The "I lived to tell about it" ride

Dear friends. Did a 4 day ride with some old friends last week. This was a few months in the planning and I was so looking forward to this adventure as these are good friends that I had ridden with before in Malaysia, as well as Europe. It turned out, I got more adventure than I bargained for.

Here are some pictures from the ride. Hope you like them.

Chrissie (left) and Sandra inspect the bikes.



Being close friends, I let Chrissie and her husband Ian use my FJR for this trip. In the red shirt is Dave. For this outing, I rode a friend's GSX-R 1000.



This is Larry from Scotland. We've stopped here at a man made lake along the way up to Genting Highlands. The lake is a popular place for race canoeing(?). Not sure what it's called but it's one of those long, slender canoes with 3 or 4 people that row in unison.

The black and gold gixxer is my ride.



This is Sandra, Dave's wife. Between the two of them, they have 12 bikes - Gixxer 600, Gixxer 750, Gixer 1000, 848 Evo, Diavel, Hayabusa... and I can't remember the rest. Anyway, they've invited me up to Paris for an 8 day ride into former Yugoslavia, Italy, Switzerland and France this coming September. Keep a look out for that ride report.



We continued that morning and stopped for breakfast at Genting Highlands. I come up here every weekend without fail for breakfast.



After breakfast, we visited this waterfall...





We had lunch nearby and continued on our way to Cameron Highlands when....



I'm not quite sure how it really happened. I've done this route so many times I actually know where all the bumps and holes are. I know that this bend is very bumpy so I started hitting the front brakes, like I always do as I approach the bend. Next thing I know, I feel the front slipping and then I felt as if some big giant hand violently wrenched me from the bike and threw me on the ground. I also hear a big crunching sound which I knew was my friend's bike hitting asphalt. So I'm uncontrollably tumbling down the road for what seemed like forever, and then slid - face down - for a bit. And before I even came to a stop, I'm thinking, "f*ck!. Can't believe I just let that happen - and I'm supposed to be the tour guide....". And then the next thought that crossed my mind made my heart sink - this was my friend's bike and I promised him earlier I would take care of it. And then I thought, wait - I'm still alive. So I rolled over on my back and inspected myself. All seemed ok except my left pinky was numb.

I got up and tried to figure out what caused me to lose the front. Took off my helmet, gloves and jacket and saw blood dripping on my left hand and right wrist....



Shut off the bike, stood it up and looked at the damage.





Walked back about a hundred feet, following the black scrape mark from the frame slider and found this...



What was really peculiar was that this was a very hot and dry day. About 4pm. You'd expect the road to be dry, but here's this puddle, all of a sudden.

By this time, there were some locals (aborigines) that stopped to ask if I was ok. One particular guy stopped his scooter beside me, looked at the broken bike, my bleeding hand, and then asked, "Did you fall?" Didn't know whether to laugh or throw my helmet at him.

Anyway, because I was riding last, Ian who was about 2 car lengths ahead didn't see me go down and continued without stopping. They did stop a few miles up the road and came back for me.

I managed to start the bike without any problems and it seemed mechanically ok, except the front brake did not grab as strong as before. So we continued the ride to Cameron Highlands.

As always, we stop for a breather by the sprawling tea plantation





Checked into the hotel at about 7pm. Called the wife to tell her about the accident before going for dinner...







Day 2

We headed back to Kuala Lumpur to meet up with 2 more guys joining us for final 2 days. This stretch of road, about 45 km, is the best riding road in the country.









At this point, I didn't take too many pictures as I wasn't sure if my cameras were working. I had 2 camera's on me - a 5D Mark II and a Panasonic LX5, and both were in my tank bag when I had my off. And the tank bag was flung quite some ways from the bike. Anyway, it also 'rained cows and elephants' the rest of the day, so pics were not possible. It turned out that, just like the rider, both cameras survived the crash without any damage.

Day 3

The third day, we were joined by two more guys, Derrick from London and Dave from South Africa. Here are pics from the morning of the 3rd day.







By lunch, we were in Malacca, along the coast.





While waiting for our food, Derrick re-traced the route we'd taken in the morning on his map...



The other Dave, the softspoken South African



We had awesome seafood for dinner that evening. Calamari, Baramundi, Muscles, Crab, plus some other stuff that I can't remember. However, Larry decided not to join us as he had pressing emails to respond to. I jokingly told Derrick that I bet he'd be looking for a pair of pretty girls while we had dinner..



After dinner, we headed back into town looking to look around. As it was a weekend, and Malacca being steeped in history as well as a world heritage site, there is always lots of festivities going on...







We were walking around, looking for a bar to get some drinks and ran into Larry accompanied by a pair of pretty girls. So we gave him a hard time..







