Fainting while dismounting your GRiSO -- anyone else?

This thread started by BuellBloke, [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] over in the Guzziology section reminded me of a similar experience I had two summers ago. I parked after a longish, hot, tiring ride and then woke up thanking a stranger who had put my GRiSO upright. I had neglected to put down the side stand. It took me a while to understand I must have fainted.

A year later I fainted while walking and did a completely passive face-plant into the sidewalk outside my house. I had a severe concussion, forgetting my name for a while. $80,000 of tests found nothing wrong with me. I finally suggested to the docs that I was dehydrated, since I never drank much water back then. No better explanation was suggested. (The doctors had never suggested the possibility.)

One reason I am writing this is to suggest a countermeasure that I hope I can remember to use when I am tired and overheated as I park. That is to avoid dropping my leg(s) down and sitting up quickly. The blood drains from your head when you do this, just like getting up from a chair too quickly can make you feel dizzy sometimes. From now on I'll maintain my forward crouch and try to put only my left foot down at first, until I'm sure I won't be passing out and the side stand is planted.

I also pay more attention to hydration now. I keep a tally of the glasses of water I drink throughout the day, in binary on the front of the refrigerator, using four dot magnets.

Anyone else (aside from the author of the other thread) ever have this experience of "forgetting" to put down the side stand and then waking up on the ground? What do you do to avoid doing it again?

Had a wonderful ride this morning, btw. (GRiSO content.)

Moto

While it's not happened to me, yet, I've seen a similar thing unfold in front of me. We were riding as a group in the mountains of Virginia near Burkes Garden, when one of the older riders failed to negotiate a 10 mph switch-back. He did a fair amount of damage to the bike and was a bit bruised and dis-oriented. Having emergency medical training, my wife and I recognized the signs of dehydration. Well, since we'd been with him all day, we knew he hadn't drank nearly enough, especially in hot, humid riding. When we got him to the hospital, they started a saline IV and within 10 minutes he perked up, then began vomiting. Yep, sure signs of dehydration.

The other thing we, as motorcyclists, need to watch out for is hypothermia. I've experienced that on a summer day, on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Sudden storm, no rain suit, plunging temps. Not fun.

I have never fainted but have fallen asleep while riding. Imagine my surprise when I woke up and realised I had dozed off. Pulled over immediately and had a proper nap. When I woke up, I could hear the dulcet tones of a big block and small block coming down the road.

That really woke me up and I followed them for quite a few km in an effort to catch up, which I did eventually. The Monza rider thought I was a cop and pulled over "pre-emtively". We're all good mates these days and the pair have bedded down at my place on a number of occasions and me at theirs. Gidday Hatchy and Miranda

Moto, you need to see a doctor and get a check up. Seriously .

On topic: I haven't fainted but have fallen asleep. Worst was after Glastonbury Festival in 1978. Woke up feet from a concrete bridge over the motorway, which the bike was aiming for. Close, that.

Fainting can occur due to a hundred reasons most of which aren't dangerous to your long term health.
Unfortunately the act of fainting can be very dangerous and painful which can impact your long term health.
Hydration is a really important and especially so when riding, even in milder weather and has all sorts of positive health benefits.
It is really critical after drinking significant amounts of alcohol, especially spirits and wine.

I have had a couple of incidents of severe dizziness which can occur randomly and have also had a multitude of tests which only cost a few hundred bucks (I live in in Australia which has a decent public health system) but no obvious cause has been found.

This is good and bad as I have no obvious major health issues with my brain, heart etc. but is a bit annoying as there is no obvious cause and therefore no obvious thing to treat.
My doctors best diagnosis is that it is a milder form of a migraine, so I will have to just manage it.
Shit just realised this sounds like a post by some of the old farts on WildGuzzi.

My solution to avoid forgetting to put down the sidestand, is to get in to the habit of putting it down to kill the engine when you stop.
All you need to do then is turn off the ignition and your bike is already in gear, so it isn't going to roll off the stand if facing down a hill.
I have never dropped the bike from not putting down the stand but have had a couple of near fails, I have forgotten once or twice when tired or distracted when stopping after a long trip.

mark111 wrote:

...
My solution to avoid forgetting to put down the sidestand, is to get in to the habit of putting it down to kill the engine when you stop.
All you need to do then is turn off the ignition and your bike is already in gear, so it isn't going to roll off the stand if facing down a hill.
...

That seems like a great idea. Thanks!

