Broken left collarbone/wrist

[Ocho]

Hello,

On Sunday Nov 5th, I lost control of my bike and fell on my shoulder. It was my second long distance ride, and about 2 months after I started riding. My mistake, lost the rear while I braked, panic braked on the fronts and shot out of the bike.

As soon as I laid on the pavement I sensed it was nothing 'serious'. Fortunately people rushed to help and was taken to the hospital by ambulance.

Luckily my breaks didn't need surgery and I just made sure to rest for the first week. I bruised my left side and it was annoying to lay down/stand up for a couple of weeks, but that pain is gone now.

My wrist never really hurt unless I moved it, so it has been pretty chill so far.

My collarbone has turned out to be a very inconvenient injury. I live alone so I had to adapt pretty quickly to one arm use.

I'm okay now, my cast will be removed the 11th. I use my left hand to hold stuff no issue unless really heavy, and I can move my arm except when the collarbone is really strained.

I'm hoping no long lasting effects but we'll see.

Psychological wise, I felt I was out of trying to ride motorcycles, but as weeks have passed, I feel like I should learn from my mistakes and keep trying. Maybe try with a bike with traction control/abs.

Thanks Tom and Ich for your support during the first days.

 

[carries an axe]

yeah that collarbone can be a bitch.
Glad you're still with us man. Move slow and sleeping can be a little rough until you find the positions that work

 

[bmwbob51]

If you decide to ride again, do it in the dirt! Dirt riding teaches braking better than the street and messing up is much less dramatic.

 

[1962siia]

Sorry to hear of your injuries. I broke my left collar bone in September, had surgery and I'm almost back to "normal". If you do go back to riding I'd suggest some coaching. There are lots of good options out there and lots of good info on this forum on probably all of the local options. Good luck and best wishes for a full recovery.

 

[Honey Badger]

Hope your healing goes well and things continue to mend.

As for riding, I'll second coaching. Electronic aids are nice, but will never be as fail safe as learning correct controls yourself. Maybe I was taught by too many old school types, but I'm a believer on learning the "how" first and add in the farkles after. Let the aids save you when you really, really need it, not from poor riding skills.

Heal up, and keep us posted on your progress!

 

[Ocho]

Thanks for the well wishes.

I certainly messed up early on, I've read a couple books and have taken extra coaching other than the safety course. I know exactly why I fish tailed, I think I pushed a little harder than my limits and caused me to panic and mess up. I've never really felt not in control of the motorcycle, until my crash lol.

 

[afm199]

Do you have an idea of how to not have that happen again?

 

[DirtyD]

Crashing is part of the learning process. I try to do most of mine in the dirt (less expensive in terms of bike and gear) but I've thrown it away on the pavement a few times as well. Never been injured on the asphalt, but I've broken plenty of bones in the dirt. Drove home from the motox track with a broken wrist once, and with a badly broken collarbone and navicular and ribs once. Sounds like your injuries did not require an ambulance. Live and learn. Ambulance rides suck and should be avoided whenever possible. Broke my fibula 2 years ago and made a splint out of cardboard and packing tape so I could drive my manual transmission truck home. The silly ambulance people will try to put you in a cervical collar, start an IV, etc. You can tell them all day long that you only broke your leg... doesn't matter. The lawyers have screwed it up royally.

If you don't want to ever crash again, quit. If you are ok with learning from your mistakes (they won't usually involve broken bones) and becoming a better rider then get back on that horse. Someday you'll look back at this crash and laugh. We all have those early crashes in our personal riding stories. Thanks for sharing yours.

 

[Ocho]

Do you have an idea of how to not have that happen again?

Definitely. Came in too fast on a curve for my experience trying to catch up to the group, saw a truck coming the other way, felt I wasn't turning enough, hit rear brake too hard, fish tailed out of the bike. I practiced smooth braking extensively but I think the slight lean made me lose traction. I should practice my turns and hit the curves at the appropriate speed.

Crashing is part of the learning process. I try to do most of mine in the dirt (less expensive in terms of bike and gear) but I've thrown it away on the pavement a few times as well. Never been injured on the asphalt, but I've broken plenty of bones in the dirt. Drove home from the motox track with a broken wrist once, and with a badly broken collarbone and navicular and ribs once. Sounds like your injuries did not require an ambulance. Live and learn. Ambulance rides suck and should be avoided whenever possible. Broke my fibula 2 years ago and made a splint out of cardboard and packing tape so I could drive my manual transmission truck home. The silly ambulance people will try to put you in a cervical collar, start an IV, etc. You can tell them all day long that you only broke your leg... doesn't matter. The lawyers have screwed it up royally.

If you don't want to ever crash again, quit. If you are ok with learning from your mistakes (they won't usually involve broken bones) and becoming a better rider then get back on that horse. Someday you'll look back at this crash and laugh. We all have those early crashes in our personal riding stories. Thanks for sharing yours.

I did take an ambulance since onlookers came up pretty quickly on my aid and didn't even try to get up. Better safe than sorry, I guess, but I knew I had no back troubles. I denied the IV tho. Great words, every day I'm more sure I'll get back on the saddle.

 

[bmwbob51]

I very seldom use my back brake! More than 75% of braking is in the front, especially under hard braking when the rear wheel is unweighted.

 

[jaybocc2]

I very seldom use my back brake! More than 75% of braking is in the front, especially under hard braking when the rear wheel is unweighted.

Agreed, but until you know what your doing (Front) braking in a corner can be very dangerous. Especially panic braking, which is what it sounds like the OP did.

I've had 3 bone breaking incidents in my 10+ years of street riding career.

I wouldn't give up those 10 years for anything, to be honest, riding motorcycles is part of who i am and a huge part of my personal happiness. But to pretend like there are no risks is just willful ignorance. Now if i could i would have definitely done some things differently but thats just the results/consequences of gaining experience.

 

[Ocho]

I very seldom use my back brake! More than 75% of braking is in the front, especially under hard braking when the rear wheel is unweighted.

I was coached to use both brakes smoothly. I can only assume I used too much break because I was no stranger to breaking while cornering.

After watching a gif if a guy fish tail the other day, I feel it may be possible I didn't even get the chance to lock the front brakes. The bike just spit me out when I lost the rear.

 

[bruceflinch]

Wish you a Speedy Recovery Sir!

 

[Ocho]

My cast was removed monday. The joints in my arm hurt a bunch (as expected), pain has decreased over time and movement has increased, but it's still delicate. I'm doing physical therapy next week.

All my bones have healed well so far. I just need to recondition my muscles and joints.

I'm already thinking of the next bike to buy.

 

[carries an axe]

My cast was removed monday. The joints in my arm hurt a bunch (as expected), pain has decreased over time and movement has increased, but it's still delicate. I'm doing physical therapy next week.

All my bones have healed well so far. I just need to recondition my muscles and joints.

I'm already thinking of the next bike to buy.

take things slow, you're still in recovery and that should be your focus. Motorcycles are awesome and there will be no shortage of time to ride however taking the time to properly heal is what will allow you to have that time

 

[ichabodnt650]

I'm already thinking of the next bike to buy.

:thumbup:ride