But thanks to a specially modified bike Freeman bought this summer from a local motorcycle dealer and a lot of hard work, he is back on the road again. And he's loving it.
"I thought that would never happen again," Freeman said. "Right now I'm very, very, very happy."
Out of his passion for bikes and the open road, he founded the Night Riders motorcycle group in the 1980s in Fremont. Freeman later settled in the Washington, D.C., area, where he worked for 19 years as a corrections officer in the federal prison system.
On a warm November day in 2001, he said, he took his newly purchased motorcycle for a ride in Maryland. After turning onto a brand new road to explore, Freeman said, he lost control and careened off the still-soft pavement into a wooded area.
"I was knocked out," he said. "I laid there for three days."
Freeman's salvation was realized when a passing motorist finally spotted his bike's tail light, which she said was still illuminated, and called in emergency crews.
"The good Lord decided it wasn't my time," he said. "And I'm so thankful."
Freeman said he spent nearly a week inside a hospital as a "John Doe," since someone apparently stole his wallet before he arrived in the emergency room. He said he is not bitter about that or anything else surrounding the incident.
"I'm not mad," Freeman said.
More than 10 years later, he still suffers from some brain damage, vision problems, a knee injury that forces him to walk with a cane, and he has difficulty using the right side of his body.
"They told me I would never drive another car again," Freeman said.
Freeman retired from his job at the prison because of his injuries, but decided to settle in Fremont again after coming back to visit his son in 2008. After getting glasses that correct his double vision and passing his Ohio driving test, Freeman bought a car.
He said, during the years since his accident, the idea of getting back on a motorcycle kept creeping into his mind until it became a serious goal.
"I tried everything for a while to get the idea of riding a bike out of my mind," Freeman said. "It just wouldn't go nowhere. When I started thinking positive, I just couldn't let go of it."
One day, he saw a woman pull up next to his car riding a motorcycle with three wheels, commonly referred to as a trike. Freeman said something clicked in his mind, and he started searching out his own modified motorcycle.
Frank Chovan, a salesman at Schiets Motorsports, said he met Freeman last year when the man walked into the dealership ready to buy.
"He basically came in and said he wanted to ride a bike again and it was more important to him than breathing air," Chovan said.
Employees put their heads together, he said, and realized that outrigger-style wheels could be added to a motorcycle to prevent any danger of it tipping, since Freeman might have difficulty bracing himself on his right side.
Last autumn, Freeman treated himself to the brand-new, specially modified Suzuki Burgman 650 as a birthday present.
"It felt so good, because it didn't lean," Freeman said. "I can't fall."
In addition to the two extra wheels, the bike was also outfitted with a left-handed throttle kick to replace the typical throttle on the right-side handlebar.
Chovan said motorcycle instructor Darl Schiets helped Freeman with a refresher course and everyone at the business has grown close to the man.
"We've become great friends," Chovan said. "I'm just happy we were able to help Tim out and get him riding again."
So what's next for the man who wouldn't let a life-threatening crash keep him off a bike?
Freeman and the rest of the Night Riders are planning a ride to Texas in August.
"I gotta go," he said. "I just enjoy it a whole, whole, whole lot."
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source: The News Messenger (Tower, 1/24)
