But what happened?
But what had happened? I saw the lads looking back down the road,
lying dead on the ground about 50 metres back was one of the biggest
dogs I had ever seen in my life. The lads explained to me what
happened.
Glen was driving ahead of Ado, when suddenly out of the glare of the sun he saw what he first though was a polar bear right ahead of him, just sauntering across the busy motorway. Glen hit his brakes and swerved at the last second to avoid the polar bear, which he quickly realised wasn't a bear at all, but a huge dog. I was ahead of this at the time but I heard him shout "what the f*%&" over the radio. Ado was just behind him and saw all of this happen. He though his brother was about to crash, and was glad to see he successfully avoided the dog. The dog, who had just got the fright of his life
(literally) quickly bolted off to get back to the side of the motorway. This put the dog running right across the road in front of the flying suzuki bandit with Ado sitting on top of it. BANG!
From his rear view mirror Glen saw Ado get knocked up off his seat and hang on to the front of the bike. He hung on here for a second or two before hitting the ground. Him and the bike went sliding for about 50 metres or so. Worried he was going to get hit by a truck from behind (this must've been the trucker who passed me) Ado was on his feet as soon as he stopped sliding and bolted to the side of the road, to safety. To animal lovers out there Ado said the dog was killed instantly and didn't suffer. To motorbike lovers out there the bandit did unfortunaly suffer a little. The forks were smashed and bent right into the frame. The front of the bike, the clocks and the lights were all smashed up. The bike slid on it's engine bars and on the soft luggage panniers at the back (One of Ado's runners had the heel all worn away as the pannier wore right through) this actually saved the bikes panels though. Glen who saw the accident from his mirror pulled over to the side of the road and went back to make sure Ado was okay. When he took off his helmet it obviously broke the radio communications to me, so that's why I only heard silence at this point.
Ado got taken away to the hospital in Avellino. Most Italians drive motorbikes wearing only a tshirt, shorts and sandals. When the hospital heard that a biker had hit a dog on the motorway they were prepared for someone coming in with very serious injurys. They were utterly amazed to see Ado still in one piece and up and walking. Every doctor Ado saw congratulated him for wearing his proper bike protection. I remember before we left Dublin Ado spent a pretty penny on some of the best biker protection available. This would seem to have been a wise decision as the only injury Ado got was a graze on his arse cheek. A fitting injury as I'd always found Ado to be an Arsehole.
Glen went with Ado's bike to the recovery yard, where it was towed to. I went to the hosptal and waited with Ado. Who was physically okay, just exhausted and banged around a bit. We had to deal with the police for a while which was difficult with the language problems but we eventually met up with Glen at the recovery yard where we were able to examine the full extent of the bikes injuries. It was bad. The forks were completely destroyed. We wouldn't be going anywhere. The guys at the yard said there was a Honda store nearby in San Giorgio. Would these be able to get parts for a suzuki. We hope so as the recovery guys brought us out with the bandit, and me and glen following on our bikes and left the bike there. Wow this was some Honda store. The owner was amazingly helpful. He said he could get new forks but it would take a few days. So were were stuck in San Georgio, a small town somewhere in central/south Italy. The owner took us to a lovely hotel on the outskirts of the town to stay in. We would be here for a few days until the bike got fixed.
Glen was driving ahead of Ado, when suddenly out of the glare of the sun he saw what he first though was a polar bear right ahead of him, just sauntering across the busy motorway. Glen hit his brakes and swerved at the last second to avoid the polar bear, which he quickly realised wasn't a bear at all, but a huge dog. I was ahead of this at the time but I heard him shout "what the f*%&" over the radio. Ado was just behind him and saw all of this happen. He though his brother was about to crash, and was glad to see he successfully avoided the dog. The dog, who had just got the fright of his life
(literally) quickly bolted off to get back to the side of the motorway. This put the dog running right across the road in front of the flying suzuki bandit with Ado sitting on top of it. BANG!
From his rear view mirror Glen saw Ado get knocked up off his seat and hang on to the front of the bike. He hung on here for a second or two before hitting the ground. Him and the bike went sliding for about 50 metres or so. Worried he was going to get hit by a truck from behind (this must've been the trucker who passed me) Ado was on his feet as soon as he stopped sliding and bolted to the side of the road, to safety. To animal lovers out there Ado said the dog was killed instantly and didn't suffer. To motorbike lovers out there the bandit did unfortunaly suffer a little. The forks were smashed and bent right into the frame. The front of the bike, the clocks and the lights were all smashed up. The bike slid on it's engine bars and on the soft luggage panniers at the back (One of Ado's runners had the heel all worn away as the pannier wore right through) this actually saved the bikes panels though. Glen who saw the accident from his mirror pulled over to the side of the road and went back to make sure Ado was okay. When he took off his helmet it obviously broke the radio communications to me, so that's why I only heard silence at this point.
Ado got taken away to the hospital in Avellino. Most Italians drive motorbikes wearing only a tshirt, shorts and sandals. When the hospital heard that a biker had hit a dog on the motorway they were prepared for someone coming in with very serious injurys. They were utterly amazed to see Ado still in one piece and up and walking. Every doctor Ado saw congratulated him for wearing his proper bike protection. I remember before we left Dublin Ado spent a pretty penny on some of the best biker protection available. This would seem to have been a wise decision as the only injury Ado got was a graze on his arse cheek. A fitting injury as I'd always found Ado to be an Arsehole.
Glen went with Ado's bike to the recovery yard, where it was towed to. I went to the hosptal and waited with Ado. Who was physically okay, just exhausted and banged around a bit. We had to deal with the police for a while which was difficult with the language problems but we eventually met up with Glen at the recovery yard where we were able to examine the full extent of the bikes injuries. It was bad. The forks were completely destroyed. We wouldn't be going anywhere. The guys at the yard said there was a Honda store nearby in San Giorgio. Would these be able to get parts for a suzuki. We hope so as the recovery guys brought us out with the bandit, and me and glen following on our bikes and left the bike there. Wow this was some Honda store. The owner was amazingly helpful. He said he could get new forks but it would take a few days. So were were stuck in San Georgio, a small town somewhere in central/south Italy. The owner took us to a lovely hotel on the outskirts of the town to stay in. We would be here for a few days until the bike got fixed.