I’ve had 2 unexplained loss of consciousness events on my ADV bike (I have an explanation now, more on that in a bit). The first one I was riding in a wilderness area by myself. I was found by man wedged under a log on the side of the road. I had amnesia for 3 days and a neurologist diagnosed a moderate TBI. I had no memory of anything. I had an mri of brain and veins in my neck and head and saw a cardiologist and wore a heart monitor for a month all to see what caused me to pass out. 18 months later and it happened again but a concussion vs a TBI. Sesame tests no answers. I researched causes a of loss of consciousness and one cause struck me, dehydration and that made sense. I never drink enough fluids. Have a couple glasses of wine the night before, get up drink coffee, ride for 2-3 hours and stand up on the pegs fast and it was causing me to pass out. I’ve been hydrating a lot now and no problems!

Whenever I am going to be riding for more than one hour I have a water bladder with drinking hose in my tank bag so I can drink frequently, without having to stop. One time, caught in road construction delays for an hour on a 100*F day, I put myself on a 10 minutes drinking schedule. I sure that helped.

FYI I have been fully conscious every time I've dropped or crashed my GRiSO.

Dark Helmet wrote:

I’ve had 2 unexplained loss of consciousness events on my ADV bike (I have an explanation now, more on that in a bit). The first one I was riding in a wilderness area by myself. I was found by man wedged under a log on the side of the road. I had amnesia for 3 days and a neurologist diagnosed a moderate TBI. I had no memory of anything. I had an mri of brain and veins in my neck and head and saw a cardiologist and wore a heart monitor for a month all to see what caused me to pass out. 18 months later and it happened again but a concussion vs a TBI. Sesame tests no answers. I researched causes a of loss of consciousness and one cause struck me, dehydration and that made sense. I never drink enough fluids. Have a couple glasses of wine the night before, get up drink coffee, ride for 2-3 hours and stand up on the pegs fast and it was causing me to pass out. I’ve been hydrating a lot now and no problems!

That sounds just like my experience. After being discharged from my three-night stay in the hospital I also did a web search for fainting, which I learned is more or less the same as "syncope." Dehydration is listed as the first likely cause of it more often than not, but not a doctor in my team of a half dozen or more suggested dehydration as my problem while ordering up $80K worth of tests. This increased my cynicism about doctors, though there are many good ones. I never listened to my wife's recommendation that I drink more water back then, but things have changed.

Have never experienced that while riding my GRiSO.
However I spent 10 years as a postal rider on a 110cc Honda. We had to wear full kit, boots, pants, jacket. gloves etc all year round, even in 35c summer sun.
Traveling at little more than walking pace, going from mailbox to mailbox there was no wind-cooling at all.
Having a 60yr old bladder, drinking water during the day was something I couldn't do. (people get grumpy when the postie keeps nipping behind their hedge to pee) and no public toilets within miles of my rounds. So I just didn't drink anything.
The dehydration would result in a headache by the end of the day, but at least the bosses weren't getting phone calls from irate public  [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

The first time I saw a GRiSO in the local showroom, I nearly fainted. The rest is history.

Steak, interesting comment - as the first time I saw a GRiSO I’d just bought a left over ‘09 Tuono (both at Moto I) and couldn’t for the life of me understand why anyone would choose GRiSO over Tuono. When the literally months long negotiations finally settled recently and I owned an almost new ‘10 GRiSO, the shop had a ‘10 Tuono new arrival and I quickly had two thoughts. Me 10 years ago and a few months ago, with polar opposites of opinion and understanding.
Back on topic - I had a syncope episode at work on a Monday morning late 2020. For years I’ve consumed several litres of water daily during the week and totally neglected it over the weekend. A full day of very concerned specialists and all they could come up with was dehydration. I’ve since learned the pre event signs of light headedness and abnormal hot or cold flashes and immediately drink as much as I can.
Also one of my water bottles is used 7 days a week, simply counting the refills.

Never fainted while riding, but I have been a heat casualty while deployed. Woke up in a tank of water with ice with an IV, and blacked out. Dehydrating is dangerous business. I always carry water with me, especially if I am in the boonies. Try to drink water at every stop. On LD rides, I wear a thin camelback filled with ice and water.

I have forgotten to put my kickstand down, once right after the birth of my first kid, I pulled in the driveway after work alongside the car, excited to go in to see her, forgot to deploy stand and watched in horror as the clutch lever gouged the fender......

+1 on keeping your doc in the loop on this.

I have almost "fainted" when dismounting a stubborn tire...

Does that count ?