Riding home this evening, in the (legal to use) bus lane. Traffic light green, but as v.busy, I am taking my time and riding along pretty slowly (not even 30kph).
Just as well. Elderly indian woman walks straight out, looking at her own feet, on a mobile phone.
I haul anchor as hard as I can, hitting horn at same time. No chance. She keeps walking, right hand mirror catches her elbow and I plop onto floor.
Stupid indian woman still on feet (tribute to me doing my best to save her). Meanwhile, I am on floor, with bike sitting on top of me. Look round and get someone to help lift the bike up, so I can get behind it and haul upright.
Of course, she speaks almost no english whatsover. I try to get details. Forget it. A man kindly says he was a witness and gives name and phone number (though I have my doubts that it would be any use; anyone that says they can't remember their full address screams "illegal immegrant" to me). Meanwhile, shop owner had translated indian idiot - she is OK, she knows it was her fault and her daughter works in Limehouse (no idea what relevence that had - guessing she was trying to tell me she would be going to her so was OK.
At this point, he also says it looks like liquid coming out of the bike. I assume worse and think engine casing cracked. Another look shows it was, as far as I could see, just some fuel came out of the overflow pipe. Further inspection showed end of clutch cable snapped off (well done intelligent design: as it is built to just lose the end, it was perfectly useable). Quick inspection showed no damage to mirrors, not even a scratch on the bar ends. Think the left hand front indicator might have come off mount slightly. Not even a scratch on the fairing either.
Guess I cushioned pretty much all the impact.
Rode home, no problem. Once cooled down, checked again and there are the slightest scrapes right on the bottom edge of the engine casing. You can only tell by running your finger carefully over it.
I feel fine; think left elbow and wrist are aren't quite right, but nothing much to speak of. Stupid indian woman is very, very lucky. It could have been a bus, or someone hammering it along ths bus lane. Either way, she wouldn't be here right now. Doubtless her daughter is now screaming about the "killer biker" who tried to murder her mother, rather than the person that ended up on the floor with a bike on top of them, in an attempt to stop her from being killed.
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Always good when no one is maimed, mutilated or killed ... biking gods will sort it out! And don't worry about the pundits who will say "she was a noticeable hazard and you should have had it sorted sooner".
Originally Posted by Bob
Opinions are like arseholes: Everybody has got one, but that doesn't mean you got to air it in public all the time....
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