When is it time?

[WideGlideDavo]

Well, its been a month since my life flashed before my eyes. Though the WG was a total loss and the person that hit me got a minor failure to yield violation I seem to be about 85% healed. Walking fine, back to work. Other than not sleeping well I feel like I'm doing fine. The hard part now is I really miss the Harley, and everthing that went with it. Riding was such a free feeling. Its crazy but its driving me nuts spending so much time at home. Once riding is part of your lifestyle it is very difficult to give up. So, now I'm concerned how my wife and kids are going to react if I declare I want to ride again. It does not help that I live in an area that when you step outside you hear the bikes crusing up Hwy 62, a main bike route. So I'm having Harley withdrawl pains. What shall I do and how soon is to soon?

 

[mat 60]

I think you know what you need to do.....If you love it you wont be happy without your bike....I have thought about quiting after a real close call but Im not ready for that..Like you,I dont think id be happy without my ride..If you are ready you need to have a talk with loved ones...I hope your insurance company has settled up with you..Now go get your bike and dont get your self killed and leave me feeling bad for ya...Good luck with what you decided...

 

[HDDon]

Your choice to ride will have to be tempered with your families feelings in mind. Hopefully they will understand how passionate you are about riding and this will make it easier for them. You didn't say if the driver that hit you is replacing the bike.

 

[The Tourist]

WDG, that feeling is normal. Kind of a form of PTSD. The first few days after I broke my neck I had flashbacks--but in rapid, repetitive motion.

I re-lived the smash into the windshield and then the shock of being thrown back into the seat.

Smash-shock, smash-shock, smash-shock, smash-shock. Over and over again.

Heck, even Betty spooks me once in a while. Everyone here feels it periodically. If someone here tells you he has no fear of 800 pounds of hot chrome flinging him forward at 90 MPH, he's a liar or a braggart.

Take some time, heal up. Be open with your family. Verbalize your wants, but also your concerns for them.

Treat this like any other bully. Face it head on. Or run from it the rest of your life. And if throwing a leg o'er pales compared to your family, then sobeit. Every real biker will support you. The real men don't criticize and the posers don't matter. Best wishes to you.

 

[YnotBiker]

I vote you just get another Harley today. If it helps, take a riding skills class or join a motorcycle club and go on more group rides than solo rides. I ride almost everyday (in sunny Southern California). I had one spill that left me with a cast (the bike was fine), but I couldn't ride for a few months, so I think I know what you are going through.

A friend of mine once announced plans to get another motorcycle and everyone in his family was against it (he lost his in an accident). After several months he just got a new one on a day that no one was home and kept it covered in the garage when he wasn't riding it. Every time he left home, he would roll it out the garage (he lived on top of a small hill) and started it a block away. He would coast back late at night with the engine and lights off. They did not realize he had another motorcycle for almost four months!

Years ago, when I got my first Harley my wife complained, but I showed her I also got an expensive life insurance policy & Aflac to cover me if there was an accident so she stopped complaining.

Good Luck!

 

[The Tourist]

I showed her I also got an expensive life insurance policy!

LOL. Oh, you might not die in a bike wreck, but she just might get "creative" in collecting this revenue.

It's cheaper (and safer) to just do some chores. No husband has ever been shot while doing the dishes.

Seriously, the biggest arguments, hurt feelings, and mistrust in my marriage come from trying to cover things up. The sense of betrayal is always worse.

 

[fin_676]

It is time when you feel ready
However the longer you wait the further from riding you will get but that part of you that needs to ride will always be calling

Brian

 

[kemo]

I have to disagree with people when they talk about people who have been killed in a bike wreck. They say that he died doing what he loved doing, well that is not the way that I want to die.
Ken

 

[WideGlideDavo]

Thanks all, Yes, my insurance covered my bike. I'll let them deal with the person that hit me. She did not have enough coverage to cover my medical bills. Thankfully I have decent insurance. I've taken the riders skills course and given that she turned in front of me as I was doing 55mph I don't think any safety course covers that. Like being shot by a sniper. I put 22k on my bike in the last two years. Its hard to shed those memorys. I've yet to walk in the Harley shop since the wreck but it is a walk I plan to make soon. Thanks all again to all the fantastic people on the forum.

 

[fiveoh455]

Davo, I feel your pain (literally.) July 23rd, I crashed in Moline, Illinois. I was on my way to Montana, and it started to rain. I took an off-ramp, and we all know what happens to hot asphalt within the first few minutes of a rain. It got real greasy, but I still think I did everything right. I had downshifted, I was off the throttle, just coasting through an S curve when I felt the bike being "pushed" toward the outside of the curve. I went off the pavement onto the gravel shoulder, then down a wet, grassy downhill slope, where the bike went down.
A totaled 2009 Electra Glide Classic, torn ankle ligaments and ensuing surgery was the result. I too have settled with my insurance company, and I'll be looking for a 2012 EGC in late January 2012. My wife knows how much I love riding, and she's good with it. She knows I'm safe, and that sometimes things just happen. "It wasn't the bikes fault" is what I tell people who ask if I'm done riding. Do what you feel is best for you and your family. I hope you continue to ride....because I know how I would feel if I couldn't.