Damn Dogs!!! Be Careful! Wife down in Arkansas.

[TearlessTom]

Well we made it back from a week of well planned out riding in the Arkansas Ozarks.

We arrived at Fairfield Bay on Friday. Cold front coming in had a very strong head wind the last 250 miles of the trip. Really did a number of my gas mileage on the Tundra as it was hauling the bikes.

 Rode Saturday did the “Mountain View “run. Sunday it was the coldest day of the cold front so we opted to take the truck and ride down to Hot Springs.  (Interesting place)

Monday we are back on the bikes, doing the ride known as the “Jasper Disaster” and added part another route to the east of Harrison.

School had let out and we were behind a bus that was kind enough to pull aside and let traffic pass as the roads are too tight to pass on. 

We were in the lead of the pack; my wife is out front with me following her as always.( I always let her lead as to not ride above her comfort level. Not that that has been a problem lately as I sometimes ride slower than she does) anyway… No one is in a hurry, we were approaching a curve (imagine that) doing about 40mph. (speed limit was 45). She down-shifted her Fatboy as she approached the curve setting up her line.

Then it happened!

(1st tick of the clock)  A dog about 18 inches high & 25 lbs. appears out of the tall grass on the side of the road next to a private road.

 (2nd tick of the clock) The dog paused,  sniffed something on the ground

(3rd tick of the clock) Then ran straight out after her the dog decided to not chase the bike as expected but tried to cross the road in front of it.

 (4th tick of the clock) She hit the dog in the hind end snapping the handlebars from her hand with a violent left side tank slap. The left mirror struck her in the right upper chest. The bike went down on its right side, she low-sides and hits the asphalt.

Time from the dog appearing from the grass to time of impact less than 3 seconds!

The bike slides for about 30 yards on its crash bars, front and rear. (Those things really saved the bike)

She slid and rolled about 6 times best I can recall  for about 20 yards, ending up in the grass at the edge of the road.

All I could do was avoid the dog now down in the road, watch and wait for her to stop her tumble to the edge of the road.

She/We/I was very fortunate as she was wearing her full leathers, Jacket, chaps, gloves, and full face helmet, and steel toed boots!  I was wearing the same minus the chaps which are now higher on my shopping list, and heavy boots, not steel toed.

She received a half dollar size abrasion to her left knee, dime size to her right knee and elbow. Left knee and right elbow and ankle had some minor swelling.  Bruising to all the above areas and some chest discomfort from where the mirror hit her.

She refused to go to the hospital and was able to ride the bike back to Fairfield Bay. (She is tougher than I am for sure).

I finally got her to go and get some x-rays when she returned to work today.(she is a Ortho O.R. nurse) as the pain in her chest is not getting better  but actually worse after the dog jumped up on her last night.  She just called me and told me that the x-ray did show some Atelectasis. Aka Pneumothorax. They are sending her for a CT with contrast now.  It has been a week since the accident.

Needless to say that ended our riding for the week. She did go out with me yesterday for a nice Sunday ride with some friends her on the back of our Street Glide. I think she knew she needed to get back on a bike even as a passenger and relax and enjoy the ride A.S.A.P.

I thank God that she received no worse injuries than she did. It could have been much worse! I really don’t want to go through that feeling of helplessness while watching her tumble ever again!

Thanks for letting me vent a bit. And remember things happen beyond our control, so best to prepare as much as possible.
Tom

[Skinhead]

Glad she's alright and had her safety gear on.  Could have been much worse otherwise.

[Black Dog]

Wow...  Glad she came out OK.

Good to hear she's back in the saddle too, so to speak.

Hope she feels good enough to be the pilot soon.

Black Dog

[musclehead]

that a heart in your thoat moment to be sure, glad all is going to be well. the last time a dog did that to me I was in a freightliner classic, it didn't turn out well for the dog 

[TearlessTom]

that a heart in your thoat moment to be sure, glad all is going to be well. the last time a dog did that to me I was in a freightliner classic, it didn't turn out well for the dog 

This dog didn't fair too well either. He is in doggy heaven now.

[czuch]

 I'm glad she's ok. Theats gotta be the worst feeling. I really dont the wife to ride her own because of that right there. Fortunately, she's ok with that
.

[Daniel Meyer]

Yikes! Glad she wasn't hurt worse!

Oh...I wrote this for my friend Robert when he hit a dog on his bicycle (my friend broke his hip and was in the hospital for weeks!). If she has a sense of humor about the thing, feel free to pass it on to her.

I Fought the Dog


Sung to the tune of
I FOUGHT THE LAW
The Bobby Fuller Four
(Sonny Curtis)

(A') Breakin' bones in the ... hot sun
I Fought the dog and the ... dog won
I Fought the dog and the ... dog won
I needed padding, 'but I ... had none
I Fought the dog and the ... dog won
I Fought the dog and the ... dog won

I left my bike and I feel so bad
I guess my race is run
Well, she's the best bike ... I've ever had
I Fought the dog and the ... dog won
I Fought the dog and the ... dog won

(Instrumental Break)

Wish I'd been carryin' a . . . SIX gun
I Fought the dog and the ... dog won
I Fought the dog and the ... dog won

I miss my bike and the ... good fun
I Fought the dog and the ... dog won
I Fought the dog and the ... dog won

I left my bike and I feel so bad
I guess my race is run
But, she's the best bike ... I've ever had
I Fought the dog and the ... dog won
I Fought the dog and the ... dog won

Bobby Fuller I fought the law	powered by Aeva

[Popeye]

Glad to hear she didn't get hurt any worse than she did.  Hope she heals fast.

