Near miss...

[Q777]

My Dad and I headed off for a ride yesterday - he met some friends to do a 250 mile ride covering some bitumen and some dirt on his V-Strom.  I met some other Ducati riders and went for a fabulous 400 mile ride, arriving home feeling as good as new.

Dad didn't make it home in the same condition unfortunately...

On the bitumen, he was heading into a 3rd gear corner when a Monster came from the other direction - missing the apex altogether and spearing across directly into Dad's path.  Dad veered as far over to the edge of the road as he could to try to avoid a head-on collision, when the rear stepped out on the Ducati.  Dad said that in a split second it looked like the Monster rider might highside and be thrown head-first into his path. 

Dad headed for the bush and laid it down - unfortunately coming down a bit harder than he'd hoped, breaking what so far looks like a couple of ribs and a shoulder blade.  He's smashed his ACL in the past, so he's re-aggravated that damage as well.  The bike faired OK with all the crash gear that adventure touring bikes have on them.  The Monster rider managed to recover from his near-highside, despite taking all of his lane, and 3/4 of the other side of the road as well...  Seemed as though the fuel line on the Monster had been weeping for a while, and came loose - spraying fuel over the rear tire.

He and his offsider both stopped to give Dad a hand in getting the bike back up and on the road, but i'm sure everyone would have been happier if it hadn't happened in the first place.

[T. Rush]

Sorry to hear about your dad. Hope he heals soon. Sounds like he did all he could to avoid a more serious crash.

[Howie]

Unfortunately you can't avoid everything. 

Here's to your Dad's quick and complete recovery

[somegirl]

Hope your Dad heals up quickly.  Glad he managed to avoid the head-on!

[swampduc]

Glad to hear your dad is ok, after a fashion. Hope he heals quickly!

[fastwin]

I wish your Pop well, glad he's not seriously hurt. It's nice the other rider maned up and stopped to help. Lots of folks out there in cars and on bikes wouldn't do that. Sad. Just glad it didn't turn out worse for both of them.