Beacon relief amid agony of bike crash
A dirt bike rider heard his leg bones snap before enduring an agonising 5km rescue journey strapped to the back of a ute.
Ian Reed was riding alongside a friend on a remote four-wheeldrive track in the Akatarawa Forest Park, near Wellington, on February 8.
He was coming around a corner at less than 15kmh when his bike skidded on rocks and his right leg twisted out at a 45 degree angle as it caught on a rock behind him.
He heard his leg snap as his tibia and fibula broke in two. His ankle was also broken.
‘‘It was like someone shoving a red hot poker inside your leg – twice,’’ Reed said.
Fortunately the keen dirt biker and motorcycle enthusiast was wearing full safety gear and carried a distress beacon, which he immediately set off.
He felt ‘‘complete and utter relief’’ at seeing a rescue helicopter approaching, but the inaccessible terrain meant he was transported by a ute for the first 5km, fording rivers and crossing rocky trails, stopping regularly for a paramedic to administer pain relief.
‘‘It makes me sick thinking about it. It was the most painful experience in my life,’’ he said.
Reed, an IT coach, said he bought the beacon almost 10 years ago and took it on every ride, but had never used it before.
According to new Search and Rescue (SAR) NZ figures, 265 people initiated a SAR response while in the outdoors over December and January.
Of those, 36 per cent alerted authorities to their plight by setting off a distress beacon – a massive jump from the 15 per cent five years earlier.
Statistics from Maritime New Zealand indicated about 106,000 distress beacons were in circulation in New Zealand as of December 2020.
More than 2000 were registered in December alone, a 30 per cent rise on the previous year. Reed had registered his beacon with the Rescue Co-ordination Centre NZ, which allowed rescuers to obtain his emergency contacts and provide vital information about him.
He was airlifted to Wellington Hospital, where a titanium rod was inserted into his leg.
It will be six weeks before he can walk and about six months before he is fully healed.
He is looking forward to riding again, with his beacon.
‘‘I love riding in the back country and going places no one else gets to see, so having that reassurance that emergency services will be able to find you is really vital.’’