Was tempted not to post this report as I really do not like to make myself look like an idiot. But something may be learned from it so here goes. Pretty weak on exciting crash pics as it happened at night so you will have to bear mostly with my scintillating prose. Had left Bangkok early to head up to Chiang Mai with my newest Africa Twin. Smooth ride, about 8 hours. Once there did a bit of work and then jumped on my KTM. Plan was to ride about 5 hours east to a small town called Dan Sai to meet my friend David Unkovich for a festival there. Did not leave until about 5 o'clock in the afternoon so knowingly went into the ride with night time riding hours ahead...... Had been on most of the road before so was not really worried about it. About half the way over I decided to take a shortcut over the mountains as it would cut off a lot of time. It was a good two lane highway with very limited traffic. Was about 25 kilometers away from Dan Sai and riding a bit ( ??? ) faster than I should have. Because of the darkness was a bit more difficult to judge speed. Came up over a rise, and then there was long slightly downhill section where my speed picked up unknowingly to me. Next thing I know there is a slight right hand curve at the end of the straight away. Looking at the site the next day did not seem like much of a curve......Made the wrong decision to scrub speed before entering the curve . Because of the dark I could not see how tight it was and did not want to take a chance. There are many turns on Asian roads that are decreasing radius. This was not one of them.
Was in a sort of forested area with underbrush along the side of the road. All along the outside of the turn were three foot high cement posts spaced about every couple of yards. Locked the wheel briefly which started to fishtail the rear. Figured I would be better off going into them with some control instead of sliding into them. My last thought before I hit them at perhaps 100 kph was that I was well and truly fucked this time.
Woke up in the dark, in pain beyond belief, broken motorcycle bits all around me, the front of my helmet smashed off, and unable to get up. The bike was lying 5 meters away with the headlight still on pointing away from me. My right eye was almost swollen shut, and my back felt like the mafia spent a day working me over with base ball bats. Did not even know where the road was, but cleverly reasoned it must be above me. So crawled on my hands and knees up to the road and and waited long periods until a car would come by. Tried to sort of crouch upright and wave my broken helmet at cars to get them to stop. At this time was about 10 pm at night. No one would stop. Realized at this point things were getting a bit serious as the bike could not be seen from the road, and I was worried about going into shock from the pain. Crawled back to the bike to get the flash light from the tank bag and went back to the road. Now finally a truck full of local villagers stopped when they saw me waving the flashlight . They did not speak a word of english, and my Thai was not working too well as they spoke a local dialect. My phone, cash, and passport were in a fanny pack which was located in my left side Jesse bag. That bag took a direct hit on one of the posts, was smashed open, and all the contents strewn over the underbrush. Potentially a ugly scene as I cannot communicate what I wish to the the villagers, which is to sort of secure the bike and get to the hospital in Dan Sai before I pass out. In my fogged out brain I realize I must find the small green fanny pack to get the ball rolling because of the phone.
At this point I can stand a little bit with lots of pain. So in a sort of comedy scene myself and some of the villagers scour all around for 15 minutes until I find the green bag in the green underbrush. Thank god, phone time!! A quick call to my friend David, who speaks very good Thai and now things were rolling.
Sorted out a local guy to spend the night with the bike, jumped into
their truck, and then off to the Dan Sai hospital where David was
waiting for me to show up. It was about 25 kilometers further down the
road. A very nice small regional hospital, much better than you would
expect in a small town. Took pelvic x rays which showed nothing broken.
Had a huge black eye from the helmet coming apart and my face hitting
something. Looking at the helmet I think I think my face went into one
of the posts. Had lots and lots of pain as well. My back looked like it
had only a small bruise on it while at the hospital. Was not until the
next day my whole ass turned blue....Spent the night there, and then called another friend of mine named David who was in Chiang Mai. Sorted him to come out in my truck and pick me up along with the broken bike. He showed up in the afternoon, so all of us then went out to the crash site. The local guy was still waiting there the next day, and he had carefully covered the bike up. Bike was sitting upright from salvage effort from the night before, so just sort of dragged it up the embankment onto the road, and then dead lifted it ( not me ) into the truck. By this time a sort of crowd of local villagers had gathered. They were looking at the cement posts that were knocked over and the smashed up bike, and kept asking her where the dead foreigner was. When my girlfriend pointed to me helping to load the bike onto the truck , they just shook their heads and kept saying amazing that I had life in me. Think they are right. And by the way there was no drinking involved !!!
Lessons???
1. No fool like an old fool
2. Do not ride at night
3. Ride fast for what???
4. Riding alone adds to risks if problems come up
5. 13 hours of riding on short sleep dramatically affects judgement
Pictures....
My 700 baht a night hospital room ( about $ 18......) Complete with
smiling nurses !
Humor is where you find it.I had originally asked for a private room for the whopping cost of 700 baht. However there were only stairs going up to the private rooms on the second floor. Sooo I had to try to walk up them. The whole time in the emergency room I had been lying face down on the gurney. So the attendant ( loose usage of the word ) guy pushes me to the base of the stairs. Partly in shock, injected with pain killer,and lying down for hours I tried to suddenly stand up and walk up the stairs...... Hmmmmmm
I made it up one stair before I was a whisker away from pass out time. Now cannot even get back on the gurney. Had to muster strength just to get back on it. Now rolled back to the public ward full of drunks from the festival in town. The guy lying next to me keeps asking the nurse for whiskey.
Realized that I had transitioned too quickly from horizontal to vertical. Now this time sat up in bed for a while until I felt better, then was able to make it up the stairs to my luxury room.
The look of pain the next day on David's bike in front of the hospital.
The next day recovering the bike.
No ramp needed, just lots of local muscle.
Looking into the curve. You see the missing posts that I knocked down, and the cement stripped from the one I hit first. Think that was the one that killed my Jesse box.
Yeah I took some pain, but I kicked some butt on that post.
Part of the pain.
More pain. Am lucky to have two eyes.
Hey let's throw in a broken toe too !!!
Helmet WAS a Schuberth Concept. Always liked it for touring due to
the flip up design, good for tropical heat. Think my face went into one
of the posts after looking at all the scratches on the front. Was disappointed
seeing the front break off, somehow thought they would be tougher.
Close up.
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