Police say a 31 year old Florida man is lucky to be alive after crashing his bike earlier this month near Boulder Colorado and surviving overnight in below freezing temperatures and near blizzard conditions.
The San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office says it was called about 2:30 a.m. on a report of a crashed motorcycle and blood, but no driver, on the side of Colorado 141 in Slick Rock Canyon near the town of Egnar.
Ssearch and rescue crews were dispatched and began scouring the area. He was found about 6:45 a.m. the following day near the shed.
“The driver told sheriff’s deputies he was travelling alone, en route to Boulder, when he found he was going too fast to round a corner and slid into a guardrail,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
The driver told deputies he waited on the side of the road for passerby assistance until temperatures started falling, the wind picked up and it started to snow. He decided to walk along the road in an effort to find shelter.”
Temperatures in the area overnight were reportedly as low as 17 degrees with winds gusting up to 40 mph, according to the sheriff’s office.
“He was fortunate to have found shelter after a bad accident and cold, windy, winter conditions,” Deputy Chris White said in a written statement. “This is another situation where the person, even with severe injuries, was ‘self-rescue’ capable. He got himself where he needed to be.”