Motorcyclist survives crash, three days in a roadside ditch
A motorcycle rider in the UK spent three days lying in a roadside ditch after an accident last week. Anthony Margrave left his home after telling friends he was going for a short ride, but wound up laying down his Yamaha just 15 minutes into his outing.
Both Margrave and the bike wound up sliding into a seven-foot-deep ditch between a road and a field, after colliding with a metal sign post. The 40-year-old motorcyclist collected a fractured spine, broken ribs and a damaged airway in the process. A police search party found him three days later after spotting fragments of the bike, and initially thought Margrave was dead.
It was only when an officer spotted him blinking his eyes that he was rushed to the hospital. By that point, Margrave was also suffering from hypothermia. Doctors induced a coma and performed surgery on the rider's airway, but The Daily Mail reports the lucky motorcycle rider is in critical condition, but has been taken off of life support.
Margrave said he was conscious during most of the three days and shouted for help from passing cars to no avail. Due to his injuries, he could not move his hands to fetch his phone or brush bugs away from crawling over his body. Even so, family members say he is in good spirits overall, only becoming upset when he learned his bike was demolished and that paramedics had cut his fairly expensive jeans.
After desert crash, motorcycle racer rides 14 more miles with broken ribs, collapsed lung
Endurance off-road racing is brutal, and riders willing to tackle the open desert on a motorcycle are as tough as they are adventurous. Sam Longson, competing in the Best in the Desert "Vegas to Reno" race on August 17, showed just how rough off-road racing can be when he rode his bike the final 14 miles of the race with three broken ribs and a partially collapsed lung.
After riding 520 miles of the 534-mile event (known as the "Longest Off-Road Race in the United States"), Longson crashed his Yamaha after hitting what appears to be loose gravel over the trail. The incident occurs at the 4:30 mark of the video, at which point Longson flies back-first into the rock-strewn terrain.
Being in such a remote location meant Longson was far from help, so he hopped back on his bike, took a quick breather and headed for the finish line. Through the rest of the video, you hear him groaning in pain as he rides over the rough terrain. Despite all that, he finished the race in 38th place overall and third in his class.
The ordeal, recorded on Longson's helmet camera, is posted below. Note that the audio contains some explicit language, particularly (and understandably) in the portion following the crash.
A motorcycle rider in the UK spent three days lying in a roadside ditch after an accident last week. Anthony Margrave left his home after telling friends he was going for a short ride, but wound up laying down his Yamaha just 15 minutes into his outing.
Both Margrave and the bike wound up sliding into a seven-foot-deep ditch between a road and a field, after colliding with a metal sign post. The 40-year-old motorcyclist collected a fractured spine, broken ribs and a damaged airway in the process. A police search party found him three days later after spotting fragments of the bike, and initially thought Margrave was dead.
It was only when an officer spotted him blinking his eyes that he was rushed to the hospital. By that point, Margrave was also suffering from hypothermia. Doctors induced a coma and performed surgery on the rider's airway, but The Daily Mail reports the lucky motorcycle rider is in critical condition, but has been taken off of life support.
Margrave said he was conscious during most of the three days and shouted for help from passing cars to no avail. Due to his injuries, he could not move his hands to fetch his phone or brush bugs away from crawling over his body. Even so, family members say he is in good spirits overall, only becoming upset when he learned his bike was demolished and that paramedics had cut his fairly expensive jeans.
After desert crash, motorcycle racer rides 14 more miles with broken ribs, collapsed lung
Endurance off-road racing is brutal, and riders willing to tackle the open desert on a motorcycle are as tough as they are adventurous. Sam Longson, competing in the Best in the Desert "Vegas to Reno" race on August 17, showed just how rough off-road racing can be when he rode his bike the final 14 miles of the race with three broken ribs and a partially collapsed lung.
After riding 520 miles of the 534-mile event (known as the "Longest Off-Road Race in the United States"), Longson crashed his Yamaha after hitting what appears to be loose gravel over the trail. The incident occurs at the 4:30 mark of the video, at which point Longson flies back-first into the rock-strewn terrain.
Being in such a remote location meant Longson was far from help, so he hopped back on his bike, took a quick breather and headed for the finish line. Through the rest of the video, you hear him groaning in pain as he rides over the rough terrain. Despite all that, he finished the race in 38th place overall and third in his class.
The ordeal, recorded on Longson's helmet camera, is posted below. Note that the audio contains some explicit language, particularly (and understandably) in the portion following the crash.