Living
Our Dream Tour (Part IX) – “Living Our Dream” vs. “Living Our
Reality”
The
sun was shining, the temperature was comfortable (even in our riding
suits and helmets), the views were amazing – we even saw a bear...
Then reality set in. On August 11th, twelve miles outside
of Tok, Alaska, Samurai-Rider (my wife) hit a gravel patch on a
chip-seal surfaced road and lost control of her front wheel at
approximately 50-55 miles per hour. Unfortunately, before she hit
the ground and could begin to slide, the front wheel ran out of loose
gravel and made contact with solid surface. The front wheel grabbed
and threw the bike, tail over front, on an almost sideways angle and
pitched my wife over the bike – who landed on her face and left
shoulder*. The surface change – along with the speed – gripped
the front wheel so completely that it ripped the left fork away from
the center axle.
Hearing
this all happen over my helmet intercom was worse than getting
punched in the face. Hearing my wife scream and every sound of pain
as she tumbled down the highway was a very unpleasant experience that
I hope never to repeat. (This entire incident was much worse for my
wife, who amazingly was more worried about me than herself.) I
turned around and raced back to her as quick as I could.
She
did not loose consciousness and had no life-threatening cuts or
internal damage (we would find out later that she did break her left
shoulder in 4 places and cracked it in 3 places). At this moment I
can not stress enough how good it was that we were in full riding
gear – head to toe, helmets to boots and everything in between. If
she had one piece of this gear missing her injuries would have been
much more serious if not fatal.
It's
never good to crash your motorbike; however, crashing 12 miles
outside of Tok, AK, turned out okay. Five minutes after the crash a
SUV came down the road and the woman inside offered an amazing amount
of assistance. She drove my wife to the medical clinic in Tok and
sent both the State Police and Tow Truck back to me. Robyn took many
hours out of her day to make sure both my wife and I were taken care
of. Her generosity was phenomenal!
The
next day we were able to get my wife and my wife's bike to Fairbanks,
AK, and dropped off at the BMW Dealer – The Outpost Alaska
(http://www.outpostalaska.com/)
where we got an estimate for repairs and worked out the details with
my insurance company; and, sought preliminary treatment for my wife's
shoulder and made arrangements to fly to my parents home in
Pennsylvania to give my wife plenty of time to heal.
With
major construction over the next five years (on the USA side) and
over 100 miles of gravel road (on the Canadian side) “The Top Of
The World Highway” and “The Taylor Highway” between Dawson
City, YT, Canada, and Tok, AK, USA, is a challenging ride and I am so
very proud of what my wife accomplished. With everything that
happened I can easily understand if my wife wanted to quit motorbike
riding all together. However, her spirit is not easily broken. She
has already told me that she wants to ride again and see all the US
States by motorcycle, but would like to get some additional rider
training (specifically off-road training).
Our
“Living Our Dream” tour is now on temporary hold, but we hope to
be back on the road as-soon-as possible. I would just like to say
“Thank You” to all our friends, old and new, who have showed us
such wonderful generosity and support.
Thank
you, ride safe, and keep in touch.
-Michael
and Jasmine (Samurai-Rider)
*I
was riding in front of my wife when the accident happened – I am
piecing the accident details together from my wife’s account,
damage to the motorcycle and her gear, the marks left on the road,
along with what the State Trooper could piece together from the same
information. Photos taken at my wife’s request.
