The Jamestown Sun
When things go bad, people often say they hope their luck will change. For one young man in Jamestown, his hopes came true in the form of two shiny new motorcycles to replace the one that he had just totaled.
The June 23 accident sent him to the hospital for 16 days with crushed bones in his face, a fractured skull, contusions or bruises on the brain and a bad case of road rash on his shoulder.
"We were riding through some road construction and my rear tire hooked on a lip and tipped me over," said Adam McMahon of Jamestown.
However, wiping out on a motorcycle and spending more than two weeks in the hospital is not what makes this story remarkable. McMahon learned the day after he came home from the hospital that he had won two new Harley Davidson motorcycles.
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The cycles were the grand prize in a raffle sponsored by ARC of North Dakota. Tickets in the raffle went for $100 each and McMahon had purchased his several months ago.
"At first I didn't believe the call," he said. "But I went down to the Harley shop and they said 'you're the winner.'"
McMahon is keeping the bigger of the two bikes, the Dyna Wide Glide, and selling the other, a Sportster 1200, through a local Harley Davidson dealer.
"I have to pay sales tax, title and license on the bike I'm keeping and income tax on both bikes," McMahon said.
And while the Dyna Wide Glide is in his possession, he hasn't had a chance to try it out.
"I haven't ridden it yet," he said. "I have to heal up a bit."
Even once he's ready, there is some family concern for his safety.
"The first thing my mom asked when I got out of the hospital was what was I going to do," McMahon said. "I said I was going to get on a bike. She looked at me kind of funny."
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When he does get on the road, probably sometime this fall, he plans on doing one thing different.
"I didn't have a helmet on when I had the accident," McMahon said. "I should have. Now I'm going to get an expensive and good one."
McMahon plans to return to his summer job as an engineering technician with the North Dakota Department of Transportation within a week. He will start his second year at North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton this fall in its engineering and surveying program.
