They say there are two types of motorcyclists: those who have crashed and those who haven't yet. YouTuber Doodle on a Motorcycle joined the former group this past April. The cameras were running, and although she almost didn't post this video, she decided to anyway so that we could see what happens in the aftermath of a motorcycle crash. Fortunately, there is no blood or gore in this video because Doodle was wearing the right motorcycle riding gear. But that doesn't mean she walked away unscathed, either.
It was Doodle's first ride of the year, which I find to be one of the most harrowing experiences after not putting my riding skills to use during the winter months. She was on her Janus Halcyon 250, which was new and unfamiliar to her. On her ride she got into a death wobble, with the handlebars rapidly shaking back and forth until she eventually went down. The video explores the causes of the crash in detail, but the point I want to focus on is that despite crashing at about 60 mph, Doodle suffered none of the road rash we typically associate with street crashes.
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All The Gear All The Time
After the bike falls over, the video shows Doodle sliding down the road on her hands and knees until she comes to a stop. We don't get a good look at the palms of her gloves, but later in the video, we see her bare palms are intact except for what might be a small scrape. The right knee of her pants is visibly torn up, but there is no exposed or scraped skin, only the armor that took the hit for her.
But her knee is still in bad shape. While she's able to stand and hobble into a support van for a ride to the hospital (because ambulances are too expensive), her bruised leg swells to twice its normal size, and she can no longer move it. She doesn't give specific details about the timeline of her recovery, but her comment that "the next few months would be challenging" and shots of her hobbling on crutches indicate that even though she broke no bones, it's taken a while.
I once had a similar, though less severe, crash myself. Like Doodle, I was wearing full gear but went down hard and slid across the pavement. I suffered no road rash, but bruising and swelling put me on crutches while I healed (for a few days rather than months). Riding gear is always worth wearing, but know that it mainly protects you from the slide, not from smacking the ground with your body.
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