Arkansas Report

[Greg]

*Tony has asked that I post this report*

Tony Kellen, myself and 5 other riders traveled to Arkansas for some riding. Weather forecast when we arrived in Harrison still looked pretty grim. Of the 4 days of riding, the forecasts predicted 60-70% chance of rain 3 of the 4 days.
It had rained early morning on Saturday, but had stopped by the time we were saddling up. We rode to a diner in town and had a leisurely breakfast hoping that things would dry out and warm up a bit.
When we were ready to leave breakfast it was in the low 50's, very overcast but not raining.
As the sun hadn't come out yet, the pavement was still damp.  We headed southwest out of Harrison on HWY 43. The pavement was chip-seal / tar with spotty "tar-snakes" and sporadic patches. We were maintaining a controlled, smooth and moderate pace for the conditions. All of us felt our speeds were appropriate for the conditions.  James from KC was leading, Tony was next, then me, then the other riders.
We had traveled about 15 miles. As we were approaching a beautifully banked but sharp right hand turn, I could see ahead of Tony that in the corner there was a tar-patch without any chip-seal added. This patch was ~6' x 12' in size and covered most of our lane of traffic. I could almost read Tony's mind while watching his body language approaching the turn. Although he doesn't remember this, he has asked that I share what I saw. I could tell he was very concerned about the tar. He knew it could be slick even though it wasn't raining. He was as gentle as you could possibly be with his turn in, but physics took over and he low-sided across the pavement and into the ditch on the other side. The added 5-10MPH that I was able to shave off my speed was the only reason why I didn't follow him down.
There were several large boulders in the ditch as Arkansas is prone to flash flooding and erosion given it's poor soil.
It took the first "First Responder" only 5 minutes to arrive though he didn't have any medical gear. He was a calming influence so he was appreciated. It took the ambulance 35-40 minutes to arrive after my 911 call. 
Tony broke his right femur. He was incredibly brave during the whole situation and remained calm throughout. He received 2 shots of morphine (lucky guy, hehe) while being treated in the ditch by the EMT's.
Tony was transported to Harrison Hospital. I followed Tony to the hospital on my bike, 3 of our group went to get the truck & trailer to pick up Tony's bike and 2 riders left and continued riding for the day....

He had surgery the next morning and pin was put into his thigh. He was released Tuesday evening.
Tony is a gem and an ace in our community and I'm proud to have ridden with him. 

Please send him your best wishes.

Greg

[jleosnow]

Dang the bad luck!!  Thanks for the info Greg and Tony, heal up quickly!!  You are in my thoughts.

-John

[POE]

We all take risks riding motorcycles. Sometimes those risks become reality. Tough luck TK, this really sucks. Heal up quick!

How'd the bike handle the spill?

[Gramps]

Sad news indeed. Best of luck Tony & get well soon.

[kp]

tk is one of a kind. He texted me this afternoon saying he needed some crutches. It
took than 2 minutes to find him some and have them delivered to his house tomorrow.
The power of fb!

[snipe]

TK, hoping you have a speedy recovery and hope to see you soon

[Ray916MN]

Heel fast Tony!

BTW if any has crutches Tony can borrow, PM him. They gave him a walker which doesn't work so well in certain situations so he'd like to borrow some crutches if anyone has some to loan.

[kp]

RAY! read my post!

[Jared]

Sorry to hear but glad that Tony's already up and about!  Heal up quick!

[Ray916MN]

RAY! read my post!

Oops....

[gely]

Heal up quick tk.  Had I not found your group ride 3 yrs. ago, I wouldn't have on a sportbike today.  I've had my r6 for 3 yrs prior, and put on less than 4k miles total and last year I did ~12k miles.
Was just about to get rid of the r6 until I ran in your group ride that started at Motoprimo.

You know I'm just a phone call away, text/call me if there's anything I can do.

Ge

[RCKT GRL]

Heal quickly Tony! We're all glad that your relatively ok.  You were in good hands with Greg.  Thanks for posting this up Greg & taking care of one of our own. 

[GUZZI JOHN]

  Oh man Tony,I wondered why you haven't replied about monday.  Heal well,I'll see you on a monday next year. ;)GJ

[flyinlow]

Heal up TK

[Busa dave]

Tony, sorry to hear about this.  But I'm praying for you.  God Speed,  dave