jim & the blustery day--ride report

[Rickard Olsson]

Well now, it seems I'm a bit of a digital packrat. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

/Richie

On 2010-11-20 16:36, Marilyn Mason wrote:
> I just had my first shower in 25 days and it felt great.  I had to remove
> the air cast (like a ski boot) from my roght foot and put a calf checking
> glove over the cast on my left hand to keep it dry.
>
> October 27th dawned bright & fair at 10C (50F) with a promise of 15C (60F).
> Marilyn suggested I take advantage of the weather and take a last ride
> before putting the bike into hibernation.
> There were wind warnings for southwestern Ontario.
> I packed a light lunch, water and a camera in the tail trunk.  Donned
> several layers of clothes and my electric vest.
> I put the key in the ignition and hit the startwer button.  There was a
> grunt from the bike and a sound like "I don't want to go". I should have
> listened to the bike. The battery was dead.  I jumped started it with a
> marine battery.  It stalled in the driveway.  I jumped it again and it
> stalled again.
> I decided to give up on the ride and renmoved the battery.  I took it into
> the basement to charge it and as I was doing this I remembered I had just
> charged the battery for my Triumph..
> I measured the Triumph battery and found it was the same lenght and width
> but about 1.5" shorter.  I cut a piece of 1.5" foam for the battery box and
> hooked up the triumph battery.  Mr. Northrop would probably agree this was
> not a wise thing to do.
> I took the back roads to Bancroft where I had lunch and made a decision to
> run over to Haliburton then take 118 and 35  North to Dwight and come back
> home through Algonquin Park rather than south to Lakefield then to WArsaw
> and back home through Hastings county.
> I noticed the wind getting up and riding through the odd dust devil of dirt,
> twigs and leaves just before I got to Carnarvon at the intersection of 118 &
> 35.
> I gassed up at Carnarvon (The 1/2 way point)and should have spent the $2.00
> and one minute on a lottery ticket.  Going north on 35, gusts of wind
> actually stood the bike up straight while I was leaning into corners.  This
> is a little startling having the bike stand upright heading for rock cuts,
> bush and/or opposing traffic.
> I stopped at Lake of Two Rivers in Algonquin park to have a drink of water
> and massage my butt.   I noticed there were waves over 1.5 meters (4 feet)
> high rolling across the lake.
>
> At Kilaloe I got off the main highway onto Ruby Road.  I was about 300
> meters from the stop sign at te end of Ruby road and was down to about 60 -
> 70 kph (40mph) when I was tangled in the top of a tree.  A 65 foot high pin
> oak growing along the fence line snapped off in the wind and landed on me.
> Fortunately I was past the centre of the tree but was pulled from the bike
> by the branches that caught me..  The bike and I slid about 100 meters (300
> feet) along the pavement before coming to rest in the middle of the opposing
> lane.  Fortunately no one was coming.
> I lay there for a few minutes surveying the situation and taking stock of
> what parts of me hurt.  I figured I had a few broken ribs, (was hoping it
> was just the wind nocked out of me) , took off my left glove and knew there
> were at least 2 metacarpal bones broken as the back of the hand was concave
> instead of convex and it was rapidly turning blue,  there was also a sharp
> pain in my right foot that suggestted a broken ankle.
> I got up looked around then walked about 1/4 mile to Dwyer's farm at the
> other side of the stop sign to call the police.  After this I thanked old
> Mrs Dwyer and walked back to the bike where about 4 cars had stopped and
> people were searching the ditches for the rider of the downed bike.
> A guy with a trailer loaded my bike up and took it to his place at Haley
> Station about 10 km from my house.  4 days later he delivered it to my
> house.
> The police arrived and checked the scene.  The people who had stopped had
> already chainsawed the tree up and tossed it in the ditch.  The police
> called an ambulance and I was transported to the hospital in Pembroke.
> Unfortunately the shock was wearing off durring the ambulance ride and the
> pain from the 3 broken ribs and collaped lung was getting a little much.
> Once in the hospital with an IV for morphine I was just fine.
> The method for reinflating a colapsed lung is kind of neat.  Its done with
> vacuum.  They punch a hole in your rib cage, insert a tube.  They connect
> the tube to a vacuum pump and create a vacuum in the chest cavity around the
> lung.  Then they make you breath deeply and Shazzam!! the lung inflates.
> 4 days later the tube was removed.  the doctor appologized before he started
> saying the tube removal would be painful.  The tube was held in place and
> sealed off with 1/2 an acre of tape.  I have a lot of body hair.  I did not
> feel the tube come out as they ripped off enough hair removing the tape to
> make a small dog.  Then they put on a 6"x6" presure bandage that had to be
> air tight.  I think the doctor was standing on this and it in turn was
> directly over the broken ribs.
> I was panting a sweating profusly when this was completed and thankful that
> it was over.  My elation was short lived when I realized that pressure
> bandage was going to reove another dog's worth of hair when it was removed.
> And it did.
> I got the bike running yesterday.
> Any body know where I can get a right front signal lamp, right front foot
> peg and a brake pedal for a 2003 Suzuki 1000 DL Vstrom?
>
> On the lighter note I became a grandfather for the 3rd time on November 7th.
> My son Jamie and his wife Lindsay had a boy Finn.  They were about to head
> to the hospital when Lindsay thoght she had to poop.  When she went to sit
> Jamie noticed the head crowning so he threw some towels in the bath tub and
> had Lindsey lie in it. I thought this was a smart idea.  I've been to a few
> births and they are pretty messy. He called 911 and they talked he through
> the delivery.  After delivering Finn and placing him on Lindsay's belly he
> answered the door to let in the lady next door who was to look after their 3
> year old son Will and the paramedics who clipped the umbilical cord and then
> took them to the hospital.
>
> Th- th-th-that's all folks!!
>
> Jim
>
>
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