Day 4

We headed back to KL bright and early the next day. Here are pics from the final day.

We stopped here for some traditional Malaysian food.





Glutinous rice cooked in bamboo..





We made a few other stops for breaks but I did not take any interesting shots. Made it back to KL at about 4 and said our goodbyes.

As always, thanks for looking.

Thanks for the ride report, all things considered it looked like a great ride! Sorry about your get-off but glad you and the bike were OK. Hopefully your friend will not be too upset.

The damage.

I've heard people say that if or when you fall, keep your body in a fetal position, with arms and legs tucked. Well, when I was tumbling and sliding down the road, I had no effing clue where my limbs were. One minute, I'm on the bike, the next I'm face down on the road. I'm just happy I was able to get up from this and ride another day. I thought I was pretty lucky to get away with only losing an inch of skin off of my pinky. For sure, I look back at this with lessons learnt.

Plus, I'm glad I had invested in decent riding gear and have the ATGATT mentality.

Here is the state of my gear after the fall.

Helmet - Schuberth C3. Saved my head from cracking open, for sure. Also, I shiver to think what would have happened to my face had it not been a full face helmet...



Note that I had my Sena bike comms kit attached to the helmet at the time, and it survived the fall. Still works like a charm.

Jacket - Komine (Japanese brand - pretty expensive)

Back and rib protectors did their job



Right Shoulder - This could have easily been a broken collar bone or dislocated right shoulder.



Right forearm - The armor inside extended to my wrist. Could have easily been a broken arm without it. And I know what that feels like as I'd already broken my right arm twice before.



Knees





Hips - this pair of riding pants did not have much padding at the hip, and I normally wear it as is. However, that day, I decided to wear padded shorts. I had actually already geared up and was walking out the door when I just suddenly decided to walk back in, take everything off, and put on my Knox padded shorts. Can't explain it. But for sure it saved my hips. Not even a bruise.



Finally, the left hand glove. The pinky is torn. The fabric obviously is not enough to protect my fingers during the violent fall. But the hard plastic did protect my knuckles, and the leather over the palm did its job too.

Nikk,

Sorry about your getoff...glad you are okay. Sorry about the rashed bike...but that damage can be repaired/replaced...a non breathing human, not so much.

Love your pictures as always. They are spectacular! Thanks for posting.

Nik,

Glad your ok and as always your pictures are great, looking at the puddle on that painted strip looks like it would send anyone down in a hurry! and you did some serious sliding bro, lucky you didn't wrap yourself around the guard rail. again gald you were able to finish your ride and able to ride another day. BTW you going back to put on your padded shorts is the universe taking care of you!! Now that you had gone down your not due for another one for a long long time!!

Ouch! Your gear took a beating while doing it's job. Any guess as to how fast you were going? Any idea where the water came from (Are you sure it ws water?)

As always, great report. Thanks for sharing

NIK,

Glad you are ok. Loved your ride report and pictures . Looking forward to more.

Mac

Well, it would have been a better RR without the trashed bike, gear, and finger shots, but glad you came out of it, and even were able to keep riding. GREAT illustration of the ATGATT philosophy! Probably won't convince the doubters, but for me, it reinforces my faith in modular helmets, too. Look forward to your Euro report in the fall. Too bad, you'll miss our "Occupy the Alps" ride in August by a few weeks; would have been great to cross paths somehow. Glad you're ok.

Awww, man, crashing sucks! Crashing your buddie's bike sucks even worse! Glad you're ok and finished the trip and managed to get some more great pics! You da man. :clapping: BTW, how do you know so many people from so many different places, if ya don't mind my asking? You should start your own bike tour business based in KL!

Wow, nice RR and even better crash.

Were you riding in the yellow striped area?

Did the water and paint do you in?

Sorry about the crash Nik. Glad you are OK and nothing serious! A trooper you are for still taking those great pics after the crash.

I would agree with Don here, water on painted areas on roads = recipe for disaster...

dcarver said:

Wow, nice RR and even better crash.

Were you riding in the yellow striped area?

Did the water and paint do you in?

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Thanks for the RR. Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Glad you came out okay. Looks like the sliders did their job to help protect the right side, could of been a lot worse.

Nik! Great RR as usual! I always love your RRs and your photos. You obviously have skill with a camera. GXSRs - not so much!

Crashing sucks! Don't do that anymore.

Hi all,

Thanks for your well wishes and kind words.

TwoWhldTerror said:

Thanks for the ride report, all things considered it looked like a great ride! Sorry about your get-off but glad you and the bike were OK. Hopefully your friend will not be too upset.

