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Brake TimeFort St John areaOctober 3/04 Written by Joebear On Sunday October 3rd we headed out for an afternoon ride and some trail maintenance. There was a bad wet snowfall here that had toppled many trees and broken off lots of branches. Friend and coworker Jason did not have a machine to ride, so my nephews loaned him their Honda 300 2wd for the day. The brakes were not that good but they still worked. Doug and his friends had been out a couple weeks before and had spent 4 or 5 hours clearing some of the trail. We arrived at the spot where they had left off, and continued to clear logs, trees, and branches out of the way. It is lots of work and there are many trails still needing work. It took us several hours to get through to the pipeline. 
 On the way, Doug was having troubles in a mud hole and almost rolled his bike in the mud. It was a good thing we had another chainsaw with us as his ended up full of mud from the mudhole. Once we cleared a path to the pipeline, we all stopped near the creek for lunch. 
 After lunch I had thought we were heading back, but everyone headed further down the pipeline. Jason was following Dean up and over the first hill when he realized it was steeper than he thought. With the poor brakes, he was gaining speed down the hill, hurtling towards a barbed wire fence and gate at the bottom. He decided to hit some fallen trees instead of the fence, and he ended up airborne as he flipped the bike. The bike spanked him a couple times and came to rest on its wheels, leaving him rolling around in much pain. After my wife Olga administered first aid to his scrapes and cuts, he had regained his breath and Ryan loaded him onto his bike and they headed for the hospital. Jason was still in a lot of pain. 
We lifted the 300 onto the back of Dean's 500 and he towed it out for us. On the way out, the swingarm on the 300 came off the pivot point, and started dragging through the mud. After tying it up, we were able to make it to the trucks.  Dean's rear rack was bent up pretty bad from the trip. I had another rear rack that was slightly tweaked (I had to buy Danny a new one after hitting him when I couldn't stop), so I gave it to Doug to pass on to Dean. Jason was already at the hospital by then. After x-rays and so on, they released him for the night. He went back in the next day and they checked him out some more; they said that he had lots of bruising and a couple of cracked ribs. After a few visits to the chiropracter, his back is feeling much better and he is walking better. He is VERY lucky!! The 300 looked like it had a bent frame; on closer inspection I found a bent rear axle, a broken front ball joint, bent racks, tank, maybe a rim and a few brackets. The plastic was bent up but I think it may pop back into place. The frame is bent and cracked where the swing arm bolts on, but it can be repaired. Hopefully we can get it all running for next year! Lesson of the day: Please let people know where to slow down on trails, when they haven't been on them before!! Note from Greg: And make sure your machine has all of its equipment functioning properly. |
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