What she said, Jerry. Drive your cars, have fun that way, find a new hobby. Ditch the ditcher of a hobby before they have to dig a ditch for you.

I think that's our dearly departed friend Bruce over your shoulder, I'd rather not refer to you as the dearly departed, Jerry.

 

Jerry, First off thanks for an engineer's view of what happened. And where you are now in processing it all.

If M/C's are really your thing and you want to keep doing it, then I say go for it! If not, accept the fact that none of us can keep doing everything we'd like thanks to time playing its part. From the sound of it your accident clearly wasn't any death wish; if it was you're really a screw up. Shit happens. Heck, you don't even have to make a decision until Monday when you get fixed (bad joke). I am resisting the temptation to tell you about my wreck, experience, and how I handled it. No need. We are all different.

Give your self time to reflect and then move on. You will know what's best.

 

^ And get your wife's opinion and approval if you do continue on with it, as they will be heavily impacted should things go bad a second time in the future.

Today I was asking myself what ever happened with Alex Zanardi as I haven't heard of any updates for a long time. I did an internet search on him and seen that he has spent months and months of intense therapy, in and out of a coma, and he has yet to speak since his accident. I could not stop thinking about his wife and kids who have endured so much through his two accidents. If he just hadn't pushed himself so hard and tried to enjoy life in a different way after his first accident he could have been living pretty well with his family, but he got a string of bad luck and it didn't work out very well for him. It's certainly a balance between enjoying life and protecting what you have.

 

^ Sad to hear about my hero but you can't stop people from doing the things they love and I for one wouldn't want to.

 

Jerry,

A wise person makes a mistake, learns from it and makes the proper changes. A fool makes a mistake and keeps on making the same mistake. You choose which you want to be.

After I woke up in Kings County Municipal Hospital (Brooklyn, NY) with 3 neurosurgeons standing over me telling me that I was lucky to be alive and hope that I don't get meningitis from the spinal fluid that was dripping from my nose, I wondered if I'd ever ride again. After a few months I tried again on a borrowed bike, got two blocks and saw a car a few blocks away. Too frightened to continue, I pulled over, shut off the bike, walked home, gave my friend his key, and never rode a motorcycle again. That was 49 years ago and I've never forgotten it.

Maybe it's time for you to be the wise person and learn from this.

 

A lot to unpack there. Where to begin.
I am not suicidal. I could easily do that for a lot less money.
There were times in the past that would have accepted dying in my sleep because I was in so much pain.
It would have been a relief.

I suspect most of you would agree, I'm a little different. For as long as I have a conscious memory. I've been different.
maybe this ties in. maybe it doesn't. I saw this recently and it spoke to me.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/b...ection=1169019

To speak to motivation or rationale of how I think. I love and embrace new experiences, to test my bounds.
They didn't have clever labels like ADHD, we just all said I was hyper. like bing-bing-bing ricochet rabbit.
I was probably borderline bipolar. When I'm on, I'm really good, when I'm not, man wow I just can't focus"
I was always an enthusiastic athlete but I never had much coordination, I was just another pencil-neck geek.
Soccer was fantastic because you ran until you dropped.
i always thrived on being out there on my own little island. I've always been little crazy.

I don't think anyone who's known me long enough, would argue that Barbara wasn't the best thing to ever happen in my life.
Getting this bike wasn't done in isolation. She won't ride on it. She was quite clear about it.
She thinks I'm an idiot for buying it.(both) but she also doesn't want to block me from finding something to make me happy.

I was the ripe old age of 17, when my Dad at 40, died of a heart attack. I learned right then a bunch about the randomness of life and it's brutality.
Life is capricious, one moment it's giggling laughter of a little girl, the next a thunderclap from above.

We all know the platitude, Denial is more than a river in Egypt. I've been playing with house money for 24 years now.
I loved cycling. I hope to get back on one of those someday when body finally agrees.
I loved skiing until my knees made a few unseemly suggestions.
I love golf, oops that might take longer to get back.
My body Isn't me letting do a lot so I intend to do the things I can while I can.

Lastly. The engineer. I understand the 12-15 minutes before I got stupid.
It took me a single stall to adjust to the clutch engage and the engine powerband. It felt pretty good after that.
The ride ended when I lost focus and concentrated on the wrong thins.

OK really lastly. I don't have a lot of friends. I do really appreciate the expression of true caring from many of you. I don't that lightly.
Please don't think I am just fluffing any of you off. I've listened carefully.

 

I think I came off harsher than I meant to. I just care and really like you. You do you. I'm an odd duck, too. I get it. Not the same odd as you, of course.

 

It's good to know your wife approves, as they are often the ones who are left picking up the pieces when things go wrong.

Losing focus or focusing on the wrong things is a big issue with motorcycles, I am sure that is how I got into my accident. I likely do it in my car often but cars are more forgiving that way. I truly understand people that should undertake activities that they enjoy at the end of the day and I know how riding a motorcycle is one of life's great pleasures. Keep the shiny side up and enjoy the ride.

 

On the night we met, my wife put me in my place for being a wise guy.
I was done in on the second sentence out of her mouth.

A different way to describe it, is I have to pass the test. I have to overcome the challenge, I have to succeed.
I just have to go do the homework now, nothing comes for free.

 

Jerry, you should consider one of these. From a recent Moss Motors catalog.