When you?ve crashed as many times as me, you get to learn a few things. And contrary to popular misconception, it doesn?t always hurt. In fact nine times out of ten, you can pick yourself up, dust yourself down, and live to ride another day; even when you have a really big one. I?ve had some super-fast, super-painless crashes. But I?ve also had some super slow crashes that really, really hurt. So what?s going on" I thought, in an effort to shine some light on this extraordinary paradox, I?d take some time to analyse some of my most painful crashes.

The high-side

High-sides can happen at any speed. I?ve had some fast ones and some slow ones. Once I high-sided on the first lap of a race at Croft. It was a bit damp, and as I got on the gas coming out the hairpin, my ZX-10R drifted sideways, suddenly gripped and threw me over the ?bars. I?m assuming I was doing about 30mph, but I don?t know because I can?t remember any of it. All I can remember is waking up in hospital with everyone laughing at me because I was asking the same three questions; ?Where am I"? ?What?s happened"? and ?Is the bike ok"? (the bike was ok, by the way).
The problem with a high-side is that they have the potential to fire you a long way into the air. As this one did. And as we all know, what goes up, must come down. On this occasion, I came down on my head. I must have given my foot a smack too, because there were a few broken bones in there as well.

I might not have b...