And I to my motorcycle parked like the soul of the junkyard. Restored, a bicycle fleshed with power, and tore off. Up Highway 106 continually drunk on the wind in my mouth. Wringing the handlebar for speed, wild to be wreckage forever.
- James Dickey, Cherrylog Road.
It is clearly and indisputably fucked. How did you get on with your insurance company?
BTW when I said clipped I knew from your original post what had happened. Just a general term I use. Sorry if it bugged you and thanks for sharing this story. It has got me thinking about my motorcycling future.
Lets go Brandon
We need some pics, so 5 fractures on the two ribs plus a few more on others means I got some titanium bits to hold them together, one of my greatest disappointments in life was them not setting off the airport metal detectors
And I to my motorcycle parked like the soul of the junkyard. Restored, a bicycle fleshed with power, and tore off. Up Highway 106 continually drunk on the wind in my mouth. Wringing the handlebar for speed, wild to be wreckage forever.
- James Dickey, Cherrylog Road.
And I to my motorcycle parked like the soul of the junkyard. Restored, a bicycle fleshed with power, and tore off. Up Highway 106 continually drunk on the wind in my mouth. Wringing the handlebar for speed, wild to be wreckage forever.
- James Dickey, Cherrylog Road.
Since we're sharing, this is the result of me hitting a car at about 85-90 km/h. The car was stopped at the stop sign. Right up until I was set on the bend.
The short short summary
1. I won the bloody lottery that afternoon, because
2. Walking in A&E by 9pm, nothing broken, because
3. Did my best superman impersonation over the bonnet, rather than into the car. Apparently.
4. Lost memory of the worst 20 minutes of my life, starting from the turn in to the bend to coming to in the ambulance, because
5. Used helmet as brake pad.
6. Bad light and busy crossroads, 100 km/h in my direction, stop signs left and right. Driver - wait for it - didn't see me and thought they had a gap.
7. Replaced my crap-fitting jacket 3 weeks prior as a birthday present to myself. Win.
8. Hyosung clearly build a durable headlight.
Fuckin hell, you certainly did win the lottery. Take it from me, hitting something at that speed is not fun.
And I to my motorcycle parked like the soul of the junkyard. Restored, a bicycle fleshed with power, and tore off. Up Highway 106 continually drunk on the wind in my mouth. Wringing the handlebar for speed, wild to be wreckage forever.
- James Dickey, Cherrylog Road.
I wonder what learning points you took - aside from the robustness of the headlight, helmet and jacket.
Has it made you change your driving style? If so, how?
Conversely, do you feel invulnerable?
In short, any advice you'd like to share?
"Shout! Shout! Let the clutch out!" Gears for Fears
It's a good question, and one I revisit every so often, as it reminds me to take care.
Key takings were (1) I will be able to parent my kids tonight - ride appropriately, (2) I was the gap the driver was looking for - convoy travel on roads like this at shitty times is a good defense (3) more thinking about my visibility, e.g. light, obstructions, attention level of drivers, (trust but verify) (4) ATGATT helps - don't skimp.
Did I change my riding style? Yes, became more pro-actively defensive. I am much more aware of what is going on, look further down the road than before, check what the drivers on cross-roads can see and are looking at. Regularly ask 2 questions - where am I going to go if... and what is this driver going to do next? Re-took the R4E silver course. Take the car more when I'm tired. Take the car often when it gets wet - partly for me and partly to mitigate other people's crappy driving.
I can remember a lot of detail up to just before the "oh, shit" moment. That's gone, fortunately. The light was getting dim. I was tired. I was riding at about 95 km/h leading up to the intersection, with a good gap opened up to the next car behind me. I could see the car I hit waiting at the stop sign, plus one other from the other side waiting to turn right into my lane. There were 3-4 oncoming cars ~200 m away from the intersection. I had worked out I was in a compromised position. I was actively checking all the cars and thinking about where I wanted to be going round the bend (slight right-hander, surface not perfect, what happens if that car moves). I had moved closer to the centre to provide more buffer to the car, which ended up probably saving my life. Ironically, I had my long-awaited full licence test booked about 3 weeks out and was actively assessing all the hazards in preparation of this (7 year gap away from riding while overseas, then another 18 months on the new bike). I spent too long assessing each car, road surface, road positioning, etc., and was fixated on whatever I was looking at at the time. This meant I didn't pick up the movement of the car as early as I could have. There's a whole bucket of discussion there surrounding more safety not making things safer...
Plus one to that.
I always look at the wheels of other vehicles stopped at intersections, driveways etc. For me that is the best and most accurate way of telling if the vehicle is moving or not. If they start moving before I think they should alarms go off in my head.
Lets go Brandon
I noted that the driver wasn't harshly penalized due to the sun being in his eyes among other things. I read of a similar circumstance recently where a pedestrian was injured/killed. If the sun was in the drivers eyes that means the sun was "behind" the pedestrian/rider and their visibility would have been optimal, not withstanding other factors. A little thought about your own visibility, which is not the best even in the best of circumstances, should have suggested extreme caution.
If the cars coming the other way have their sun-visors down, that's a big clue that you'll be appearing "out of nowhere, your honour". But how to reduce the risk I'm not sure. Slow down. Move to the left maybe. Watch extra hard for oncoming vehicles pulling out of their lane to overtake, or pulling out of side roads and driveways. Flick on the main beam. Deliberately weave a little.
Lots to think about!
"Shout! Shout! Let the clutch out!" Gears for Fears
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