Sport-Touring.Net 06/25/06

Sunday, 06/25/06

Kevin hangs out on the sport-touring.net forum. They're mostly touring riders. Ten of us got together in north Arkansas yesterday and had a fine time. We all split up to go home, and Kevin, me, and a guy we'd picked up in Jacksonville, Nick. Coming down Highway 9 about ten miles south of Mountain Home, I checked my mirrors to make sure Nick was still there, and saw him go off the road.

I doubled back and found the wreckage of his Triumph in the ditch, and he was about twenty feet from it. Judging from the scrape marks the bodywork left in the road, he basically rode straight off the road. He hit a traffic sign, which removed his right leg just below the knee; his face shield was laying by the pole. Then he went another thirty feet or so diagonally, along a barbed wire fence, before winding up a few feet down in the ditch.

My initial impression was that his lower leg was doubled up under him; that's what happened when I got hit some years ago. He was still awake, of course, and in considerable pain - his left leg was broken in at least two places, he was bleeding through the nose, and it was impossible to tell what the tree and fence post might have done internally. Not to mention minor irritations like being raked with barbed wire and laying in poison ivy.

I regret to say I didn't notice hig right leg was missing for a considerable time; one of the first people who stopped to help put a toruniquet on the stump, but the entire lower leg of his Aerostitch suit was intact, there was just no leg in it. I guess I wasn't thinking too straight. For some reason there was very little blood, to the few minutes lost weren't fatal. In retrospect, since the slope put his head slightly below his legs, the blood was probably running up inside his suit.

Meanwhile, I flagged down several more cars and sent them for help. Kevin showed back up, took a look, and headed back up to Mountain Home, where we had seen a police station. Within minutes two guys had stopped who had portable radios, and they were directing traffic. Someone recovered the severed leg and several people went to get ice. Within ten minutes, a lady pulled up with a big bag of emergency medical supplies; I'd been sitting in the ditch with Nick and the guy with the touriquet; I was basically just being there, talking to him and letting him squeeze the blood out of my hand. I got out of the way so the lady could get to him. A minute later another lady with a big bag showed up, and then the Stone County Sheriff. Within 20 minutes - I'd checked my watch when I stopped, 1:35 - we had an ambulance on scene, paramedics in the ditch, and a helicopter on the way.

Kevin and I walked the crash path and picked up debris. It didn't look like Nick had ever initiated a turn; it looked like the bike had followed the camber of the road a bit, but that was all. Nick had ground all the way through his suit in at least one spot, and there was identifiable paint on the road for the full width across both lanes; given that he was all the way down by then, whatever happened was probably before he actually got to the turn.

Though we'd just met him that morning, Nick was a very experienced rider. He'd done an Iron Butt, and was an MSF safety instructor and an Air Force motorcycle safety instructor. We'd ridden with him all day, and he was steady and didn't do anything stupid.

Nick kept asking what had happened; shock had scrambled his short term memory. We'll never know for sure, but I suspect it was a deer or small animal. It doesn't take much to disturb a bike as it's banking into a corner, and once you lowside you're just a projectile.

The EMT said they were taking him to Harrison, but I called up there this morning and they had no record. I'm going to wait until tomorrow and check with his wife; we know where he lives, though we don't have a phone number.

I am *way* impressed with the people who stopped to help; there was only room for a few people down in the ditch, and they climbed right on down; the guy with the tourniquet and two guys in their church clothes; Kevin said the ditch was full of poison ivy. When I went back to the bike to get a bottle of ice water and a towel for Nick, someone took my place while I was gone. The tourniquet guy didn't say much, but the others kept Nick talking and awake. Everyone else stayed on the other side of the road out of the way; just extra people who were in the cars that stopped, I think, not gawkers.


full size What I saw first. I parked in a driveway about 30 feet back to the right. Nick was in the ditch about 30 feet to the left. The bike had shed a few bits of plastic in the road, but it was mostly in one piece, though it had shed most of the luggage. The lower strand of barbed wire is broken, probably by the bike. This was taken after we stacked all the luggage and Nick's helmet with the bike.

