Motocross. Big Crash, Excavator saves the day!

When I had just purchased a motocross bike I went for a ride at a quarry. At that time, I was new to the motocross scene in Thailand and wasn't aware of any tracks. Instead, I would ride in the nearby countryside and local quarries (which was never a problem with land owners).
The quarries around Bangkok only seem to quarry soil- if that's the right term!

The soil is sent and used to Bangkok for surface preparation with new builds. Bangkok is renown for only being fractionally higher than sea level, so this is common practice with all builds.

At this particular quarry, the soil was clay-like. Sticky, sloppy and swampy. Avoiding wet areas was fine and great fun riding up and down the huge cut out banks.

I lined up to one rather large bank, confident that a speedy ride up would ensure I reach the top. What I didn't expect was that the bank was cut out in the middle, dropping down into a swampy pit. From the bottom, I could see the start and see the top- the middle was obscured by loose dirt and grass!

Reaching the halfway point I saw my fate. In 2nd gear, and full momentum I tried to brake but it was too late. I forward flipped and landed a couple or meters below in the swamp on my back with the bike coming down just to the side of me. At this moment I realized I should have checked the route first!

A friend rode over to help- only after he had finished laughing, but every attempt seemed fruitless. We had a rope, and with him pulling and me pushing- nothing, The more I pushed and tried to lift the bike up, the more I got pushed down in the clay. I was literally bogged in a pit of sloppy clay with no exit other than a straight 2m lift.

There was only one thing we could try- ask the guy very politely with the keys to the excavator to help! Surprising it took us over an hour to realize there was one near by. It was the weekend and he was the only guy there. He found our story funny and how dirty we were even more funny, but he obliged and started up the machine.

My friend and I were trying to devise a plan of how we could use the digger to lift it out. The driver had other ideas- rolled up and just started digging out the huge wall of dirt!

As he broke through, the water started to drain and an exit channel had been cut. I tied the bike onto the bucket and walked it out keeping the balance.

The bike had taken in a lot of water through the exhaust and the air filter was soaking wet. I didn't start it, but got back home, drained it and did an oil change- plus a few other things to clean up and it was fine.

I looked back over what had happened and was thankful that the fall was into a boggy swamp of soft clay and not rock or a pile of logs- always ride safe guys and learn from me- check your route first!

The following week went much better :)

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