All Gear, All The Time
Aug. 8th, 2009 04:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecuniumFor getting around I have a scooter (the budget, right now, even with some help from commodorified, iclysdale and my folks wasn't quite up to what a bike size/type is going to run). It's a decent means of transportation, and the locals in Moutain View, Santa Cruz and points between are pretty aware/considerate (well, there was the ass who was tailing me about four car lengths behind, for about a half mile, who decided to speed up the moment I hit the blinker to get over to the left turn lane, but if I've learned anything from riding in the past 26 years it's that people in cars are often nasty to people on two wheels).
It's a 2008, and the shop overstocked when the price of gas was up around $4. The price came down and they had too many, so it was going out the door for about 30 percent of list.
It'll do 67 (there is a chunk of the road from MV to Aptos which is shared highway). It's of questionable legality on the freeway (it's called a 150cc, which is the cut-off, but the specs are for 149.7), but I have no interest in using it there. It climbs the 1/3 of a mile of 12 percent grade without any problem.
I'm not unfamiliar with motorcycles, but it's been 20 years since I was using one at all regularly. Which is why I got into minor trouble. I was making a right on red when the oncoming left turn lane was activated. A white SUV decided to barrel off the line and I flinched.
When I flinched I was slightly canted, and doing about 3 mph. I made the mistake of cutting the wheel some, in a vain attempt to tighten the turn, which dropped the bike. She went straight over and skidded, just enough to make some superficial scratches to the fairing.
Me, I was embarrassed. My knee took a knock, my right arm went out to break the fall. Either I hit the kill switch, or something bumped it. Haul the bike up (about 300lbs, between the dry weight, 2 gallons of gas and the books/computer in the cargo netting on the back, and my camera rig under the seat), get it started and off I go. I look at my knee, the pants aren't torn. At the next stop I look at my boot, no damage. My knee ached, but I'd just bounced a lot of plastic coverd metal off of it.
Five miles later I stopped at a gas station to check my map (It was my first trip from Mountain View to Aptos on it), and pulled my pants up to look at my knee and see if it was swelling.
It was, too a manner of speaking. I had a fishook shaped tear in it, about two inches by one. I called CG and told her I was coming back to her place to get a ride to the ER at the Palo Alto VA. What's amazing (as I look at something that appears to want 6-8 stitches) is there is no blood on my jeans, not a drop.
She looks at traffic (God I love technology) and we decide it won't be any faster for her to come get me than it will be for me to get to her place, so I should head back. I promise to pay attention to my pain, and my attentiveness, and stop if I start hurting too much, or losing focus.
I open the seat, take out a bandage (don't leave home without them. I'd thought of leaving it in my camera bag, but didn't. While I'm doing that, it starts to bleed. I lift my jeans, realise I am not going to be able to get the bandage on with the pants pulled up, so I undo my belt, stand there in my boxers and leather jacket and get it wrapped.
Start it up, and head back. It hurts. It hurts more because I wasn't really paying attention when I closed up the bandage, which has a plastic bar-clip to keep it shut, and the clip was across the inside edge of my knee, which put pressure on it when bent. I needed to get over from foothill to Central Expressway, and took Grant... which turns into Calif. 237... a freeway.
I opened the throttle all the way (getting her up to 63. I didn't know she takes premium; the manual isn't included, and the online source is 404), and bailed at the first opportunity (which was the street I wanted).
Got back to CG's. She was out getting some cabbage rolls and kvass from Samovar, a local Russian deli/market/store. I calledcommodorified, got told it wasn't a damnfool thing to do (which I knew, but it's still nice to be reassured), and got grilled about whether the helmet had so much as touched the ground. She didn't realise it had been at least 30 minutes since I'd dropped the bike, so she was a little more aggressive about grilling me than the would have been (she was right to be aggressive. Helmets are good for one (1),and only 1 (one) fall. Be they bicycle, motorcycle, or horse; they are good for one (1) use only).