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TwoWhldTerror, thanks for the encouragement. My friend was let down for sure, but he was cool about it. Our friendship is pretty strong. I actually offered to buy the bike off of him so that he could get a new one, but he said I was crazy bacause fixing it would only cost about USD 300 or less, which we later found out was true. But I still felt bad about it and offered to change his pipes to an upgrade of his choice. He's chosen a pair of Leo Vince GP Pro, which made him happy, and makes me feel good about it.

BwanaDik said:

Ouch! Your gear took a beating while doing it's job. Any guess as to how fast you were going? Any idea where the water came from (Are you sure it ws water?)

As always, great report. Thanks for sharing

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Hi BwanaDik and thanks for the kind words. I'm not sure what speed I was doing as I was looking through the turn. But my guess would by about 50 to 60 mph, but I really don't know. And the water being there is quite the mystery. Hot and sunny day, the road leading up to that spot was bone dry. I did dip my hand in it, but can't remember if it felt greasy - my head was spinning at the time.

not2shabby said:

Awww, man, crashing sucks! Crashing your buddie's bike sucks even worse! Glad you're ok and finished the trip and managed to get some more great pics! You da man. :clapping: BTW, how do you know so many people from so many different places, if ya don't mind my asking? You should start your own bike tour business based in KL!

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Hi not2shabby and thanks. Actually, I'm a guide and photographer for Malaysian Motorcycle Getaways. I try to avoid mentioning it as my intention is to just share my love for riding and photography, not to advertise. But you are right, through my rides, I've made friends with people from all over, and really enjoy that aspect of it.

dcarver said:

Wow, nice RR and even better crash.

Were you riding in the yellow striped area?

Did the water and paint do you in?

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Dcarver, thanks for the encouragement. Yes, I believe it was the water on the yellow stripes that made me lose my front. I was also on the front brakes at the time so I guess that's how it happened.

K Rider said:

Thanks for the RR. Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Glad you came out okay. Looks like the sliders did their job to help protect the right side, could of been a lot worse.

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Hi K rider, for sure the sliders saved the bike. Without it, the right side would have disintegrated to bits. Am glad they were on the bike.

SacramentoMike said:

Well, it would have been a better RR without the trashed bike, gear, and finger shots, but glad you came out of it, and even were able to keep riding. GREAT illustration of the ATGATT philosophy! Probably won't convince the doubters, but for me, it reinforces my faith in modular helmets, too. Look forward to your Euro report in the fall. Too bad, you'll miss our "Occupy the Alps" ride in August by a few weeks; would have been great to cross paths somehow. Glad you're ok.

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Hi Mike, shucks! You're right, would be really cool if we'd cross paths in Europe. I'm scheduled to land in Paris on the 29th of August, spend 2 days adjusting to the time zone before flying to Revel, where the start of the trip is. Ride will last until sept 9. Will share a bunch of pics for this report for sure. Am really looking forward to it.

SkooterG said:

Nik! Great RR as usual! I always love your RRs and your photos. You obviously have skill with a camera. GXSRs - not so much!

Crashing sucks! Don't do that anymore.

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Skooter, hahaha. Yeah, I need more practice on the gixer. . And am definitely not looking to go through another crash again.

Nik, I always look forward to your RR's. This one was a little more exciting than usual. Glad your OK. :clapping: I must say you made good choices in riding gear, that titanium elbow, OUCH!

Did your tire slip out on the painted stripes? Those things are slick as snot when wet. Don't ask how I know.

ahchiu said:

Nik,

Glad your ok and as always your pictures are great, looking at the puddle on that painted strip looks like it would send anyone down in a hurry! and you did some serious sliding bro, lucky you didn't wrap yourself around the guard rail. again gald you were able to finish your ride and able to ride another day. BTW you going back to put on your padded shorts is the universe taking care of you!! Now that you had gone down your not due for another one for a long long time!!

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Hey Marcus, thanks for your support. Over the first few days, I couldn't help but to replay the accident over and over and over again. And everytime, I come to realize how lucky I really was. Not only did I choose to wear the padded shorts that day, I also chose to wear my newish, Alpinestars racing boots, instead of my 2 year old Daytona riding boots which had become loose fitting from so much use. Had I worn the older boots, I'm pretty sure they would have come off and my feet would have been badly injured.

Anyway, I'm thankful for how things turned out and that I could be back with the wife and kids instead of in hospital.

allrider said:

Nik, I always look forward to your RR's. This one was a little more exciting than usual. Glad your OK. :clapping: I must say you made good choices in riding gear, that titanium elbow, OUCH!

Did your tire slip out on the painted stripes? Those things are slick as snot when wet. Don't ask how I know.

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Hey allrider. Thanks for looking at the RR. Yeah, it was the puddle on the stripes. Of course, had a gone a little slower, I might have avoided the incident altogether. But that was the way it went. I'm just thankful Im still here to talk about it.