This weeks Primm column is on the awesome '86 Honda CR500R if you want to give it a look. BRRAAPPPP!!

Rooster wrote:

I raced one of those once. In the first moto, I nabbed the holeshot and ran away with it. I had ridden the bike around the...

I raced one of those once.

In the first moto, I nabbed the holeshot and ran away with it. I had ridden the bike around the pits for about 5 minutes to get a feel for the hit when you cracked the throttle. It was substantial and took a little adjusting to.

In the second moto it put me into the ICU and caused me to flatline on the operating table twice. Three months later I was out of the hospital and my riding days were over (for 9 years).

One thing I found simply amazing about the bike, was how easy it was to get through the whoops. My CR 250 required a lot more effort to get the front wheel up as I entered them and keeping the front up was a lot more difficult. The first time I came around to the whoops on the big 5 hunny I just cracked the throttle a little and up it came and it was so much easier to keep the front end up and skip through.

Tbteam wrote:

When I lived at Lake Sugar Tree, DB left his practice works 500 across the track by my house and he got a ride back to...

When I lived at Lake Sugar Tree, DB left his practice works 500 across the track by my house and he got a ride back to his house with someone else. He asked me to ride it back to his shop, so I threw on some gear, and went 1/2 a lap on the track, scared the living shit out of myself and rode it in first gear down the road to his house and put it in his garage.

Frigging thing was a beast, and I was no match for it.

Rooster wrote:

I raced one of those once. In the first moto, I nabbed the holeshot and ran away with it. I had ridden the bike around the...

I raced one of those once.

In the first moto, I nabbed the holeshot and ran away with it. I had ridden the bike around the pits for about 5 minutes to get a feel for the hit when you cracked the throttle. It was substantial and took a little adjusting to.

In the second moto it put me into the ICU and caused me to flatline on the operating table twice. Three months later I was out of the hospital and my riding days were over (for 9 years).

One thing I found simply amazing about the bike, was how easy it was to get through the whoops. My CR 250 required a lot more effort to get the front wheel up as I entered them and keeping the front up was a lot more difficult. The first time I came around to the whoops on the big 5 hunny I just cracked the throttle a little and up it came and it was so much easier to keep the front end up and skip through.

CamP wrote:

I raced one of those once. I did 1 full lap in front of some of Texas fastest, then rode straight to the truck because I...

I raced one of those once.

I did 1 full lap in front of some of Texas fastest, then rode straight to the truck because I couldn't feel my arms. I knew I was going to wad up hard if I kept going.

It got stolen 10 days later and I was happy it was gone.

Rooster wrote:

I raced one of those once. In the first moto, I nabbed the holeshot and ran away with it. I had ridden the bike around the...

I raced one of those once.

In the first moto, I nabbed the holeshot and ran away with it. I had ridden the bike around the pits for about 5 minutes to get a feel for the hit when you cracked the throttle. It was substantial and took a little adjusting to.

In the second moto it put me into the ICU and caused me to flatline on the operating table twice. Three months later I was out of the hospital and my riding days were over (for 9 years).

One thing I found simply amazing about the bike, was how easy it was to get through the whoops. My CR 250 required a lot more effort to get the front wheel up as I entered them and keeping the front up was a lot more difficult. The first time I came around to the whoops on the big 5 hunny I just cracked the throttle a little and up it came and it was so much easier to keep the front end up and skip through.

tblazier wrote:

Damn that is scary. What did you end up doing in the crash?

Rooster wrote:

I raced one of those once. In the first moto, I nabbed the holeshot and ran away with it. I had ridden the bike around the...

I raced one of those once.

In the first moto, I nabbed the holeshot and ran away with it. I had ridden the bike around the pits for about 5 minutes to get a feel for the hit when you cracked the throttle. It was substantial and took a little adjusting to.

In the second moto it put me into the ICU and caused me to flatline on the operating table twice. Three months later I was out of the hospital and my riding days were over (for 9 years).

One thing I found simply amazing about the bike, was how easy it was to get through the whoops. My CR 250 required a lot more effort to get the front wheel up as I entered them and keeping the front up was a lot more difficult. The first time I came around to the whoops on the big 5 hunny I just cracked the throttle a little and up it came and it was so much easier to keep the front end up and skip through.

tblazier wrote:

Damn that is scary. What did you end up doing in the crash?

Rooster wrote:

I lacerated my liver, cutting off about 40% of it. I also severed my inferior vena cava and destroyed an adrenal gland. I came up short...

I lacerated my liver, cutting off about 40% of it. I also severed my inferior vena cava and destroyed an adrenal gland.

I came up short on a double, catching the back tire and it threw me forward into the face of the next jumped where the bike just stopped dead. I took the crossbar across the belly and it pushed all my internal organs up against my spine which is what did all the cutting. I actually took quite the hit to the head too. They thought I had a fractured skull when I got the ER because I had a bruise from forehead all the way back to the top of my neck. It was weird. I couldn't figure out why they were taking so many x-ray of my head when all the pain was in my gut, but I obviously couldn't see the bruise.

The doctor's report for my first surgery described the surgery as picking out pieces of meat from a pool of blood. They went in and did what they could for the bleeding and tried to fix the liver as much as they could, but I kept dying on the table. They pumped 3.5 times the amount of blood that the human body holds into me and had to call in donors while I was on the table because I have such a rare blood type. The doctors had to patch me up and try to stabilize me before they could do anymore. The worst part of the whole thing was the doctors told my parents after the first surgery that if I lived until the morning that I had a good chance of making it. I can't imagine what they went through that night.

The three months in the hospital were a barrage of tests and scans to try and figure out what was wrong afterward and to prepare for the second surgery. The second surgery was essentially a liver transplant, but without swapping the liver out for a different one. I guess it's all the same preparatory steps. They had to use my gall bladder to replace portions of my bile ducts that had been damaged. It was a pretty big deal because there had never been a liver transplant done in Canada before. The surgery took 11.5 hours and there were over 30 people in the OR either assisting or there to watch and learn.

April 13th of this year, marked 26 years since that accident. I'd say they did a pretty damn good job patching me up.