Coming back from the bike accident
(This post was requested, and who am I to deny my people what they want?!?!)
I have to admit that I was pretty hesitant to get back on a motorcycle after the accident. Stupid questions like "would I still remember how to ride" and better ones like "what if someone hits me harder next time" were racing through my head. Given that I was on the premises of Brisbane's Harley Davidson dealer, it may not have been the best place to have this crisis of confidence, but here I was anyway ready to test ride a new bike.
The recovery had taken some time - about 3 months all up - and it was painful in parts and annoying mostly. My leg is pretty much 100%, my knee about 90% and my shoulder about the same. I have some physio exercises that I should continue doing, however I haven't been the best patient in that regard. Additionally, with the injury severely limiting my mobility, I've put on a bunch of weight that I'd lost (e.g. this time last year I was 134kg - this morning I was 148kg). I've got some serious work to do to get rid of that weight, but I'm confident I can get back into it and lose it all (and hopefully more) again. I find it really noticeable, and it's easy for me to lose hope and not even try, but I am applying myself and I know that I can do it - I just have to do it.
I must offer that I am completely blessed to have a wife as understanding as mine. Sure, there's the practicality of me having a bike that allows me to get to work independently and leave her with the car for the kids, but then there's also the fact that she even allowed me to look at another bike. Perhaps she was still dazzled by my brief TV appearance from the initial accident (OK, you didn't see me, but my accident made it onto the morning traffic report for Channel 7 the day it happened!). She is extremely trusting and I will not violate that. Ever.
Getting back on a bike was a pretty good feeling - until I let the clutch out to start moving the for first time. It was like I didn't trust myself... or anyone else on the road for that matter. The test ride was relatively short, but I did get to open up the bike pretty quickly and was amazed that at one point I was doing 90 km/hr and didn't even realise. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
I know this: once we got back from the test ride, I was hooked again. The freedom, the feeling, the wind on my gut - it was all there.
Importantly, since I've taken delivery of my new bike I've been really cautious of being aware of my surroundings, especially the other idiots in the four-wheeled tin cans. I haven't really opened the new bike up, but I look forward to it the first chance I get to go for a ride for the sake of going for a ride. Might get a chance when my mate Waz gets back from the UK if we can get him a bike soon enough. Here's hoping, anyway.
Actually really looking forward to Waz coming back as he and I have plans for my sled already, not least of which are some new and completely offensive pipes for it... just to hear the burble a couple of suburbs away!
Just to assure my Beloved and TJ - both who I know are concerned that I'm gonne get hurt - I'm being really, REALLY careful...











