Thought i would copy this over from MY-MC sometimes we need reminding it is a dangerous hobby.
Les lives in Scotland and is used to poor weather conditions.
Perhaps a little dramatic for a title, but really this post is to let you all know that the weather forecast for the north east of Scotland on Friday was not as accurate as it might have been....
I set off from work at Greenock at around 5:30 on Friday evening to go to see my long time friend Ian up in Portsoy.... the sun was just sliding below the hills in the west, the sky was clear and although it was cold, I was not concerned as the weather forecast up north was really only for light snow showers on high ground.....
Well after filling up in Greenock I got on the road, by Pitlochry on the A9 the air temperature was down and the darkness was well established..... but still, no snow....
Once I got up onto the higher A9 north of Blair Atholl however, I rode into a couple of snow flurries which started me on the re-assessment of continuing the run.... the road surface was good, but it was cold. Physically I was fine and the road surface was fine. The road was mainly dry and any snow was just blowing along the road , there were some places where I rode in tyre tracks, but there was plenty of grip and no issues..
After the snow flurries I was now up around Newtonmore and it was a but grim with some rain and dirty spray from vehicles.
At Aviemore I got off the A9 and into the town with the hope of a cup of tea and a bite to eat but was told the place I went into was closed... so I got back on and rode slowly through Aviemore, didn’t see anywhere that looked like I could go in and get what I needed.
This is where I made my bad choice.
Rather than go back onto the A9 I took the Grantown on Spey road.... this was fine, again in one or two places there were some gusts of wind and the odd snow flurry, road conditions remained rideable however.
As I continued up the A95, just south of Ballindalloch I passed the Tormore Distillery, the road conditions deteriorated rapidly, I slowed to a sedate speed and negotiated a few good bends without issue, on leaving a left hander and continuing up a slight rise the front wheel, without warning suddenly snapped out to the right... there was no time to react or take any action, the first thing I knew was that I was tumbling through the long grass on the verge..... the only thought on my mind at this point was if I would be stopped by a tree or a fence and injured by that.....
When all the violent motion ceased I sat up to find myself illuminated by the bike headlight.... the road was nowhere in sight.... I found myself at the foot of a steep bank... my bike was under a fence facing back the way I had come..... okay, I will get up and go back to the road and assess the situation....
So I go to get up and my left lower leg folds to the right.... okay, so either it’s broken or dislocated or something....
Re-assess.
I am down a bank, off the road, it is cold and there is snow on the ground, I am injured and have no phone signal....
I start to half slide half crawl up the bank.
Suddenly there is a vehicle stopping at the top of the bank and a voice calling down to see if I am okay.... I advise that I am not.....
The driver climbs down and within a minute or so a woman who turns out to be his wife also descends the precarious slope, she has a phone signal and I ask her to call an ambulance, but first I ask them to help me to stand up on my right leg as laying on the ground I am losing body heat too fast....
When the emergency operator answers and the detail of my location has been passed I ask to speak to the emergency operator.
I advise that I have no other pain but cannot bear weight on my left leg, which may be broken.... I also adivse that they will need fire and rescue as the paramedics will not be able to extract me from my location without assistance....
She asks me again about possible head injuries and I advise that I am okay, nothing obvious other than my leg.
After a little while the Police Land Rover is the first to arrive and they join us in a growing group of people at the foot of the bank..... as they climb down I am asking them to take care as one person needing recovery is more than enough.....
They chat with me and take details, asking various questions as expected....
Then the Paramedics arrive and again I urge them to exercise caution descending the slope......
I am asked about my condition and give them a run down of what happened and my possible injuries, my leg being my greatest concern....
The Fire and Rescue are now arriving and again are advised to exercise care when coming down to assess the situation.
An action plan is formulated and I am put into a scoop stretcher and my left leg is splinted.... I am then hauled up the bank in the scoop and lifted onto the guerney....
A quick Q&A and then it’s into the ambulance for an assessment before driving the 30 miles to the hospital in Elgin......
I won’t go into more detail other than I don’t have a broken leg, or the x-ray didn’t show a bone broken... but there is something not right in there as my lower leg has no lateral restraint.....
My leg is splinted and I am discharged from hospital just before one in the morning and was provided with a taxi to my friends house as he could not drive out to get me.....
The bike.
Well this for me is the worst part... BlueSTeel, my ST1100 Pan European is in a sorry state.....
It seems that I exited the road at around 45 degrees to the road direction... odd as it was almost straight.. my memory of the accident is that I was on a slight left hand bend, but returning to the scene in daylight on Saturday I found I had travelled around 250 yards from the bend before losing the front end.... when I look at the pictures I took and check the aerial image I do see that it is indeed a slight left hand curve....
The road surface changes from shellgrip to ordinary tarmac at the approximate location that the front went, but I am not going to speculate.... other than to say that the transition from upright at around 15-25 mph to sitting at the bottom of the bank was probably less then 5-10 seconds.
Witness marks on the verge and the bank indicate I didn’t travel far, I would be guessing but perhaps 25-30 yards.... but some of that was gravity assisted down the bank...
The bike will most likely be a write off.... this saddens me as it such a good bike.... it had a very low mileage when I got it.. I have put just over 20,000 miles on it in 2 and a half years.... it has done a lot.
It is, or was, in very good condition.
My insurance will be a vital component here, fully comprehensive with protected no claims... via Carol Nash.
The bike is supposed to be arriving here tomorrow on the recovery vehicle. Once in the shed I will have to not look too closely as it will only sadden me.
Perhaps I will buy it form the insurers and break it. I certainly won’t be riding it again.
What did I do wrong, well, remember I said I made a bad choice, that was at Aviemore when I took the Grantown road.. the more sensible choice should have been the Inverness road, further, but safer.
I don’t normally do snow and certainly don’t set out to do ice...... however, if you are out and the weather changes, you have to cope. I was unfortunate...
Would I do it differently if I found myself in the same circumstances, yes I would, I would get off the road and stop at a B&B for the night.
However, I didn’t, so there really is no point beating myself up about it... what happened has happened.
What I will say is that i am fortunate enough to be able to go back and view the scene and do a self critique on my accident. What I did right, what I did wrong.
They say that any accident you can walk away from is a good one, relatively speaking.
It must therefore be said that this one was not good, I didn’t walk away..... but, I am alive and have gotten off lightly, so to speak.
I will keep you all posted.
NB - It's not me but my friend Ian at the bottom of the bank in the picture......
