smaytum
Registered user
I am writing this from my bed in the Kings ward of the William Harvey hospital 
It was a stupid biking accident really and I wasn’t even on the bike.
I’m new to the world of motorbikes. Up to 2008, I had never ridden one, nor was I interested. But it was “long way round” which got me. As soon as I saw that series on TV, I just knew it was for me – I was hooked. So I started lessons, passed my test in the autumn of 2008 and had an F800GS by December the same year.
I was aggressive in learning off road skills, teaching myself in the green lanes of Kent backed up with a few books and You Tube videos. I must have fallen off my bike 80 or 90 times by now, but all to get strong at the skills I would need to take me around the world. In 2009 and again in 2010, I found myself riding down to Morocco to ride the dunes of the Sahara and to have fun in the Atlas mountains. Morocco is a wonderful country for adventure riding.
This year in May I was to leave for a 6 week ride around the Black Sea, taking me through Croatia, Bosnia, Turkey and Russia, but that won’t happen now.
I was taking advantage of the bank holiday weather to brush up my skills, so was out in the country riding the lanes. It was a school boy error… standing on the pegs doing a slow tight turn on rough ground and stalled the bike. I was off , but no damage done. I have picked that bike up so many times before and even when it’s fully loaded with luggage. So I grabbed the bars and pannier rack and started to lift, pushing slightly because the bike was lying on a slope. Then SNAP my achilles tendon at the back of my heal snapped, my foot folded up to my leg and I was down
I had an operation yesterday to rejoin the tendon and face 6 weeks in plaster before starting a physio for 6 to 12 months.
So be warned, lifting techniques are important after all. What if this had happened on a trip!
So that’s my little story. This year, I’ll be that person staring as you ride by and may be If I’m lucky, I will catch the end of the summer myself.
Ride well.
Steve.
It was a stupid biking accident really and I wasn’t even on the bike. I’m new to the world of motorbikes. Up to 2008, I had never ridden one, nor was I interested. But it was “long way round” which got me. As soon as I saw that series on TV, I just knew it was for me – I was hooked. So I started lessons, passed my test in the autumn of 2008 and had an F800GS by December the same year.
I was aggressive in learning off road skills, teaching myself in the green lanes of Kent backed up with a few books and You Tube videos. I must have fallen off my bike 80 or 90 times by now, but all to get strong at the skills I would need to take me around the world. In 2009 and again in 2010, I found myself riding down to Morocco to ride the dunes of the Sahara and to have fun in the Atlas mountains. Morocco is a wonderful country for adventure riding.
This year in May I was to leave for a 6 week ride around the Black Sea, taking me through Croatia, Bosnia, Turkey and Russia, but that won’t happen now.
I was taking advantage of the bank holiday weather to brush up my skills, so was out in the country riding the lanes. It was a school boy error… standing on the pegs doing a slow tight turn on rough ground and stalled the bike. I was off , but no damage done. I have picked that bike up so many times before and even when it’s fully loaded with luggage. So I grabbed the bars and pannier rack and started to lift, pushing slightly because the bike was lying on a slope. Then SNAP my achilles tendon at the back of my heal snapped, my foot folded up to my leg and I was down
I had an operation yesterday to rejoin the tendon and face 6 weeks in plaster before starting a physio for 6 to 12 months.
So be warned, lifting techniques are important after all. What if this had happened on a trip!
So that’s my little story. This year, I’ll be that person staring as you ride by and may be If I’m lucky, I will catch the end of the summer myself.
Ride well.
Steve.
Get better soon mate and remember there is always next year 
in our company training video on "Manual handling techniques".
emphyesema
