Click to see the transformation: Before and after "the crash"
the local News account of "the crash":
My account of the incident as of Sunday 04/23/2000 10:11:31am
Name: rick angell
Location: dallas area
I was flying through oklahoma on hwy 1 towards the arkansas ozark mountains, spent the afternoon hitting the twisties there with billy G (great fun). On the way back, the sun was going down, I was cold, I was tired, I lost concentration and forgot that it takes more effort to make turns at 120+ and tossed it in a mild curve in south east oklahoma (the last thing I remember was seeing my front tire drift past the white outside shoulder line in a turn and thinking "this is gonna hurt...").
Next thing I know I'm looking at the quiet sky in a severe amount of pain wondering where I was and what the hell happened. Took my helmet off, tried to get up, ouch, back down. Furious swearing set in as I realized my bike was probably not in the best condition somewhere, and I wouldn't be riding for long while. I remove my earplugs and finally hear a bike in the distance, Big Billy G (who was in front of me and did not witness the launch)then appears saying crazy things like "don't move", "where does it hurt", "what's your wife's phone number?" My reply to all of them is: "G!@D##M$%F^ S@@F%!@S#O#B$^%&$&^*"
Eventually (and I mean eventually)the local Emergency services show up and take me to the back of some clinic, take a few pics of my bones and decide they can't fix me there. Dallas' Parkland hospital pipes up (maybe they need a donor body, I don't know) they'll come get me in their chopper and fly me back to dallas. They actually do a bang up job of assessing my condition, telling me the score, plugging me to a few tubes and strapping me to a constantly rocking bed.
Final tally: 5 busted ribs, 2 crushed vertebrae (no surgery), a few good bruises, a totalled bike and a live body. After six weeks of back-and-forth rocking strapped to a bed, they claim my bones are good enough to leave, I agree (Just let me out!). It's been over a year now, and I'm a walking, talking, ex?-biker. Ski Boat has taken the bikes place in the garage.
I survived better than most in similar situations. I had been biking for over 10 years and broke my main biking rule and paid for it: Don't lose concentration. High speed agressive riding requires it!
Keep your shiny side up and ride with a buddy!
Later, Rick
(by the way, this is my website- & hasn't been updated in awhile)