“Wear the Best Shit You Can Afford”

A few weeks back I was following up with a friend of mine who I have recently reconnected with over motorcycles. Dave and I had gone to high school together but unfortunately have spent little to no time together due to life, location and other things. While I was browsing the Facebook back in July, after I had just returned my own Alaska trip, I came across a post from Dave saying he was preparing for a big adventure trip to Colorado. He was hitting up the Colorado Backcountry Discovery Route in early August. Still frothing at the mouth from my trip, I needed to hear some details about his trip.

We bantered back and forth on Facebook a bit about gear, trip planning and such. It was really great to catch up with Dave and to hear more about his forth coming trip. Having interest in the the BDR, I couldn’t wait to hear and see more from Dave.

So like most summer months, July came and went and I reached out to Dave in early August to see how his trip prep was going and wish him good luck. This was the response I got…..

Holy Shit! So I immediately wanted to hear the details and Dave sent me over photos of his equipment. Dave said I could share them with you. Enjoy. Cringe. Admire. Unfortunately, the CO BDR was canceled for this year, but I expect that he will do it again soon. Maybe we should do it together.

As we were texting back and forth Dave said which I think is brilliant advice: “Wear the best shit you can afford.”

That got me thinking for sure. The thing about these photos that truly amazed me was at how the areas that were reinforced with Kevlar and other “ironman” materials were the items that were torn up. What if those reinforcements were not there? Would Dave not have any skin left? Would he have broken bones? Who knows, but it is good to see the designers have put some serious thought into this product.

I wonder if my riding jacket and pants will hold up to a 70 mph crash. Hopefully these photos might encourage you to look at your own safety equipment and motivate you to use yours more frequently.

Last year my brother high sided on his Harley and ended up being airlifted to Madison, WI. He was hospitalized for a week for a major concussion. When I did get a hold of him, I could barely understand him. Once out of the hospital he was out of work for a crazy long time as his brain and body healed.  I can only wonder if he had been wearing the proper equipment, could he have ridden himself to the chiropractor the next morning as Dave had?

Thank you for sharing the photos and your story Dave. Let’s talk about a CO BDR trip for 2018.

PS. A few final notes and photos from Dave.

• His head (face) hit first. Just think about what would happen if you threw a watermelon out of your car at 70 mph.
• He slid about 80 feet before he came to rest.
• Where he first went down, there was a 3/4 inch gouge in the pavement from his motorcycle.
• Klim, the manufacturer of the gear has the most awesome crash replacement ever. Full coverage. Like their gear.
• Typos in his text. Give the guy a break he had just crashed hard. Me on the other hand, no excuse.