Get into the car and head to VA. See the nice nurse. Discover I am presently about 115 lbs, my BP is up, my O2 saturation is fine, and my pulse is a little fast. Big surprise. She looks at the wound, gets the details, and we wait for the doctor.
They come get me, then they take me to x-ray (four films), where the radiologist and I chat about arthritis (she has RA, and is on Remicade). Go back to the treatment room and wait. CG asks how I feel. I say I ache some. She goes away. In about ten minutes the nurse comes and he gives me some vicodin. The doc comes in (they have one attending, and 22 beds, he was good, attentive, patient and overworked). Asks about pain, we tell him about the vicodin. He looks at it, has a nurse come and irrigate it. That stings.
He comes back, tells me it will take two stitches. I express some, dopey, surprise. He tells us the longer wound is superficial, and mere adhesion will do, but the "corner" is deep, and it needs to be sewn up.
I yelp, and gasp, my way through the lidocaine (it burns me when it goes in), and CG watches as he sews me up; all I feel is a numb tugging. It was about 0200 when we got out, so we'd been there about 5 1/2 hours.
Things I'd do differently:
1: Stop at the next opportunity to look at my leg.
2: Do a better job of bandaging myself up. It was shoddy work.
3: Have taken a route home I better knew. I don't think trying to cut up Grant saved me any time, and not knowing it turned into the freeway could have been really bad.
Things I did right:
1: Got the bike up, and out of the semi-blind spot of the corner
2: Called someone as soon as I knew I was hurt.
3: Put a plan of action into motion.
Things that helped: 26 years of riding a bicycle, in traffic. A couple of years of intermittent riding of mopeds and small motorcycles. Having power (and 150cc will move 425 lbs of me, gear, and stuff to 20 mph fast enough to be clear of the intersection before the cars next to/behind me are across), makes it a lot easier to keep track of the surroundings.
All Gear, All The Time. I had boots, a motorcycle jacket, helmet and metal studded gloves. The only damage (apart from my knee; which was bitten by a "feature" of the bike (a spring-loaded U-clip to hand one's helmet from) was one of the studs on the heel of the glove caught a bit of pavement and there is a right angle tear, about 1/4" x 1/4", and a bit of scuffing on the inside toecap of my right boot.
I pulled some muscles in my left arm (I was trying to hold 300 lbs of bike... ain't gonna happen), and I needed two stitches. If I'd been in sneakers, wearing a shirt, without gloves, wearing shorts (or any arrangement of that sort of things), I'd've been a lot worse off. This was a "nothing" wreck. Slow, low, and simple.
Move it one foot to the right, and my head hits the curb, so I need the helmet.
I've been looking at the gear the other scooter riders are wearing (as with anything I see more scooters now than I did before I had one; I can't tell if I am more aware of bikes, or there are more here. I know that I've always been attentive to them, I wonder if I mistook some scooter for bike in the past), and most of them are wearing 3/4 helmets, and gloves.
Me... Nope. I take it up to 35-40 miles an hour, as a matter of course. That's too fast for bare skin, or mere cotton, to meet the road. I don't know if I'll wear chaps all the time, but if I'm wearing slacks, not denim, the chaps go on (the only reason I didn't have them on is they are too large in the waist, and I haven't taken them in yet).
I've gotten some nods from guys on motorcycles. I've gotten some funny looks from guys on scooters, I don't know if that's because the former think I'm taking it seriously, and the latter think I'm over the top, but that's sort of how it feels.
In any case, I'm not going to stop putting it on, any time I think about skipping some of it, I'll have a scar to remind me.
commodorified, iclysdale and my folks wasn't quite up to what a bike size/type is going to run). It's a decent means of transportation, and the locals in Moutain View, Santa Cruz and points between are pretty aware/considerate (well, there was the ass who was tailing me about four car lengths behind, for about a half mile, who decided to speed up the moment I hit the blinker to get over to the left turn lane, but if I've learned anything from riding in the past 26 years it's that people in cars are often nasty to people on two wheels).It's a 2008, and the shop overstocked when the price of gas was up around $4. The price came down and they had too many, so it was going out the door for about 30 percent of list.
