate the kneed guard into shredded bits, but I didn't have one cubic inch of rash or bruise anywhere on my body.

Pics when I get home.

[max power]

Smart man.  I need to upgrade my gear but I can’t ever find anyone to pass my old stuff onto. All my riding friends are either fat or have better gear than me. 

[Bubba]

Figgered I'd bump this thread to give an update.  First, good news is that the collarbone started to bridge and I've been back to riding and playing soccer for a month or so.  Last Thursday, I met up with 5 buds and rode down to RRG for a BBQ lunch at Thatcher's.  Half the group headed north to home but me and couple of other folks rode south and did 2016/Big Andy Ridge--about 22 miles of an absolute roller coaster of a road that had to be designed and laid out by a motorcyclist!!!  Took 715 north and rode the gorge on 715/77, then wiggled north and west on 36 and finally hit 165 to 10 into NKY.  Got in about 370 miles of backroad goodness...and yeah, I was hurting like F--K when I got home but totally worth the pain.  Absolutely LOVE the RS.  Damn fine bike.

As for the Lyshawnda saga, I got a subpoena in the mail several weeks ago to appear as a witness for the prosecution.  Turns out she was already under an FRA suspension for a previous incident without insurance.  Went downtown and stood around the courthouse with my thumb up my ass for about 2 1/2 hours waiting for the case to be called and it turned out that she never showed for the appearance.  Judge issued an arrest warrant, but the ridiculous thing about "The System" is that I had to share the latest address and telephone info I had mined--which is readily available doing a simple search in public records--with the prosecutor because they had the INCORRECT address that the bimbo had given to the cop the night of the accident. FUUUUU.....

Financially, the bike is a total.  Fair market value of ~$11K and repair estimate of >$16K.  I "gifted" it to a talented bud who thinks he can bring it back to life with maybe $3-4K to get it back to rideable condition.  Medical is over $35K so far and my insurance hasn't paid because they are waiting in vain hope that the "responsible party" will come clean and find the pot of gold.  Kind'a sitting on pins and needles waiting for UC Health to drop the hammer and demand the balance OR ELSE!!!

As a last resort if nothing works out (and I have zero confidence that I'll ever see a dime) I plan to file the ODOT 3033 form in early December that @Tonik linked.  Doubt it'll make a tinker's damn worth of difference but it really doesn't cost me anything.  Sad part is that whenever this ordeal is finalized, I have no doubt she won't be sent to jail, she MAY be fined and have her suspension extended, but when it's all said and done, she'll go back to driving without a license and without insurance....because the authorities have no way stop her.

Pics of the carnage and new whip!

[Bubba]

As an add, the pic below of the right jug is prolly what saved me from a catastrophic lower leg injury.  Pretty sure that when I initiated the emergency swerve to the left, the cylinder made contact with the left corner of her rear bumper which kicked the bike hard left and sent me flying over the handlebars and her trunk.  Only thing I hit was the road.  If I had been on my Strom or the Buell--both V-twins that have fairly narrow profiles--it would have been my foot/ankle/leg that took the hit.  Really lucky and glad to be walking like a bi-pedal mammal.

Several of you suggested that I lawyer up.  I did send an email to Steve Magas, who is a bike/motorcycle lawyer here in Cincinnati, and shared the details and pics with him.  He reviewed the info and pretty much said that he'd be happy to take the case, but not on a contingency basis simply because there was little or no monetary assets to be taken.  Just doesn't seem like a good plan to throw more of my money into the fire at this point.

[Pauly]

Glad you're healthy enough to enjoy this weather on your new bike. Glad you bought a new bike. Glad you like your new bike. Good for you. 

I agree with your opinion on the cylinder head. The left head on the Goldwing took all the punch from the van that struck us. If I had been on the Voyager I believe my leg would have been crushed on impact, possibly shoving my femur straight out my asshole. That's never a good look. 

[max power]

2016 is a great road.  Was down there this summer. 

[Casper]

Good lord. Fuck that lady. Sorry you had to deal with all this. 

[AlanSmith7]

I am really sorry after this. Hope you recover soon. But its good you're doing better. The main issue here is your license. Grant an application in the office might help you regarding this situation.

[Bubba]

8 hours ago, AlanSmith7 said:

I am really sorry after this. Hope you recover soon. But its good you're doing better. The main issue here is your license. Grant an application in the office might help you regarding this situation.

No problem with my license.  Bimbo who took me out had no license, no insurance, and was under an FRA suspension in the state of Ohio.

See you're in Cali--hope you're staying dry.  Guess the weather gods never heard the song by the Mamas and Papas "It never rains in California"...

Seems it never rains in southern California
Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before
It never rains in California, but girl, don't they warn ya?
It pours, man, it pours