Some tragic news. Went camping to celebrate my sisters 22nd birthday over the weekend. In the interest of saving her from a tragic wreck while racing around on my Dad's 'Cat while drunk, combined with no atv experience what so ever, I tried to save her, yet damaged myself, my 'Cat at the same time. In an attempt to cut her off at the main road, I mis-judged the terrain through some brush, went over the edge of about a 5' drop strait into a drainage ditch, slamming my front left tire strait into the side of the embankment. My lower ball joint exploded, dropping my a-arm, tearing the cv joint knuckle assembly, breaking one knuckle off entirely, stripping the axle and joint from the diff. and thoroughly destroying my 4 wheel drive selector lever.

I flew strait over the handlebars, head and hands first into the side, flipping me over and somehow catching the 'Cat before it landed on me, throwing it back on all four's, before being knocked unconscious and slammed into the bottom of the ditch. The results of a recent doctor visit this morning are a dislocated hip (again), separated discs in lower back, buised kidneys, ribs and liver-combination of resulting in slight urination of blood, along with severe road rash from groin down about 8" on both thighs along with a couple deep cuts. Hand and elbow are also messed up a bit.

While the 'Cats injuries are tragic at this point, it will take me a little time to remedy the problem. Hopefully within the next two weeks I'll have it all fixed up and her all better again, though time will tell. Myself, you can't kill me off that easy, just Bring It I say. The good news is my sister is A-OK, was so scared by my events that she decided she'd not ride anymore, would only do so in the future with a helmet and under my direct supervision. Granted, she is 22, but with no atv experience, I'd like to teach her first how to ride, rather than her taking off while drunk and no helmet-that's just asking for an accident. I'd never have forgiven myself if something happened to her.

On a side note, I had replaced the 140 main with a 145 (due to altitude) and while only rode a few miles before the accident occured, I did notice a substantial gain in fuel mileage. For those who were interested, I don't remember how many miles I actually logged, yet I did tow several LARGE logs, climbed a few deer trails in 4-low, ran up and back at least 10 miles one-way of road. According to the gas guage, my 'Cat used right at 1/4 of a tank. Dad's 'Cat, which I had right along with me with my buddy riding, towing similar logs, riding the same area's used nearly the top tank-it's reading about half way between the last 1/4 mark. So, under the same conditions, me running a 145 main, and his still with the stock 150, I did get a lot better mileage.

RIDE HARD, RIDE SAFE!

Mike

 

Ouch! Hope you get better. Reminds me of my wife's little sister on a quad one time when she was riding around behind us while we shooting or 9mm's at some targets. We turned around to reload a few mags and watch her fly around over some sand dunes. She got on the side of one and she didn't have enough strength to keep it pointed straight and went straight for the pond at a good clip. Two flips later and one sunken polaris on top of her and all of us panic stricken we managed to remove her from under 6' of water and the quad. She walked away but was sore for a good week. As she rode home in the back seat of my R/T in her underwear she made the comment that she was upset we let her ride! I made the comment that she was lucky we were reloading! Everybody lived including the polaris "325 U-Boat" as we called it from there on. We all have to save our little sister's at one time or another! Good luck.

Dakota R/T

 

Cowboy,

You outta buy plenty of lottery tickets b/c your luck is bound to change [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] Just kidding I have been w/out a computer for about a month or so and I never heard how your camping incident ended hopefully your charges were dismissed !!

Later,

Triston

 

Glad you're OK or kinda OK!Just thought I would add this since it is similar. When I first got my Quad after reading all the do nots(no doubles, alcohol, think there was more but these hang in mind), figured I might as well sell the thing. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]Anyhow last weekend a friend of mine had a party and both of his quads were rolled. One older Suzuki, one brand new Pol.HO with about 50 miles on it. People ridin were OK, but not sure about him. His baby's were hurt. He reallyyy takes good care of his things.Reckon the morale of the story is alcohol + no experience = Disaster

 

Cowboy, just a couple of things. First of all glad to hear you'll eventually recover and no one was more seriously hurt or killed. Plastic and metal are easily replaced.

Secondly, I don't mean to preach, but maybe you should think twice about using alcohol or being around those who use alcohol. Seems that alcohol has contributed to some real problems for you lately. First the charges you were/are(?) facing, and now a wrecked body and a crashed machine. Might want to consider the role alcohol plays in your life. Hopefully my message doesn't cause any hard feelings, I just hate to see the effects of alcohol ruin someones life.

 

Cowboy- whats up man. Looks like your luck hasn't changed any. Man I hope you get back in shape quick. I'm going to have to start calling you Bulletproof from now on. If you hear me say it on here, you know who I'm talking about. I just found a place that will sell me an 02 Grizz for $6399 and a camo one for $6599. Thats sweet, but its 275 miles away, and I have to order it. I might do that friday. Right now, I'm into a major brawl over in the Kawasaki forum under a post called No respect or something. These guys over there are total asses. It doesn't matter what you say or what its about, if you give an impression, then they lay it down on you quick. Never say Die though. Get better man! Later

 

Mike,
Man I'm sorry to hear about that, at least you and your sister are alive to tell the tail. If you need any help in the way of questions or advice when you start your repairs just ask. As you may recall it was exactly one year ago today when my cousin and I had a head on crash and the Warpony got totaled. I had to buy a new frame, bumper, plastic and install EVERTHING it was quite a learning experence. Do you have the service manual for the 2000 auto? If not I can scan whatever you may need and send it to ya.

