Hi all -

I've successfully navigated the first week after the excitement at Thunderhill. With casts on fully half of my appendages, making them reasonably useless, it's been quite a challenge doing almost anything without help from Annie and friends. My finger feels fine, but my ankle still hurts like hell as soon as the pain meds wear off (good thing I have more). I'll be back at the orthopedist's office in another week to have more x-rays on the ankle to confirm it is healing properly. I finally have some signatures on the casts; they were looking a little bland before. :) I've got 3 weeks or so left on the hand cast, and 5 to 7 weeks left for the leg...

Colin and Vicki came by yesterday morning with their trailer after dropping two of their own bikes off for service. In a flash, they had my R6 up on the trailer and ready to go (thanks you two!). We all took it to the only Computrack shop left here in the south bay (Evolution Suspension (http://evolutionsuspension.com/default.html)), and they will figure out in the next few days how tweaked the frame is, and provide a couple of estimates for me:

- is the bike fixable at all
- if so, how much $ to get it track-ready only
- how much $ to get it back to showroom condition

based on those #'s, I can then figure out what I want to do with the thing. Called insurance, and it is definitely covered if I want to claim it, but that's another decision to be made.

We then dropped off my leathers at Helimot (http://www.helimot.com/index.shtml) . Helmut and his crew were mighty happy with how well the suit and gloves held up in the high-speed get-off (see original thread here (http://www.montgomerybikers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=217)). In fact, if I wasn't vain (and wasn't in pain), I could put the leathers right back on and hop onto the track safely. The only damage was to some of the appliques and parts sewn on top of the main structural leather. That said, I asked them to repair the cosmetic stuff and have it ready for me in a while (certainly no rush). There will be one addition; I will now have a "Helimot Official Crash Tester" patch sewn onto one of the chest panels. I can't say enough good things about this gear, I barely have a scratch on me thanks to the quality and care that shop puts into these things.

The next few weeks look to be reasonably similar, with a whole lot of time in pretty much the same local area, i.e., my couch. Feel free to drop me an email, an IM, or even a phone call (# in roster in club section) if you want an update on the current aches and pains, motorcycle repair status, along with an up-to-the-minute report of what my cat did that day.

http://aciurczak.smugmug.com/photos/35694324-L.jpg

Sounds like all facets are healing....bike and bones! :thumbup:

In the meantime you can enjoy a little Lord Of The Rings techno! :D

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/hobbits

Thanks Mark!

Got some good news on the bike. Frame is straight, and they are confirming that the forks/front-end is perfectly aligned today (computrack gear). Subframe may be able to be bent back; may need a new one if it can't be. Other than that, looks like the parts that *need* to be replaced are quite few and relatively inexpensive, and the shop is ordering them today. It appears I'll still have a viable track bike in a week or two for well under $1K (which is the deductible on my insurance anyway).

It'll be a little scuffed, but trackday bikes aren't supposed to be shiny, right? :)

Alex had a check-up on Friday with the orthopedic surgeon. The talus bone in his foot is healing well, even though he's still in a lot of pain. The swelling in his foot has gone down quite a bit, so the old cast was removed and he's now donning a new orange cast! I know some of you signed his old one - they asked if we wanted to keep it, but... well... after 1.5 weeks of Alex's smelly foot in the cast, I didn't think keeping the old cast was a good idea. :p

This time around, Alex was a bit more open to getting a colored cast, so he let me pick the color! I initially chose pink (of course!), but he vetoed, so I went with orange. I figured orange would be good for Halloween, which is just about the time the cast will finally come off (8 weeks).

Here's a pic of his newly decorated foot:
http://aciurczak.smugmug.com/photos/36601760-L.jpg

Thanks to all of those who have called and emailed! I know Alex was disappointed about missing PeeWee's ride this weekend, but if he's up to it, we're hoping to make the Oct. 1 Yamaha event at Alice's (http://www.montgomerybikers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=229). Hope to see everyone there!

Annie when Alex is nodding off you should paint his toe nails orange to match the cast!! :bounce:

Funny you would mention the toenails... I was thinking the same thing! :D Since Halloween is coming, black polish is all the rage! I was thinking either that or a nice orange/red color. :)

you should start a poll...i vote black

...with black jack-o-lanterns! :rad:

Black!!

We picked up Alex's leather suit today. Here's a picture of the fixed up suit:

http://aciurczak.smugmug.com/photos/38245137-L.jpg

Notice how the right Helimot Patch and leather is all back to "new" condition. Also, notice the "crash tester" patch they added to his left chest. :D The knees are also all fixed up!

So one down (leather suit), two more to go - bike and Alex - not in order of importance :rolleyes:, but in chronological order of restoration. Alex's hand cast comes off Tuesday! He's excited about getting his throttle hand back and finally being able to use crutches. More to come...

Alex had his doctor's appointment this morning to remove the cast on his right hand. See the picture below of his cast-free hands!
http://aciurczak.smugmug.com/photos/38702290-M.jpg

Although the cast is off, his little finger (pinky!) movement is limited. Doc has recommended physical therapy - 4 weeks, twice a week.

