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Founded March, 2002 - Current Membership: 115 No monthly meetings are held. See the "About" link at:
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Founded March, 2002 - Current Membership: 115 No monthly meetings are held. See the "About" link at:
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Hi Everyone
The News
I have rather upsetting news to share. For those of you that haven't
heard, I severely wrecked up my left knee at our El Mirage offroad camp
on May 3, shortly after I arrived in the morning. The tibial plateau (top
of tibia) has 6 fractures, the femur has a fracture, and most all of the
ligaments were either completely torn or severely damaged. With some metal,
screws, grafting and staples, I was repaired amazingly in just one surgery
(hopefully no more), but I won't even begin bearing any weight on the leg
for many months. I won't be able to ride my street bike for probably 6+
months. Riding offroad again is not going to happen for years, and only
if I regain complete strength in the knee. The past couple weeks of medieval
pain, disbelief, frustration and prayer brought upon a strong realization
of what the priorities in life are and, for now, and for the first time
in my life, riding motorcycles doesn't seem so important. Well, comparatively
it doesn't.
The Immediate and Future Implications
Effective immediately and until such time that
I can at least participate in road rides again, I won't be writing any
newsletters or planning any events for the club. It just seems pointless,
being that I wouldn't be there. Our site will remain active, however,
and if you'd like to take the initiative to get a club ride going yourself,
please do so by utilizing the message board at the site. To those of you
that haven't yet subscribed to the message board, you won't hear of such
rides being announced until you have. Just go to http://www.coronariders.com
and click the "message board" link at the top. You'll need to register.
The Story
What happened on May 3 was, I geared up, took off from camp and, about
100 feet later, jumped a small mound in the wet, silty sand on the trail.
The front tire came down and immediately washed out rightward. I had planted
my left foot with the intention of catching my balance and letting the
bike slide out and away from me. Instead, I went down and slammed on my
left shoulder, while the left foot was torqued into a full 180 degree turn,
immediately exploding my knee. I can't describe the pain, but the shock
allowed me to stupidly try standing on it, only to find that my knee was
Jell-O and that doing so forced the tibia to pop outward of the knee. I
layed out flat until Jeff Hackett returned with my van, which, with Jeff's
help, I was able to slide back into and on an air mattress for the ride
back home to Corona, courtesy of Marisa Ryan. 11 days of hospitalization
and 1 day of surgery later, I'm home and a bit wiser. If you can tolerate
graphic photos, click here
for some show and tell.
Thank You
I really want to thank those of you that were there at camp that day
to help out in the situation. I especially want to thank Jeff Hackett for
his calm demeanor in helping me out and getting me to the Ranger for a
splint. I'm also greatly appreciative that Marisa Ryan was so nice to have
driven me home to get my wife. I especially want to tell the world what
a great wife I have. Although this incident has caused considerable complications
to our family and the birth of our son next month, Kari has been and continues
to be very supportive and caring, despite her own fatigue and restlessness
at 8 months pregnancy.
June Road Ride to Julian - CANCELED
(Unless someone cares to lead this. If so, use the message board to
spread the word that it's still on.)
Best wishes to all of you and I'll start up the newsletters and rides
at some point later this year.
Prayers for my family and I are greatly appreciated.
Regards,
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P.S. If you'd still like to have that bbq party at your place sometime soon, just announce everything about it on the message board. If I can get a ride there, I'd be glad to come.
