Day: 67
Date: 08/06
City: Modesto, California
Miles ridden: 127
Cumulative miles: 6107

In the morning we went to the bike shop in San Francisco where we ordered two new back tyres yesterday. While the tyres got fitted we went to the AAA to get a map for South America and to have a look at what is available for the USA. On the way we stumbled over a shoe shop and got a pair of shoes so Sigrid so she could wear her skirt with something other than bike boots or her pink crocs 🙂.

At the AAA, we found a map for South America but nothing good for the USA. Then we went to McDonalds to SMS Vincent (a friend of ours from Germany) and let him know that we were on our way to Yosemite. We got the call that the tyres were fitted, so we went back, talked to the guys and the girl about our trip and left the shop. They did a marvellous job to fit our tyres in just under two hours; the first estimation was three or more.

On our way out we took a couple of pictures from of a different bridge- Not golden gate 🙂. The bridge has two stories, one for each direction.

Then we left San Francisco on a highway, the traffic was very slow, so we decided to change the GPS to avoid highway. And so it did. We only made 20 miles in the next hour. So we decided to have a coffee break and after looking at the map we decided to go back onto the highway. The traffic on the highway was still a bit slow, but as soon we entered the 120 traffic started to flow. We stopped to buy some strawberries

and continued to Twain Hard.
We came to stretch of a road with 2 lanes. A vehicle came from the left side and turned into the right lane, so we kept our speed and moved to the left lane. After overtaking it, I moved back to the right lane. As soon I was in the lane, my bike started to wobble. Hrm, that didn’t feel right. The wobble became stronger, so I slowed down. The wobble became less frequently but the amplitude was stronger. That didn’t feel right at all, so if slowing down didn’t help, so I tried to accelerate…….

The full-on gear test
I lost control of the bike and it flipped. I came off and was sliding down the road, I remember that I could see the visor on the helmet getting scratched and I thought the legs don’t get as hot as Wombat said (he had an accident last year). Anyway, after a short time I stopped sliding and thought @#$%^! Lucky for me, the car following saw the whole thing unfolding and kept its distance and stopped in time. As it happened, the driver was a country doctor on vacation.
A couple of minutes later a paramedic (Eric) who just finished his shift passed by and also stopped to help. I was in good hands! Sigrid arrived and was happy to see me responsive. At this point of time I started to complain about my left hand. It hurt, a lot.
The ambo arrived, they looked at my back; to do so they cut my Jacket open and then the shirt… My Ulysses club shirt from the AGM last year… no, not this shirt….. Their response was that they have to cut it. They cut the trousers as well, but this time they assured me that they were wrecked anyway. The gloves were wrecked as well but they came off without a problem. The only thing that survived are the boots, they were scratched but otherwise ok.  So medic measured my blood pressure, and I did hear him say to get a helicopter to lift me out.

What?!?  A helicopter?? Only my hand was hurting, the rest was fine! I asked him why and he said that my blood pressure was too low. I told him that this happens to me when I’m in strong pain.
“Ok” he said, “I’ll give it another chance”, and measured it again. This time the blood pressure was better.
Ok, so I got to ride in the ambulance to the Oakdale hospital. After xraying and then assessing the x rays, I was transported to Modesto, apparently the food is better and they have a happy hour…. Or they have an Orthopaedic surgeon who could have a look at my arm.  Personally I preferred my story.

On that transport we meet Pat,

She was driving the ambulance and made sure that Sigrid could follow on her bike. She rides as well and has some connections to motorcyclist here in Modesto. When we arrived in the Modesto hospital, the surgeon had gone home, so an emergency doctor had a look at it, knocked me out, and tried to get the wrist aligned to put it into a splint. At 2.30 AM I was discharged with all my papers and x-rays and asked to make an appointment on Monday with the orthopaedic surgeon. I like the fancy look of my trouser-flares. Those are going to be modern again!

The hospital was really helpful and organized a motel and a taxi for us. Sigrid followed the taxi to the hotel and we arrived there at 3 AM. What a day!