I guess I am just accident prone, or perhaps merely a crap rider. Which ever it is, my rally in Wales came to an abrupt end when I had one of the biggest crashes I can recall.

The accident occurred whilst I was riding my little TTR along a deep rut on a green lane in mid Wales.  My handlebars caught some undergrowth and the next thing I knew I was flying through the air before hitting the ground very hard.  My shoulder took the brunt of the impact although my right wrist and left elbow also got a pounding.

I lay in agony for what seemed like hours but must in fact have been no more than 10 minutes or so. Eventually, one of my riding companions, Nick, returned to see what had happened to me. He lifted my bike which relieved me greatly as it had been leaking fuel and although I could smell it there was nothing I could do about. Nick removed my helmet and helped me to the side of the trail. Soon afterwards, the other member of our trio, and Robbie, also arrived back to see what had happened. It was clear that I was in no position to ride the bike, also we seem to be miles from anywhere. Mobile phones we carried could get no signal so Robbie rode up a nearby hill and finally managed to get a signal. Upon his return he announced that helicopter would come and pick me up.

In point of fact the first people to arrive were a couple of paramedics being transported in a local farmer’s land Rover. Having examined me they realised that I couldn’t be taken by road and they called in the helicopter.

 I was taken to Hereford Hospital at about 1830 hrs where I was first seen by a doctor in A&E. After x-rays were taken, two orthopaedic doctors saw me.  At this stage a tentative diagnosis suggested that I had dislocated my shoulder, elbow and probably broken a collarbone. It certainly felt like it and in order to take x-rays they had to fill me with morphine, even so it felt as if somebody was ripping my arm off.

The following morning I was seen by a consultant who said that there appeared to be a crack in my shoulder blade but there was no dislocation of shoulder or elbow and no break of collarbone.  He suggested that I should seek an appointment at my local hospital to get more x-rays in a weeks time. I have now been for more x-rays including a CT scan, and in a few days I am due to see the consultant once more.

As I write this the pain is much reduced, and although my left arm stays mainly in a sling I am able to take it out for periods in order to move it about a little. This should hopefully prevent the shoulder joint seizing completely.

I normally type with two hands but given my present inability to do so I have started using a dictation program to enter text in the computer. It seems to be working fairly well on the whole, and I can actually “type” faster than I can do so normally.

I went out to do a bit of exploration of local lanes marked on the OS map as Byways. I didn’t have a guide to what might have Traffic Restriction Orders (TROs) applied to them, so it was a case of going to look for myself.

First signs weren’t good! Not only was this lane not a Byway at all but even as a footpath, it looked rather less than inviting. Subsequent meanderings showed that I had misread the map and indeed it was meant to be a footpath rather than a Byway  – still..

I did find some lanes later – this one a bit too nice!

This one, very open.

I went out for an hour on the Goldwing. My hand is the thing causing the most problems at the moment. It continues to swell up at times and become painful. Initially it felt quite sore on the bike but settled down after a while.

It is strange how unconfident I feel when not able to grip the bars/levers normally. It seems to be much more handicapping than I would have expected for a little finger. My knee remains somewhat swollen with fluid over the kneecap and immediately above the knee and the skin above the knee is still overly sensitive – like neuralgia. It is now four weeks since the accident and I had expected that things would proceed a bit faster than they have done – perhaps it’s a sign of old age that they are not? There is another month before the Slovenia trip so I am very hopeful I should be OK for that. I did give up the idea of Llangollen this weekend – sounds as though the weather may be crap so I am not totally disappointed but it is a shame nonetheless.

I’m still not sure if I need to buy another helmet – obviously I’d prefer not to do so but the traditional wisdom is that a fall necessitates one. If I get another it will in all likelihood be another Arai Tour-X. I’d like to try a Uvex carbon one on but haven’t found anywhere that sells them from a bricks and mortar store and I am not about to buy an unknown helmet online – the chances of it not fitting properly are very high!

A Day out in Devon

Courtesy of an excellent itinerant towbar fitter, I now have the means to pull a trailer and as of this morning, a trailer to pull. All I lack is the body to ride a bike.. The muscles in my chest just scream when I try to do anything involving my upper body with bending, sneezing, coughing or (not much of this) laughing. I made the mistake of trying to sort out my new trailer and I felt something in the region of the pec muscles tear as I did so. I am just praying I shall be OK for my next bike trip to Wales and after that to Slovenia.