full size This is the pole Nick hit. There were several of them, all mounted shallowly and in loose gravel, apparently to be easily knocked over when cars hit them. Since I saw Nick with or on the bike as he left the road, (I was 100-odd yards away, with a glimpse at one mirror through bifocals) my best guess is he parted with the bike when he hit the sign.

full size This is one of the scrape marks the Stone County Sheriff pointed out. I couldn't see it (I'm color blind) but my brother could. I took the picture anyway; it's visible here. That's paint and fiberglass dust from the Triumph. The scrape is about 25 feet long, straight across both lanes, so the bike was down on its side before Nick actually entered the turn.

full size The lady in front showed up within 5-10 minutes of the crash, and the one behind a few minutes later. Both had big bags full of medical supplies and seemed to know what they were doing. I didn't think to ask who they were, but the Sheriff and EMTs seemed to know them.

full size That's the Sheriff rolling the distance to where Nick's leg was. The sign to the left is the one he hit; you can see some of the equipment still where he wound up, and the remains of the bike behind the group of people. The skinny guy straight on is the one who collected the leg and bagged it in ice. The truck is one that showed up within a few minutes of the crash; he guy stood out in the street and directed traffic. Someone else showed up a minute later, directing traffic on the other side. It seemed like everyone had radios. The far turn is about 125 yards down the road; the camera makes the distances look funny. I'd slowed down a bit to wait to see Nick's headlight, and just caught a glimpse of the crash while going into the turn. Unfortunately the mirrors are on the handlebars, so I was only able to get a glimpse.

full size This is the crash site. As you can see, the road surface is good, visibility is good, there are signs clearly marking the road anyway. Nick had been following about 100 yards behind me, and we were running about 60 miles per hour.

full size This is a bit farther back. Nick was already down and sliding by now. You can't see the faint paint mark in this shot. The sign on the left is the one he hit. There's also a cluster of trees, some fence posts, and barbed wire; I'm pretty sure he hit all of those too. There were parallel barbed wire "claw marks" on his Aerostitch suit.

full size This is even farther back. My best guess is that whatever happened occurred somewhere before this.

full size This is where I found Nick lying, looking back up the way he came. I'm not sure if he bent the sign or if it was already bent. There were no marks at all on the sign post. The visor to his helmet was lying at the base of the sign.

full size Nick's right leg was laying here. The guy pointing is the one who recovered it.

full size That's all the blood there was. Most of the cars that stopped had several people in them; usually one person would be actively helping in some way and the rest stayed on the far side of the road out of the way. I think these three people were a couple who lived down the gravel road, and their neighbor.

full size Kevin asked the Sheriff if we could pile all the bike parts together. We stacked Nick's helmet and gloves with it. I noticed some road scars on his helmet, but I didn't think to examine that or the bike.


full size I was amazed; we picked a small piece off the road, another piece by the sign, and the bags broke loose, but otherwise all the plastic stayed with the bike. Usually when one goes down like this there are parts scattered all over the place.

full size Air-Evac chopper leaving. The EMTs loaded Nick into the ambulance, which stayed until the chopper arrived. Then they drove into a farmer's field to meet the chopper.

full size The chopper circled about 270 degrees and headed off north.

[Monday evening]

I talked to Nick's wife, Liz, on the phone. She said they didn't try to reattach the right leg; when they got the suit off, they found out the left leg was mangled badly, so the surgeons put their efforts into saving that one. They patched in a bunch of veins and arteries to keep it alive; if it doesn't get infected, they'll go in later and install an artificial knee joint.

Liz said Nick is awake and aware, and they're moving him out of ICU at UAMS.

Kevin and I have been chewing this over quite a bit, and we figure it was most likely a deer. Nick being an MSF instructor, he would have ridden straight over a rabbit or squirrel, which might have been exciting while transitioning into a turn, but it would be unlikely to lowside the bike. On the other hand, clipping a deer with the handlebar would certainly do that. Also, if you notice the front wheel on the bike, the forks are turned almost 90 degrees - past the normal steering lock. A deer strike could do that. So could just the right kind of crash, though.