[Sorcerer]

Sorry to hear that . Heal quick. I returned form a week of riding north central Arkansas on Saturday. Seems that the white colored dogs were not doing very well (3 dead on the side of the road) . On 16 in a set of switch backs between Witts Spring and Pelsor The first bike didnt see the Large pig in the ditch on the up hill side of the road  but the second bike spooked it as it got along it. As he went by it turned around and started running with him in the ditch. I could hear it grunting as I went by.

[highcountry]

Wow TT, that was a close call!  Glad to read that your wife was wearing the right gear to ride away from the collision.  Hope that chest injury heals quickly.  Definitely a good lesson for ATGATT.  You never know when that 4 second incident can happen.

[TearlessTom]

Thank you all for your kind responses.

Daniel, I sent her the song. I think she will get a kick out of it.

She is going to talk to her boss tomorrow about some light duty assignment as she is not able to lift the trays of instruments at work. Some trays weight as much as 25 lbs which she can not lift at this time.

I was going to try to upload some photos but she has them on snapfish which I have not figured out how to download the photos from yet.

I am still amazed at how relatively minor her injuries are thanks to the high quality leathers, and boots she was wearing. Kicker is we bought them from a friend who no longer rode for $100. The boots were Harley Davidson.  They are a bit scuffed but she still has all of her toes with no injuries other than a slightly swollen ankle.

I think much of what minimized her injuries was she had the presence of mind to tuck her arms in and not fight the rolling rather than skidding.

She is definitely an argument for ATGATT.

[TearlessTom]

Here are a few photos I snapped after things had calmed down a bit.

This is the grass the dog came out of , there is a ditch of sorts behind the blue bike that he came from.


Same shot zoomed out a bit.

[Hoghead]

Glad your wifes injuries were not worse. I like to hear about protective gear doing its job. Last year I had a 2 sec. incident with oil on the road. It was a hot day and I opted to ride without my jacket. As I was going down I thought , what a dumbass. I was lucky also, juat roadrashed arm, a little whiplash and sore for a while. I'm 50 yrs old and the pavement has definetly gotten harder over the yrs. I don't tend to bounce and tumble as gracefully anymore.   I love the Ozarks. I go every yr. camping on the Buffalo river. I love to sit in downtown Jasper and watch the old men whittle over at the courthouse.   

[TearlessTom]

We stopped and had lunch that day in Jasper. Great food. Nice little town.

This is her on her 55th birthday, which was 2 days after the accident. She bounces pretty well for her age. I would have to give her a "8" (I told her it was a 10) for her dismount, and landing.

I am a lucky man indeed!

[R J]

We stopped and had lunch that day in Jasper. Great food. Nice little town.

This is her on her 55th birthday, which was 2 days after the accident. She bounces pretty well for her age. I would have to give her a "8" (I told her it was a 10) for her dismount, and landing.

I am a lucky man indeed!

Tearless Tom:

 Now that she has down the swerve to miss and crash done, teach her if she can't avoid the animal, up to large dogs, no deer, line up on the middle of them, give it full throttle and raise off of the seat a hair and take em dead center.  She will probably get some air, so keep the handle bars straight.

Take her to a vacant lot, with some bricks, 2X4 chunks, and etc to practice on running over them.  This way she will get the feel of what will happen when she hits a  foreign object.....       Dog, cat, squirrels, raccoons, do not swerve to miss, you will end up on your butt on the pavement if you do.     The above does not hold true for skunks, deer, moose, elks, pigs, even the piglets, chickens, ducks, geese, and turkey's.

[Strider]

Wow, glad she fared as well as she did!  Wow!

Hope all comes out OK bro.

[TearlessTom]

Tearless Tom:

 Now that she has down the swerve to miss and crash done, teach her if she can't avoid the animal, up to large dogs, no deer, line up on the middle of them, give it full throttle and raise off of the seat a hair and take em dead center.  She will probably get some air, so keep the handle bars straight.

Take her to a vacant lot, with some bricks, 2X4 chunks, and etc to practice on running over them.  This way she will get the feel of what will happen when she hits a  foreign object.....       Dog, cat, squirrels, raccoons, do not swerve to miss, you will end up on your butt on the pavement if you do.     The above does not hold true for skunks, deer, moose, elks, pigs, even the piglets, chickens, ducks, geese, and turkey's.

Thanks,for the additional info. I have already gone over that with her as far as line up as straight as possible, hit the gas and raise up on the seat .

She is on her way home from work now and will be off on FMLA for at least the rest of the week due to the chest injury.

I haven't thought about taking her out to practice but I am sure that would have come to me eventually. after we get the bike repaired.

Odd thing is she did hit him pretty straight on but not intentionally of coarse. The dog was running a slight diagonally across her path so I guess that is why the wheel snapped to the left.

You are right about the practice. It all happened so fast that unless someone practiced to the point it becomes an  unconscious habit no one  would react correctly in time.

Thanks for the reminder. I will put this on her schedule as well as mine.

[HayHauler]

TT, glad her injuries weren't any worse.  I usually ride with minimal safety clothing, helmet and gloves only.  I wear good boots when I am out riding, but not to and from work.  I looked at Joe Rocket jackets today and think I will stop tempting fate. 
A couple of weeks ago, a curb-sized chunk of concrete (actual piece of curb 10" long) came out from under a truck that I was following about 35 mph.  Like RJ said, I squared up on it and stood up a bit, and hit it as close to the middle as possible.  I didn't hit the gas due to the close proximity of the truck in front of me.  I got some air, the rear wheel flew up pretty high, but came down, still going straight.  I stopped at the first safe place, cleaned out my pants, and checked the bike. 
Big white spot on the front tire but no marks on the rear Goodyear TT.

Prayers on the way from TEXAS for your wife's full recovery!

Thanks for the reality check,
Hay 

Jimmyt