Lessons from the Pavement

Talk about that last great ride or perhaps, the next one. Ride reports here.
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LeighTower
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Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2012 8:27 pm
Location: Southern Maine

Maybe someone has opened this topic before, but I'm really interested in hearing of your experiences and after-thoughts of the mishaps you may have had. I'm trying to get a sense of where it all fits in terms of where I have come from and, more importantly, where I am going.

I'll start with a little history. I was 19 on my first bike, a Honda CB-350, trying to listen to my engine while zooming down a little town road to figure out why it was cutting out at around 50 mph. Turned out to be a split diaphragm in the carb, but I only determined that fact after I suddenly realized that the road took a 90 degree turn and wound up in the front bumper of a Cadillac, with road burn up and down the entire left side of my body. I cursed myself up and down, calling myself a little "pre-pubescent child" (I'll always remember those self-inflicted words!) Lesson learned? The road ahead is the only thing you should be thinking about when on two wheels.

Jump ahead almost 4 decades later (now with just a few additional years experience, given the lack of bike in the garage for all those years) and I am at a 3-way intersection, stopped, with 2 cars also stopped. I became flustered when I realised that they both had stop signs but I didn't. Bike didn't get into gear as I started the turn and I rolled right off the edge of the road into some sand. Embarrassed? Extremely! Not too much damage done except for sand rash on shoes and now not-so-new helmet, along with a 20-mile round trip back to the scene to search for my lost transpass. Lesson learned? Don't look at the edge of the road because where you look is where you steer!

A few (too short) months later, I'm heading into a mall lot and a car cuts right in front of me to line up with the outbound lane. Next thing I know, I'm on the ground again with my leg pinned. A bit of gas leaks before a bystander and I can right the bike, but the engine was saved a bit by the silly highway peg struts that I had installed. Good thing, and easy to bend back. An achy shoulder healed itself, or so I thought. I wound up doing a bunch of PT many months later to get it back in shape. I concluded that both the driver and I had been equally at fault, she for not checking for traffic before crossing and me for not looking far enough ahead when making the turn. Lesson learned - look far into any turn before committing.

And now the proverbial straw. Coming home from work the backroad way on a beautiful 75 degree summer day, in heaven, long holiday weekend and then more vacation to look forward to. I react a bit late to red brake lights and brake a little too sharply on a freshly paved road. The traffic has gone from 50 mph to a dead stop, no slowdown, boom! For the fourth time in my life on two wheels I find myself on the ground. This one is expensive. New helmet - $140, new jacket (it was shredded at all the armor points) - $150, new shoes (recently purchased for said vacation) - $90, new Skagen watch (given to me for Father's Day) - $70, various bike parts - unknown, but nothing major thanks again to recently installed engine guards, and the associated co-pays from medical bills. Thankfully, my left shoulder has already starting healing with ice-pack sessions and the road rash is limited to knee and ankle. No internal organ damage, but a huge Barney bruise popped up on the left side with a little brother on the right. I thought of a MasterCard commercial - i.e. "...living to tell about it thanks to having the right gear? Priceless."

I think that the lesson learned from this one is more of a question. Why am I letting myself down so often? Is this something I really should be pursuing or I am just too prone to failure to risk it anymore? I can't imagine not riding. It is like an anti-depression drug for me. All day long at work, I relish the thought of that 75 minute ride home. But it is becoming a nagging thought that I have to answer - how do I keep myself from destroying my body without destroying my mind?

I leave it here for your thoughts and comments. Let me know what conclusions you had after you made that mistake, because we all know that we are the only ones who can keep us safe. The fault is most assuredly our own and we are the only ones who can control our own destiny. Thanks for reading.
Best ride ever taken? The last one. I live for the next.

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