With the new bike in my garage, I submitted it to a very close inspection – something that seemed both unnecessary and difficult to do with the Goldwing and the F800GS. In the case of the Goldwing, everything is hidden under acres of plastic and even the BMW needs quite a lot of stuff removing to get at things – try changing a spark plug! Plus of course, I bought these bikes new. By contrast, the simplicity of the TTR lends itself to care in the home workshop – even when the owner is not that experienced a mechanic.

Things seemed pretty good. I had the covers off the starter and rotor to check the starter gears for wear but couldn’t see any so that relieved me from worrying bout the slight noise the bike makes when switching it off – something I had been concerned might indicate wear in the sprag clutch. The rear brake pads looked as thought they could do with replacing so I ordered both front and back sets from Moto-Ward which arrived by post on Thursday. The day before, I had received another item – a bike lift with which I can lift all three bikes clear of the ground. With the TTR I can do it single handed but with the other two bikes, I need help. I steady the bike whilst dearly beloved pumps up the bike lift. Thus on Thursday, I was in good shape to change the brake pads, a task that proved very easy. I also got to test the alloy tyre lever cum ring spanner I had bought for the F800 as the rear wheel nut is the same 24mm size. The alloy lever had no trouble undoing the nut and appeared to suffer no distortion in the process – so perhaps it was worth the rather high price.

Yesterday, I was keen to bed the new pads in so went for a ride around the neighbourhood, taking in a few unsurfaced roads – they led me to think the front forks could do with some attention but I shall await the first real offroad experience (planned for the coming Sunday)  before fiddling with them. All was going well until on the way home, a van did a u-turn in front of me without signaling. I slammed on the brakes but the front wheel locked and I went down hard. The van driver did at least show concern and claimed he was a biker and said he had signalled – frankly I don’t think so. In any event, I managed to ride home OK but with a very sore hand, knee and ribs. It was the hand that hurt most and X-rays taken later at the A&E department of our local hospital showed I had broken my little finger. This was strapped up to a splint and I was sent on my not very merry way.

It has put paid to my weekend plans for sure. No doubt if I was 20 years old and a MotoGP star, I’d be out on the track ignoring the pains in hand, chest and knee and just getting on with the job – unfortunately anno domini has decreed that ain’t gonna happen. I just hope I’m back in shape for my next Wales trip planned for the middle of next month.

Yes, I got another! The new one is a Yamaha TTR250R bought off the bay expressly for greenlaning. So far I have only ridden it home from the seller’s house but I plan to go off-road to Salisbury plain next weekend so it should get a good workout there. The bike is a 2004 model with 3000 miles on the clock and although 25 kilos heavier than the Honda CRF230 I was initially looking for, feels light enough nonetheless. It’s quite a tall bike – the same as the F800 GS actually but I hope much easier to deal with on some of the more difficult trails. At this stage, I guess my only reservations are whether the bike will have enough power and if I shall outgrow its capabilities before old age diminishes mine sufficiently as to need an even smaller lighter bike..

The design is pretty basic – air-cooled, carburetted with no fancy electronics, just what one needs if a bike has to be fixed in the middle of nowhere! Thus far I have adjusted a few things here and there, topped up the brake fluid front and rear (the pads need changing but as it’s Easter, I can’t order new ones before tomorrow. I had a side cover off to look at the starter motorshaft and idler gears (these can wear badly once the sprag clutch gets worn apparently) but everything looked pretty good to my relief. I have not adjusted any suspension settings and will wait until I’ve had my first off-road experience before touching them.

On the 100 mile ride home with the new machine, it managed 55-60mph on the motorway fairly readily so it will be good for getting to local trails not too far away. For going further afield, I shall be getting a trailer however as I don’t fancy riding all the way to say North Wales on this bike. Apart from anything else the seat is hard on the bum! I am going to try fitting the Airhawk to it for the ride down to Wiltshire and back. I can stuff it in my rucksack when actually riding the trails.

Yes, I admit it there is more here than I have previously owned up to. The turndown exhaust tips are there as are the chromed intakes but the back rest has been snuck in. I was put on to it by a new mate, Terry, at the Thames Valley Winding where another bloke wanted to sell it. I bought it sight unseen but I am glad to say the the reality is advertised – in “as new” condition and it matches the seat very well. Terry kindly fixed it for me today and on test it seems to do a great job of offering enough support where needed – just the job for really long rides. Also, it doesn”t seem to get in the way of normal manoeuvres which I was slightly concerned about.