Blackburg aka wasions - Burger no more

[Blackburg]

Hey Y'all.

This portion of the ol' site sure doesn't get much action, eh?

So anyway, last Wednesday, me Burger bit the big one. Totalled on Indiana 66. Nice road. Tricky ride.

I'll be laid up for a (short, I suspect) while, as a minor (stable) compression fracture to T12 mends. My riding season is pretty much over for this year.

I still have the DR350, so it's not like my life is barren, but . . . (sigh)

The Burgman 400 and (especially) 650 are real bikes, folks. Treat them with respect. Especially, ride clad. If I hadn't been wearing full armored street gear and a helmet, I'd most likely be dead. I'm thinking my loved ones wouldn't care much for that.

Steve

Gear up!

[Gixxerdale]

Oh man! What happened?

Hope you heal fast and proper.

[Ride-or-die]

ah man thats terrible, hope the back heals soon

[Louis]

Glad to know you are okay Steve. Sorry about your Burgman. What happened?

[Uncle Bob]

Sorry to hear that, glad you're still around to share.

I'll give a shout out to the Big guy for you.

[bat4255]

Sorry to hear about it (on the other forum).
It sounds like your in good spirits though, which is good to see.

You mentioned something about your insurance (Progressive) not wanting to pay for your personal injury. Any followup we should know about?

Again Heal up fast.

[Blackburg]

I'll cut and paste from the other forum about the day. It's a little long.

It seems my Progressive Policy covered passengers or non-insured motorists, but not personal bodily injury. I'm fully covered by my work insurance though, so no worries.

Steve

[Blackburg]

Here's a cut 'n paste from BurgmanUSA.com.


I'm back at home, so I thought I'd send as complete a record of events as I can come up with.

Wednesday a.m., Jerry (old-timer currently has at least six Suzuki's of various sizes, but chose to ride his V-Strom 1000) and I decided to go for a ride in Southern Indiana. It happened to be 1 day after the six year anniversary of the death of his brother, who was killed while they were on a similar ride (but a different road). (Jerry is doing well, considering the circumstances.) We took a rather circuitous route from Princeton, IN, north, almost to Vincennes, where I suggested that we switch rides for a little while. We went back south to Boonville, and then wended east along the Ohio river, winding our way onto Indiana 66. At a little (!) town called Sulpher, we gassed up, emptied out, and switched back to our own bikes. We had ridden each others' bikes for about 100 of our, so far, 160 or so mile ride. Indiana 66 is a lovely two-lane, very twisty. In fact, the week before, Tim (who rides a 650 V-Strom) and I had ridden a more eastern section of this same road on our way to Corydon to see JD and JLD. As we continued east, toward Derby, we passed at least four different road rehab or line crews, so our riding, though quite enjoyable, was probably less spirited than it might have otherwise been. I was trailing Jerry, as he was much more familiar with the road than I. I generally ride in the outermost tire track, the leader taking the inside track. Unfortunately, I was far enough behind him that I could have - should have - been using the whole lane. At about 6~7 miles since the stop, we were rounding a downhill left at around 45~60 mph when, just before the end of the turn, the road dropped off rather radically. I could feel that the grip had eased, which meant I had to stand the bike more upright, increasing the radius of the turn such that, as I was already on the outer edge of the road, I just ran out of tarmac. I have been in this type (sort of) of situation many times before, and figured that if I just stood it up, I'd be in for a rough ride, but probably would be able to save it. Not this time. After about 30 feet on the gravel edge, the bike went into a steep wash and then up onto a steep, shale ledge. I suppose that's when I got the compression fracture, because I have no memory after that. Jerry says that in the rear-view mirror, he saw the bike crash down on the tail section, do at least two complete endos and spins, and crash down again on the same general area of the bike. He said he saw a rag-doll-like object trailing the bike (me, of course) but could not see exactly how it landed. He quickly turned around and parked his bike on the opposite shoulder of the road and came to me. He'd thought that when he first saw me lying on the ground, I was on my left side, but when he reached me, I was on my back. He called my name several times, and after what must have seemed like an eternity, I popped open my eyes and said, "Yeah?" He had undone my d-links, so I immediately got up and took off my helmet. At about this time his bike fell over. (I do not remember this part.) According to Jerry, he went over to pick up his bike, and when he couldn't quite get it upright, I ran over and pushed it the rest of the way up with him. (Okay, now I start remembering again.) I patted my hands all over my major appendages and declared myself, "O.K.' I then started walking up and down on the side of the road, trying to figure out what happened. I had no recollection at that time of even leaving the last stop, so I was more than a little confused. When I'd walked out the latter course of the turn, noted the light skid mark leading off the pavement, and then the aforementioned shale 'berm', I went over to the Burg and (Jerry says) began lamenting my loss in the most humiliating fashion. At that point, Jerry was somewhat relieved that I was physically able to function, but was getting a little apprehensive about my mental clarity, so he decided it would be appropriate to get me away. The rest is particularly embarrassing to me, but suffice to say, I would NOT be taken to a hospital. I would NOT talk to my wife of this until I had time to sort it out myself. I did call Progressive, which was very helpful, but didn't exactly give me any advice as to how to immediately proceed (i.e Police report, hospital check-up, etc.). I ended up riding the 110+ miles back home on the back of the Strom. It was the most miserable ride of my life.
When I got home, I called another friend (the aforementioned Tim) who came over and convinced me that I should probably drop a clue to my wife. When I was on the phone with her, trying to convince her that I didn't need to be looked at by a doctor, and that I had to go back and get the bike, his wife dropped by, took the phone, and stated that SHE would arrange transportation to the hospital of my wife's choice. Tim and another friend hitched a trailer up to his truck, and met my wife halfway to Evansville, Indiana, where I was shoved into her Volvo and taken to Deaconess hospital. The rest, as they say, is history.
Actually a lot of really funny things happened when they got to the scene of the missing Burgman, but I wasn't there. I was wearing a cervical collar, and moving in and out of this big, round, machine.