Did everyone notice Alex's new BLUE cast? Not quite Halloween orange, but given the chance to try a new color, we had to do something different! Here's Alex's view from the couch:
http://aciurczak.smugmug.com/photos/38702392-L.jpg
If anyone makes it to the board meeting in person, you too can sign, doodle, and decorate!

Dude,
Your Palms are all hairy, is Ann disgusted by the foot stench on that cast and forcing you off on the couch?????

SP

congrats on getting at 1 more appendage working.....just 2 more to go....

I like the "crash tester" patch, it's a nice addition, though i think 1 is enough.

ann didn't point it out, but i will....nice beard!

congrats on getting at 1 more appendage working.....just 2 more to go.... TWO more to go? I count 1 more to go - his foot - OR are you counting his bike as number 2? :)

Everyone seems to be commenting on the beard. I guess because I saw it gradually grow in, I had kind of forgotten that no one else has seen him recently. Since we're on the topic of hair, you guys missed the semi-afro last week. He finally got a haircut on Saturday... no more curls (or brillo)... back to short hair.

Dude,
Your Palms are all hairy, is Ann disgusted by the foot stench on that cast and forcing you off on the couch?????

SPI like to think of Alex as furry (not hairy), like our cat Newton :D. As for the stench of his feet! Well, there are multiple air fresheners in the living room and bedroom AND I washed his feet really well (made sure to get in between the toes!) at the doctor's office BEFORE they put on that new blue cast. The things we do for the ones we love... or did I really do it for my own nasal benefit??? :o

I like the beard! Sort of an expansion on the goatee!

Glad to here you and the bike are mending well. We all missed you and Annie at Wawona.
Hope to see you back in the saddle soon. Thanks for the updates to the forum seems to be faster now.

Have fun and ride safe,

Steve

Thanks to Colin and Vicki, the R6 is back in the garage! Colin was nice enough to take it for a test spin at the shop, and all is back to normal (except for the war wounds on the left-side plastics). They used their handy-dandy trailer to get it back home. I need to clean it up, polish what can be polished, and paint over the nasty scrape/dent in the tank, but it's in surprisingly good shape. And the kicker is, the total cost of repair was even less than my insurance deductible would have been! If folks in the south bay are looking for some work done on their sportbike, I can not say enough good things about Evolution Suspension (http://www.evolutionsuspension.com), who got my bike back in shape. Rob and Jane are a married couple running the shop together; this is Rob's first shop out on his own after working at a bunch of the better-known motorcycle places here in the bay area.

So it will now sit (perhaps on a trickle charger) for awhile until I get myself back together, but all it needs is new tires, perhaps new brake pads and brake fluid, and it is ready for the next track day early next year... I hope I am!

Don Beaton was kind enough to make and send over some custom cast-sliders for me, just in case I leaned the wheelchair over too far in a high-speed decreasing radius turn... Thanks Don! :thumbup:

http://aciurczak.smugmug.com/photos/41105992-M.jpg

http://aciurczak.smugmug.com/photos/41105948-M.jpg

Here's a pic of Alex (still broken) with the R6 (now repaired)...

http://cv.smugmug.com/photos/41197041-M.jpg

The MSMC-labelled cast (the decal won't stick to the new-fangled cast!):

http://cv.smugmug.com/photos/41197123-M.jpg

A Club tradition in-the-making:

http://www.montgomerybikers.com/header_pics/23290047-L.jpg

so? is the cast off? what's the next step of recovery?

Well, I got the cast taken off yesterday morning (yay!), but was surprised to see how swollen my whole foot and ankle still is. I was equally surprised how small my right calf is now compared to my left; it is probably 1/2 to 2/3 the diameter. Weird! The doc took a few more xrays, which confirmed that the bone is healing (yay again!), but then started to talk about what I need to do now to continue to heal. Instead of a cast, I now have this big honking boot to wear. I can remove it to shower, and to sleep, but when I'm walking around, I should leave it on, and try to put no more than 25% of my weight on that foot (support the rest with crutches). I start PT on it sometime next week, but the doc doesn't think I'll be able to even try walking on it normally for another month or more... grrr...

http://aciurczak.smugmug.com/photos/42695387-M.jpg

Congrats! Uh, I think...

It's amazing how fast the muscles atrophy, no? And it's not like you're a bodybuilder, your leg muscles are maintained from daily activities. But still lose a lot of mass quickly when those activities cease.

Only 25% of your weight for another month? I guess it's not surprising, but likely slower than you'd planned. I think I'm going to try to avoid breaking bones, this seems a bit inconvenient.

At least the black boot will go w/your tux at the holiday party!

You'll be leading the President's Ride in a car?

I like the black...very designer! :cool:

It must be nice to be rid of the smurf boot eh?

Annie and I worked on the bike today. Took the steering damper off so we could raise the tank and remove the leather cover off the back of it (not so worried about the finish on my tank anymore). After a trip to the hardware store we had some black glossy spray paint, sandpaper, painters tape, and we were ready to go.

It's never not going to look like a dented tank, but I just didn't want it to rust. But after a few coats, it's starting to look better and better. We'll peel off the tape tomorrow, clean the whole thing, and put the tank and damper back together. So the bike's ready for action as soon as I am..... :smile: