Thanks to everyone who helped me out with my bike problems, especially Stormi. All of your help is very much appreciated.
But it's useless now.
I smashed my Bandit 400 last night.
I hit a sheep at about 90-100mph.
I came up over a slight hill round a slight bend, leading onto one of the long straight roads around here. As I say, I was going pretty fast. The road was clear, but next thing I knew a sheep scurried out of the shaddows at the side of the road. I don't think I have ever seen a sheep on the roads around there before, as the fields on either side are fenced off, and the sheep are kept in the field. But I guess this one escaped. I had hardy any time to react. I tried to slow down, I tried to swerve, but the sheep was right in front of me. I slammed into it with intense force, and everything after that seemed to happen all too quickly. Thinking about it, and looking at the marks on my kit, I think I went over the handle bars, and the bike somersaulted over me. I must have landed on my right shoulder, sliding along with my shoulder pad getting scraped away, and my helmet scraping along the ground. There is a big gouge out of the back of my helmet. My jacket must have ridden up at the back, and I have loads of scrapes at the bottom of my spine. I slid for a bit with the bike, and then we parted ways. I heard the bike flipping over, I think it must have been rolling over sideways at this point. The bike stopped and I carried on sliding. I thought I was coming to a stop, but I was actually starting to roll. I don't know what way I rolled, if it was head over heals or sideways, but I think it might have been sideways. Like I say, it all happened too fast. Before I had even stopped, I was wonderng if my mobile phone would still be working so I could phone for help. When I came to a stop, I went to jump up straight away, but stopped myself. I lay back for a second, having a quick mental check to see if any bones were broken or anything. I was really anxious, and got up quickly, limping around, trying to get my gloves off and my phone out. I called my girlfriend's house as she lives about 5 miles from where I crashed. I managed to get my helmet off, though my fingers felt numb and clumbsy. She answered, and I told her where I was, and to come and get me. After hanging up, I just kind of limped around in circles for a minute, moaning in pain and thinking what to do. I walked back to the bike, which was a mess. It was dark though, so I had to use the torch on the camera on my phone to see. The road was covered in bits of smashed bike. So many little bits of plastic, all over the place. A bit further down the road, I found the sheep. It's stomach had been ripped open, and bits were hanging out. I thought for a second I had ripped it's head off, but I think I just broke it's neck. I walked further down still, to see the initial point of impact. There was one little bit of sheep lying in the middle of the road, I think it was it's heart or something. A bit further down there was slime from the sheep smeared accross the road, and a bit past that was the point of impact. A pile of sheep guts, intestines and vital organs. Massive scrape marks on the road leading back in the direction of my bike. I guess when my front wheel hit the sheep, its stomach exploded and dumped all it's insides on the road. The sheep must have flown for about 30 metres before coming to a stop, the bike went about another 40, and then I went 30 metres further than that. I limped around, seeing by the light of my phone, kicking all of the bits of plastic and metal off the road. I went for another look at the bike. The dash fairing had dissapeared, the clocks were smashed and scattered about the place, the side plastics had come off, the tank had been ripped up, the airbox cover had come off, the front seat had come off, and the pillion seat had been pushed up and forward. The exhaust was squashed, and the can had snapped off from the down pipes. The chain had come off the rear sprocket, and the back wheel was buckled extremely badly, and even broken at one point around the rim. The tyre had come off the rim too. The forks were bent, and the mirrors had both snapped off. I carried on clearing the road of debris, and had just about finished, when my girlfriend and her mum showed up in the car. They helped dump the bike off to the side of the road, and move the sheep and its guts off to the grass verge. They took me to hospital, where I spent about 2 hours getting checked over.
My left knee is mangled, so it got an ice pack, got cleaned, and got a dressing put on it. Both my feet were extrememly painful, but were deemed to be ok, just bruised and swolen, with 1 possible fracture in my right foot. My back is all scraped at the bottom, just above my ass. And I have some bruises about my body, like the two on my elbow, and the two tiny ones either side of my crown jewels. A doctor came from another (bigger) hospital to have a look, and make sure I was ok, and then they said I could go. They gave me two boxes of painkillers, diclofenac and co-codamol. I got wheeled out to the car in a wheelchair, with my jeans on with a huge rip up the side, my jacket with sheep guts up the left arm, and no boots or socks on. It was painful getting in to the car, but I managed. This morning when I woke up, flat on my back, I tried to roll onto my side, but couldn't manage it, it was too painful. I had some food so I could take my painkillers, and started to feel slowly better. I had to phone work to tell them I wouldn't be coming in tonight. The hospital had reported the accident to the police, so they came to visit me a few hours ago. They just asked what had happened, and gave me a "producer". I have 7 days to take my documents to the police station, just so they can make sure they are all in order and everything is cool. I am only insured 3rd party, so can't claim my insurance. I wouldn't anyway, as it would bump up my premium for any future insurance policies, and I would lose my 1 year No Claims Discount. My friend from work phoned me earlier, so when he finishes tonight he is going to get his trailer and come and get me, and take the bike away for me.
I am feeling much better than I was this morning, but I think I will be in a bit of pain for a while. But thankfully, there is nothing majorly wrong with me. People keep saying I was lucky, and I agree. I just think I would have been luckier not to have crashed at all! All my friends have been sending me text messages asking what happened and if I'm ok. It's nice that everyone is so concerned about l'il old me!
So yeah, I'll be ok, the bike is ruined, but maybe I will slowly restore it to it's former glory over time, with the skills I'll aquire in my new job. I'll just have to see. Hopefully I will be well enough to start my new job as planned, this coming monday. I have some crappy videos of the bike, which I will post up at some point for you to see. I will try and get some decent pictures in the daylight too, so you can see the total extent of the damage.
Coopz
