Best Wishes sent.........
Best Wishes sent.........
Originally Posted by Limbuck
I want to thank you ALL for the well wishes. Reading these posts...I am crying, and laughing. I have to say the quote from Limbuck says it best, "I am hurt, but I am not slain. I'll lay me down and bleed, and then I'll rise and fight again". Credits to Sir Andrew Barton.
I am home now. The hearing is about 90 % gone in both ears. The left ear "may" come back, but the right ear will probably need surgery, to rebuild the tympanic membrane, as it is blown out. I have burnt hair around both ears, across the back of the neck, and both ear lobes are burnt. I have bleeding out of the right ear. There is also one burn mark on my left upper chest, above the heart. The had me in the Burn ICU at Harborview Hospital in Seattle.
THANK YOU to Dale for riding my bike home. After being awaked on the side of the road, and checking the bike over, I found it would start, so I agreed to follow the eye-witness that saw the whole thing, and I rode another 1/2 mile up the Interstate, took the next exit, and pulled into an AM/PM mini-mart lot. That is where they called all the emergency services. When all of them arrived, it was a freak show as everyone wanted to SEE this motorcycle that was struck by lightning, and was still alive. After an initial checkout, I wanted to ride my bike home 15 miles, and THEN go to the hospital. But when the paramedics said that I was bleeding from the ears, I agreed to not ride the bike. But I insisted that the bike be ridden to a local fire station, where they have storage for a couple State Patrol bikes, and that it be ridden by one of the State Patrol officers. I made them promise me the bike would NOT we towed away.
They did as I asked, rode it to the fire station, and later that day Dale (HondaBikePro) rode it home for me. Thank YOU...Dale.
Physically, I am out of it. No balance, for obvious reasons, and my head is not straight. Emotionally, I am upset, but will recover. Psychologically, I am fine.
The bike can and will be repaired, and the helmet replaced. It was an ARAI helmet, with the J&M headset, corded to the bike. I had already made the previous decision that the next helmet would be a bluetooth unit, so there is no cord to the bike. I may "ask" J&M or ARAI if they want to replace this helmet for me, as a gift, and take my melted helmet in exchange...for the good-will it could advertise for them.
If the helmet HAD been a bluetooth, it likely woul;d have spared the bike from damage. It is very clear that the lightning traveled around the headset, down the headset cord, to the bike, and throughout the bikes electrical system. Had there NOT been a cord to the bike, it may have saved the bike. BUT...with no where else to ground to, what other damage would the lightning have done to me...while searching for a ground?
Thank you all for your well wishes,
Get Well....you are an inspiration to us all.
Just seen it.
Holy Crap Miles,
I've just seen the news feature here in the UK. I read the report on here, but didn't click that it was YOU! Man I hope you can get back to as normal as possible as soon as possible. My thoughts are with you mate. All the very best my friend.
Paul B.......
"Once more into the fray, into the last good fight I'll ever know, to live and die on this day, to live and die on this day"
Here is another news clip, that sorta tells it all.
http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/moto...ghtning/nZn85/
Wishing you a speeding recovery and back to riding soon!
Terre
It is good to hear from you. Thank you for the update. I wish you the most complete recovery possible.
I also think the fact that the lightning followed the cord to the bike saved you from more severe injury or even death. I had wondered at first if the coms system made you more of a target but I find the scenario unlikely. All the information I have read points to lightning targeting the tallest point in a specific area.
I have tried this a couple times with Arai, Shoei, and Vanson. The helmet guys said they would take it for research purposes, but they couldn’t give me anything in return. Vanson said they would fix my racing suit for free if they could display it in the store for a month. Getting struck by lightning is a different thing all together, so you may have different luck than I did. Glad you are well (relatively speaking).
Still Wingman after the site crash!
Miles, Glad to hear you are ok, at least as well as can be expected , considering the circumstances. Hope you have a speedy recovery.
Miles, I must say, it's good to see you posting again. Your humor and insight is much appreciated.
You probably don't remember but I wonder if you noticed a tickling feeling just before the strike, sort of like when you hair stands up due to static. I do have a reason for asking this. My uncle was an electrical genius with 18 patents in his name and specialized in the nature of lighting. As an engineering student, I spent a couple of summers working for him in an R&D lab and needless to say, picked up some very interesting ideas on this subject. Especially considering his evidence, your experience is most unusual and interesting and a bit hard to explain. If however, you do remember this "tickling" sensation, and it would have been very brief, then, I may be able to explain exactly what happened.
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