If you talk to long-time motorcyclists, they either have a story or two about the collarbone(s) they have broken, or they remark about how lucky they are not to have broken one…yet. This is because the clavicle is a common bone to break during our two-wheeled endeavors – a right of passage, perhaps.
If you follow me on social media, you probably already know that I have gained entry into this esteemed club last week, breaking my collarbone all of ten feet into Switzerland, while riding on a BMW R1200RS (review to come).
For those that don’t follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram (see what I did there?), this would explain why the chronicling of my European tour suddenly stopped without reason. Well…that and Italy barely qualifies as a first-world country when it comes to telecommunications.
I won’t rehash the crash too much, other than I think any incident on a motorcycle is ultimately the responsibility of the rider.
For gritty details, I had just left Stelvio Pass and was probably going 15-20 mph before I unfortunately collided with another rider. My shoulder took the brunt of the fall, and pop went the weasel with my collarbone.
My other injuries include a fractured radial neck (the smaller bone your arm, broken at the elbow), which makes rotating my wrist, for things like typing, a pretty painful experience. For good measure, I also bruised my ribs, which make laughing, sneezing, and hiccups less fun than they should be.
With any crash that you walk away from, you have to be thankful for the many positives: the other rider involved was completely unhurt, I had great medical attention in Italy from very kind people, I have awesome healthcare here in the US that is getting me back to full-strength ASAP, and the only lasting injury I’ll have is the one to my ego.
Looking ahead, I go in for surgery Monday to plate my collarbone. The break is actually pretty clean and I have good bones, from what the doctors tell me, but I don’t want to be sidelined for the next 12 weeks, cursing every time I try and put on deodorant.
As such, Monday’s stories should be “interesting” to say the least, but as a result I will be able to attend all the upcoming press launches over the next few months – sans the Honda RC213V-S launch, which I am pretty bummed to be missing this weekend.
I’m sure there will be a couple more stories on A&R with injury updates, thoughts about motorcyclists and healthcare, etc – so stay tuned for that. Until then, ride safe dear readers, and stay the @#$%! away from the Swiss border.
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