Well, shyte.
I never thought it would happen to me, but last week I was hit by a car while riding. It was a relatively a small bump, and I'm grateful that it wasn't worse, but my summer riding has come to an end for the year. I wasn't hurt badly (road rash, bumps and bruises, a broken foot, and sore old man muscles), but the bike will be out 6-8 weeks. As some here know, I just traded my SG for a brand spanking new Ultra; it didn't even have its plate yet!
Basically, the cars ahead of me stopped, I stopped, and the car of distracted teenagers behind me didn't stop. The driver was out celebrating his 18th Bday in his mom's UN-insured car with his buddies.
This being my first true car vs motorcycle mva, I made a couple observations:
-I'm even more vain and superficial than I thought. The first thing I did was check for scratches/rash on the fairing, front fender, and saddlebags. Praise Buddha, Allah, and Jesus! The only damage, besides that from the impact, was to the highway bars and the saddle bag bars!
-Even though I've never taken his Ride like a Pro course, I've heard IronHorse's constant nag, nag, nagging (
Thanks, Mark) about riding strategies and always looking for possible escape routes. It probably saved me from more serious injury. The split second I stopped, I thought of the possibility that the car behind me may not stop in time, and I immediately tried to pull to the left side of the car ahead of me (we were in a single construction lane). I was struck on the left saddle bag and rear fender just before pulling off the lane to the left shoulder. After knocking me out of the way, the car finally stopped when it plowed into the car that had been ahead of me. Thanks again, Mark.
Things could have been so much worse for me.
-It's amazing how hard it is to control a 900lb blob of metal when its locomotive force comes from an external source delivered at an odd angle. I flopped around like a boned fish trying to keep the bike from going down.
-I have Super Man-like strength when I'm in shock. The bike's saddle bag guard came to rest on my left foot, and I pushed that 900lbs off me like it was a throw pillow. Then I picked up the bike off the asphalt like it was a 250lb dirt bike. Thank you, adrenaline.
-Adrenaline is an awesome analgesic. I felt nothing for at least an hour.
-Asphalt is amazingly efficient at taking skin off an unprotected human limb. Can't imagine how much skin one could lose in a high speed crash.
-Times like this show us how important the "Harley Brotherhood" is. No less that four guys with HD shirts stopped to offer help and volunteer to be witnesses when the police arrived. I think the kids in the car were intimidated by this flash biker gang that formed so quickly.
-This may have been a message from the great beyond telling me that I should have gone to the Santa Fe GTG.
Everyone here, have a happy and safe 4th of July, ride safe and smart. And watch out for those little uninsured bastards driving their mommies' cars.
Dan
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Topic: There goes this summer. (Read 7192 times)