Date: 4 Oct 1999 15:11:47 -0400
From: "Richard C. Yu" <ryu@pauli.csb.yale.edu>
To: byoung@uclink4.berkeley.edu
CC: echen@mail.med.cornell.edu
In-reply-to: <04020a01b41e782c6f69@[128.32.188.46]>
(message from Bruce Young on Mon, 4 Oct 1999 09:33:04 -0700)
Subject: Re: Holy Shit
Yo:
Ok, here's the scoop.
Saturday: eli and i met at lindner's BMW in new haven ct for donuts and to scoop out a $1500 '81 RT for sale. already sold, we took off around 10:30am on small two-lane roads north. make our way up towards massachusetts. beautiful early fall day. leaves starting to turn everywhere, the inevitable churning of the wheel into a new season. eat 3/4 lb. pastrami for lunch (bad pastrami, very ripe horseradish sauce). Marvel that both cylinders no longer leaking at bases. Make mental note to tell bruce that extra-thick 2.2 mm o-rings installed.
Late afternoon. Decide to head north up through Mt Greylock in NW Mass to Rt 2. then head east to check outrough Mt Greylock in NW Mass to Rt 2. then head east to check out smaller backroads near Zoar and Monroe Bridge. Mt Greylock is the east coast Mt Tam beautiful 360 degree view, lower mountains and rolling hills in every direction. Unbelievable scenery.
Gte back down mountain, north to rt 2, through N. Adams. start heading east towards northern monroe bridge road. make a left turn onto the road. initially freshly paved, it's a river runner that turns into a narrower twisty road. around 6pm now. sun dropping below mountains, still plenty light out.
about 5 miles in, in 2nd gear, high-torque revs (4500/5000rpm), going uphill. exiting a left turn, see a strip of gravel. later measured by police to be 30' long. i don't remember much as far as eli and i can figure (consistent with accident marks) the front wheel made it past the gravel, the rear tire didn't. slid out towards the right. finally made contact with pavement, slid for about 10' sideways, caught. bike high-sided, right cylinder head smacks double-yellow. i get thrown over, to the right of the bike. the bike apparently strikes again, probably on the left?, about 30 feet away.in middle of opposite lane. bike ended up another 35 or so feet from there on its right side. i'm spinning around, mad break-dancer in vansons. finally stop moving, bounce right up. hurts to stand of left leg, left wrist starting to hurt, out of breath. otherwise ok. didn't recall a smack to the head. look back, shit, l a smack to the head. look back, shit, eli's down. He's about 150 feet back. next i know, he's up by the bike, he low- sided a bit earlier in the turn than I, slid to the side of the turn right after the apex.
glance at bike, on its far right side. balancing on handlebar, fairing, right bag and cylinder. both wheels more or less off the ground. just then a guy in the lane where my bike is pulls up, sees how we are. i lie down, a bit dizzy. start cursing. ask for him and eli to right my bike up. stand up as they start to. dont recall if kill switch hit. gas everywhere, from tank, carbs. tank probably came loose, pulled out feed to left carb since petcock still open, full tank of gas, it was leaking out for a while. lights probably still on. as they lifted, saw a small spark near right footpeg, flames ignited up towards gas tank. frozen in shock. first instinct to run behind car, holy shit it's going to blow up. then i realize i need that tankbag, got lots of important stuff like cellphone in there. eli goes toward tankbag, car owner starts freaking out, what are you doing, you're crazy, you're going to kill yourself. eli goes back again, reaches into growing flames and pulls off melting tankbag. still on fire, he rolls it around on the ground. of fucking course, cell phone falls out, battery separates eli rescues phone. i curse even louder. grab my tankbag and take a picture, shout at eli to do the same, might as well ct at eli to do the same, might as well capture this moment.
bike totally engulfed in flames now. everynow and then a pop and a flames shoot from vicinity of gas tank. spare (un-needed) oil quart eventually bursts and burns in right bag. smoke getting darker as plastic and rubber pieces go up.
walk over down the hill past my flaming wreckage to driveway leading out of gravel yard. sit down. guy takes off to get help, i pull out a nat classic and breathe deep. resist romantic urge to light it using flames from the bike. eli consoles. gradually help arrives. first local cop, then fire, then paramedic. eventually get tied down to backboard. ride to hospital in greefield about 30 min away. get very painful IV drip setup. paramedic needlessly cuts my shirt. before getting in ambulance, shout out loud for eli to get my license plate. get to hospital at 8pm.
routine hospital er visit. abrasion on right lower back, not sure if road rash or just rubbing against inside of jacket and such. eventually get in contact with jen, have her come up to meet us. it's 10:15pm. side up, pants sans knee armor, ride to local (un)Friendly's. eli's bike is miraculously well. hold punched in cam cover (left) but otherwise ok straight forks, the works. left side fibreglass now matched to right. eat nasty food, ice wrist, jen gets there, eli bravely rides home, with us following, down I91 to new haven, 2 hours away. get home, crash into memon, 2 hours away. get home, crash into memory foam. eli stays up and patches hole with JB weld.
next day wake up, eat sausage and eggs. eli takes off after reinstalling semi-fixed valve cover. jen and i eventually head up to accident site. 4pm, more sun, but the pain is freshly visible. gravel every-fucking-where. you remember my previous estimates of distances before...
gravel starts: 0 paces (pace =~ 2.5
feet)
eli's engine marks, going to the right:
10 paces
eli's fairing streaks: 11 paces
gravel ends: 14 paces
my rear tire skid start: 14 paces
first engine (right head)
impact mark, directly on double yellow:
20 paces
second engine impact (flip to left
head), in left lane: 33 paces
final resting spot: 50 paces
where I ended up: 10-15 paces from
bike (60-65 paces).
melted aluminum blobs pepper the ground. asphalt surface destroyed. slide marks from eli's fairing and head cover, and my tire marks evident. after further examination, additional points of impact for my bike were found, all in line from first point of impact to final spot. took lots of pictures of area. rushed over into north adams to tow joint. showed me the bike, on its left side. i'll write more on that later, let's just say no more paint left. everything ghostly white, probably from white paint. fairing non-existent, burnt up. rear tire gone, only steel belts from internals remain. rear mag wheel me only steel belts from internals remain. rear mag wheel melted into slag, not there. final drive housing partially melted rear shocks melted (aluminum mounting lugs on top). battery a burnt mess. carbs black from soot right bowl melted. gas tank still intact but paint vaporized white dust remains. engine ok, black with soot. air box and starter top cover, both aluminum, melted. main block , heads, cylinders, timing cover ok (i.e. not melted to slag). front tire parrtially melted. traces of wiring harness. metal seat pan. couple of wrenches, special bmw steering head wrench. grabbed gas tank, all steel parts ok (at least not melted into atomic mush), seat pan there, fork chrome pitted but ok. forks straight, handle bar broke right handle bar mount. frame eyeballed straight. pissed, since if not torched bike would be ok. on bright side, frame looks ok, pipes and headers fine (!!!), deep oil pan, who knows. need to do autopsy.
paid for tow charges, given til next tuesday to get what i want, and left. sad, sad, sad.
pictures to come.
th.
pictures to come.
thank god jen wasn't there. either on back or on her own bike. everyone would have gone down. the gravel was practically unavoidable.
love your bikes, guys. you never know
what they may be taken away from you.
rich