 

Hey guys, thanks for all the kind words and advice, I really appreciate it. As a couple posts have eluded to, I guess I forgot to fill you all in on what happened with the previous camping incident. I had to drive some 6+ hours down from my property up in the mountains in northern Washington, across the state to the southern part. After walking into the courtroom it seems the judge was drunk, forgot about the trial. After being told to "go home, come back on wednesday", I said hell no, I'm here now, I won't be back on wednesday as I can't drive another 18 hours total (6 back up, then another 12 for the return and back wednesday), and headed strait for the prosecuting attorneys office across the street, with strict instructions to my attorney NOT to leave town, that I WAS going to have this settled that day. After calling the judge at home on his cell phone, all charges were going to be dropped. Then however, he remembered that I took out two cops before they charged my camp, and decided I had to pay a $100 donation to the city park service. While I still didn't believe I should have to pay anything, a $100 donation sure beat the couple thousand it would have cost to go to trial. So, after all that, it's over and done with finally.

After seeing the doctor again today, and after a 505 lbs. bench press last night (my new record-though under a bunch of pain killers!), he said if it wasn't for my huge heart, he'd swear I was a machine. I'm doing A LOT better, though still pretty sore and not walking all that well. While it's not always a good thing, my "never say die" attitude is really helping heal me up quick. As for my 'Cat, I spoke with my dealer today and might possibly have some good news. I can't say for sure, but I might be able to have it taken care of for MUCH cheaper than originally thought, and sooner as well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things go the way they appear to be going thus far.

UtahRancher-you're right, the last couple outings have not been the best. Though, just to cover my butt so I don't sound like a complete alcoholic here, I don't drink a whole lot in the first place. The first occassion I hadn't drank at all during the invasion-if I had, I probably wouldn't have dropped those two cops like I did. Then again, at 220 lbs., with a 500+ bench and 12 years in the martial arts-well, maybe then again I might have??? As for my sisters birthday, I can't stop what her and her friends will do. I can however try to eliminate the possibilities of any future problems, which in this case, I should have remembered the keys were in the 'Cats from earlier that day. The thought never crossed my mind till it was too late, and she'd took off. Anyway, she's OK and you can't kill me off that easy, and the 'Cat will be fixed so all is good. Oh and Definatey No Hard Feelings, I appreciate the concern.

Andy-No Retreat No surrender! heh heh heh. Yeah, I saw your little debate over there-what a bunch of b.s.! I hope you don't mind my few remarks there, those guys really need to calm down a bit, I don't see where they get off with such vulgarity like that. Anyway, good luck with the new Grizz if you do end up with it. Looks to be a great machine. I like that camo too!

Thanks again guys, best of luck and ride hard but ride safe!

Mike

 

I must say Cowboy I am impressed with the 505lb.BP at 220lbs. of body weight. My 425lb.bp pales at the same 220 lb.body weight. Guy what are you eating? *LOL*.I got to get me some of that. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]Also sounds like you've had a bad run of the old poop house luck as of late. Hang in there,it will get better. Also a note to Mr.Bassham i know you've been catching some flack as of late from some for speaking the truth...gosh the truth hurts at times...some people just don't like hearing it.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] again I think you two are some pretty smart guys,so keep up the good posts.


Later guy's....Paul Stanley


Rock And Roll Over

 

Hey man, 425 is an awesome bench! I lift with guys nearly twice my size who don't lift that much. You should have seen them monday night when I laid down under that. My partner is 6'4", weighs 195 lbs-yup, basically a stick. I'm sure the room goes quiet where you lift when you lay down under 425, you could have heard a pin drop on the carpet when they saw me lay down with this, and John as my "spotter". Unfortunately I can't say what was said by a few of the guys-this is a "family" forum right! heh heh heh. That is my personal best, the first time I ever tried it even, so yes, I was/am thrilled to death. The question is, will I be able to do it again next week when I'm off the pain pills! I quit taking them today, and had a tough time with a 225 lbs. military press. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] As for what I eat? Well, when? I eat about 6-7 times a day, and lots of high protein foods. As you probably know, the most important time to get at least 40 grams of protein is immediately after lifting-within about 20 minutes afterward. I take a high quality protein supplement immediately after lifting, mixing with about 2 cups of milk, a handful of walnuts for the fat, and about 2 tablespoons of honey strait from the bottle for the pure sugar. I had a Russian trainer who was Mr. Russia in 1975, and still trains both the Russian and German Olympic lifting teams, along with the Stanford womens swimming team. He's highly trained, extremely knowledgeable with 8 different PhD's in everything from sports nutrition to weight lifting, and has forgot more than I'll ever know. He's been a big help over the last year, and without him, I would have never got that big of a lift. I have a long way to get where I want to go, but I enjoy doing it and look forward to each lift, so that's all that matters.

Best of luck to ya! Ride hard, LIFT HARDER!

Mike