Posts by Rollin'
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No write up yet. Still unpacking. :smile:
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Thank you!
Had rain the last 200 miles of the Dempster Highway. Took 11.5 hours to travel that 200 miles, it was nightmarish. Slick mud with hill climbs and descents. Mud and deep loose gravel were a challenge.
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Just one, completed an SS1000 on day one of the trip the rest was just the quest to Tuk. I also rode through Jasper and Banff National Park on the way back.
The other arctic road trips -
https://advrider.com/f/threads/top-of-the-world.827740/
https://advrider.com/f/threads/back-to-the-arctic-circle-inuvik.1086309/
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Today I started the cleaning and repairs, that will keep me busy for awhile.
On the way back from Tuk I crashed hard on the Dempster Highway, hard enough that I don't remember any of it. I don't remember hitting a berm in the road, or hitting the ground, standing up, taking off my helmet or the people that stopped and lifted the bike. The last thing I remember is seeing a grader in the road and thinking that will be a problem to deal with.
I was standing there and kind of came to and saw people standing but by my bike and asked "what happened?"
Per the people that saw it happen I hit a berm in the road and the bike went back and forth across the berm and then I went face/head first into the gravel. All of my gear paid for itself, I will need a new helmet and gloves. No damage to my coat but had deep cuts and bruises on my left elbow.
I was 125 miles from the nearest town and the dash was bent back into the fork so I couldn't move the bars. Damage to the windshield, headlight, dash, gas tank, all of the left side body panels, crash bars slider and left saddle bag. I was more that 3000 miles from home and the little DL got me home.
Was able to bend the dash enough to move the bars enough to get to the next town.
Had a headache for a few days and other injuries, some that are still healing.
What happened? I wish I knew. At the time I had the best conditions of the ride on the Dempster, sun, warm and almost pavement like conditions. I had completed 1000 miles of gravel travel and crashed in the last 100 miles. I left a lot of bike parts in Canada but I still feel very lucky.
On the way back from Tuk I crashed hard on the Dempster Highway, hard enough that I don't remember any of it. I don't remember hitting a berm in the road, or hitting the ground, standing up, taking off my helmet or the people that stopped and lifted the bike. The last thing I remember is seeing a grader in the road and thinking that will be a problem to deal with.
I was standing there and kind of came to and saw people standing but by my bike and asked "what happened?"
Per the people that saw it happen I hit a berm in the road and the bike went back and forth across the berm and then I went face/head first into the gravel. All of my gear paid for itself, I will need a new helmet and gloves. No damage to my coat but had deep cuts and bruises on my left elbow.
I was 125 miles from the nearest town and the dash was bent back into the fork so I couldn't move the bars. Damage to the windshield, headlight, dash, gas tank, all of the left side body panels, crash bars slider and left saddle bag. I was more that 3000 miles from home and the little DL got me home.
Was able to bend the dash enough to move the bars enough to get to the next town.
Had a headache for a few days and other injuries, some that are still healing.
What happened? I wish I knew. At the time I had the best conditions of the ride on the Dempster, sun, warm and almost pavement like conditions. I had completed 1000 miles of gravel travel and crashed in the last 100 miles. I left a lot of bike parts in Canada but I still feel very lucky.
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Yes, first real issue on the arctic roads.
I have crashed before years ago and I still remember it in almost second by second detail almost as if it was in slow motion but this one I can't remember at all but I think my head took a hard hit.
This could have been bad and 125 miles from the nearest town. I was very lucky there were people close to me, some of the construction crew also came to help.
This was 7 days later.
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I told her during one of my calls but she didn't seem to understand.Boy, you are right there. Dang Rollin' !!!! I know exactly what you mean by the grader work. They usually leave a road here that I simply can't ride for a few days. It's like riding on marbles in places and then 8 inches of snow in others. I did it once and never again. Have to let the road traffic pack things back down and kick the biggest portion of the loose stuff back off the road.
I'd bet money you saw you would have to cross that loose pile of **** they throw out to get to something more stable. It's nearly impossible but I've done it by duck walking through it. If you tried it at speed which looks possible when you are clipping along, boom, you'll go down and rather fast. You'll get several swivels and down you go. It's just too thick and loose.
But as far as not remembering, I get that too. I wish I could remember what happened in my rain crash. It's still a total blank to this day. One person said it's your body's way of protecting you from additional pain. I'd like to know how close I came to saving it. I know I started to ease off on the throttle and that's where it stops. Nothing after until the pain and trying to figure out where I was.
So, I hope you completely recover Rollin'. At least you didn't break any of your parts. Or you didn't mention that so I assume so. One question. Did you let your wife know soon after because you would be delayed a little or did you wait and surprise her once you got home. Just wondering how many nights in the dog house you were in.:grin::surprise:
No broken bones and everything hurt the day after but now only a sore elbow. I was very lucky!
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Thank you!!
Yes it did! The helmet paid for itself. There is also damage on the backside, I must have rolled.
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No extra visor but I did try to find one on the way back. After the crash I rode to Dawson City, stayed the night and then rode to Whitehorse. Whitehorse is one of the largest cities in the north and has a few motorcycle dealers but they had no parts for Shoei helmets. I was going to buy a new helmet but almost all the helmets they had were motocross style or didn't fit. My Shoei has an internal sun shield and I used that when it wasn't raining.
I wasn't doing any night riding on the way back because the headlight was still tilted to the left and pointing up. I could still ride later in the far north, I think sunset in Whitehorse was still midnight.
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Thank you!!
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I think that's it and that's okay, the ride to Tuk was the last ride on my to-do list.
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It was a little over 3700 mile from Wisconsin, I had rain everyday on the way north except for the day I rode to Tuk and that made it all worth it.
I was trapped in Eagle Plains for two days because of rain and mud.
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It was in the 50's and very windy but that seemed right for the arctic. :smile:
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Yes! The end of the road and that has been the goal. I'm done and couldn't be happier!!
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I was smiling all day, I had rain everyday except for the day I rode to Tuk. It was a perfect end of the ride.
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Started to add trip detail and photos here - https://advrider.com/f/threads/back-to-the-arctic-tuktoyaktuk.1396549/
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Thank you!! It was a very challenging ride, I was starting to think I wasn't going to make it Tuk but knowing it might be my last ride kept me going.
I did five road trips with the CTX that included 7 Iron Butt rides. It was a nice bike.
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