Whew. That's quite enough for one sitting.

Thanks again for the well-wishes. We'll ride sometime.

Steve

[Blackburg]

I've posted pics of the results here:

http://burgmanusa.com/ipw-web/galler...me-pics?page=1

Steve

[SuzukiGirl1]

Wow!! Glad to hear that you're "okay"!

Looks like your gear held up pretty well too!

[bat4255]

Originally Posted by Blackburg

I'll cut and paste from the other forum about the day. It's a little long.

It seems my Progressive Policy covered passengers or non-insured motorists, but not personal bodily injury. I'm fully covered by my work insurance though, so no worries.

Steve

I called Progressive about my Insurance Policy.

Well I feel a little dumb, but now smarter.
They told me ALL Insurance Companies Motorcycle, Auto and Home. in the United States have the same policy RE medical. If it's your fault, that what the Medical insurance is for. In other words, if you cut a tree down in you own yard, and it falls odd, and hits you, they only have to pay the Medical portion on your policy, (The smaller Amount) They will cover and damage to your structures or other people. Only other people are covered buy the larger limits, NOT YOU. When thats gone, you need to go to your other health insurance for coverage. If you have no Medical where you work You Are Screwed. The only way you are covered by your Insurance is, if it's someone elses fault.

[Blackburg]

Follow up.

I was pushed. God pushed me off that curve.

The cat-scans I had to evaluate the extent of my injuries revealed something else. It turns out, I have Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (cancer). It's at such an early stage that I have no symptoms, but by the time I had symptoms, it might be too late.

Thanks, God, for the shove.

[Trapper]

Wow. God speed.

[SuzukiGirl1]

Holy crap...

Wow, that gave me such a strange feeling when I read that!
Amazing how some things work out, I mean, who would've thought "it's a good think I had that accident?"

Please keep us posted, I'm so glad to hear that they caught it early!

[Uncle Bob]

Thank god for minor crashes ( in lieu of regular physicals ).

[Louis]

Steve, I don't know what to say. Keep us posted and a fast recovery. My thoughts are with you.

[Blackburg]

We saw the oncologist today. Good news, and fair news. According to the tech that read the biopsy, I definately have NHL, but the type is not easily determined by the sample. Chances are, they'll have to redo the boipsy using a larger sample.

It's suspected though, that I have a less aggressive type. That's sort of good news and bad. The more aggressive types are actually easier to cure and more likely not to recur. The less aggressive types are less likely to (at least, for now) be cured, but can be 'managed'. A good analogy is diabetes. You don't exactly get rid of it, but you learn to live well with it. If it's the less aggressive type, it won't likely be treated until they know at what rate it grows.

So that's about it. I'm cool with that.

[Trapper]

Maybe you can hang out with Mario Lemieux...he seems to be doing pretty good.

[Blackburg]

Golly! It's been some time since I've stopped by, it seems.

Everything's fine these days. Not cured, not even likely, but no significant change in status either.

I now have 13+K on the Tiger, and I'm lovin' it like crazy. I still have the DR also, but hadn't ridden it for a year or so, until the other day when I cleaned up the carb and stuff. Runs like a top.

The local Suzuki shop has an '07 Tiger in Yellow, which I expected not to like at all - but do - but I won't be trading. The black beast will remain part of the family for a very long time, I suspect.

Just sort of checking in....looking around. Lot's of new folks. Real homey. Nice.

[Clint]

Thanks for checking back! Glad to hear things aren't worse for you. At least you're riding, right?