It'll do 67 (there is a chunk of the road from MV to Aptos which is shared highway). It's of questionable legality on the freeway (it's called a 150cc, which is the cut-off, but the specs are for 149.7), but I have no interest in using it there. It climbs the 1/3 of a mile of 12 percent grade without any problem.
I'm not unfamiliar with motorcycles, but it's been 20 years since I was using one at all regularly. Which is why I got into minor trouble. I was making a right on red when the oncoming left turn lane was activated. A white SUV decided to barrel off the line and I flinched.
When I flinched I was slightly canted, and doing about 3 mph. I made the mistake of cutting the wheel some, in a vain attempt to tighten the turn, which dropped the bike. She went straight over and skidded, just enough to make some superficial scratches to the fairing.
Me, I was embarrassed. My knee took a knock, my right arm went out to break the fall. Either I hit the kill switch, or something bumped it. Haul the bike up (about 300lbs, between the dry weight, 2 gallons of gas and the books/computer in the cargo netting on the back, and my camera rig under the seat), get it started and off I go. I look at my knee, the pants aren't torn. At the next stop I look at my boot, no damage. My knee ached, but I'd just bounced a lot of plastic coverd metal off of it.
Five miles later I stopped at a gas station to check my map (It was my first trip from Mountain View to Aptos on it), and pulled my pants up to look at my knee and see if it was swelling.
It was, too a manner of speaking. I had a fishook shaped tear in it, about two inches by one. I called CG and told her I was coming back to her place to get a ride to the ER at the Palo Alto VA. What's amazing (as I look at something that appears to want 6-8 stitches) is there is no blood on my jeans, not a drop.
She looks at traffic (God I love technology) and we decide it won't be any faster for her to come get me than it will be for me to get to her place, so I should head back. I promise to pay attention to my pain, and my attentiveness, and stop if I start hurting too much, or losing focus.
I open the seat, take out a bandage (don't leave home without them. I'd thought of leaving it in my camera bag, but didn't. While I'm doing that, it starts to bleed. I lift my jeans, realise I am not going to be able to get the bandage on with the pants pulled up, so I undo my belt, stand there in my boxers and leather jacket and get it wrapped.
Start it up, and head back. It hurts. It hurts more because I wasn't really paying attention when I closed up the bandage, which has a plastic bar-clip to keep it shut, and the clip was across the inside edge of my knee, which put pressure on it when bent. I needed to get over from foothill to Central Expressway, and took Grant... which turns into Calif. 237... a freeway.
I opened the throttle all the way (getting her up to 63. I didn't know she takes premium; the manual isn't included, and the online source is 404), and bailed at the first opportunity (which was the street I wanted).
Got back to CG's. She was out getting some cabbage rolls and kvass from Samovar, a local Russian deli/market/store. I called
commodorified, got told it wasn't a damnfool thing to do (which I knew, but it's still nice to be reassured), and got grilled about whether the helmet had so much as touched the ground. She didn't realise it had been at least 30 minutes since I'd dropped the bike, so she was a little more aggressive about grilling me than the would have been (she was right to be aggressive. Helmets are good for one (1),and only 1 (one) fall. Be they bicycle, motorcycle, or horse; they are good for one (1) use only).Get into the car and head to VA. See the nice nurse. Discover I am presently about 115 lbs, my BP is up, my O2 saturation is fine, and my pulse is a little fast. Big surprise. She looks at the wound, gets the details, and we wait for the doctor.
They come get me, then they take me to x-ray (four films), where the radiologist and I chat about arthritis (she has RA, and is on Remicade). Go back to the treatment room and wait. CG asks how I feel. I say I ache some. She goes away. In about ten minutes the nurse comes and he gives me some vicodin. The doc comes in (they have one attending, and 22 beds, he was good, attentive, patient and overworked). Asks about pain, we tell him about the vicodin. He looks at it, has a nurse come and irrigate it. That stings.
He comes back, tells me it will take two stitches. I express some, dopey, surprise. He tells us the longer wound is superficial, and mere adhesion will do, but the "corner" is deep, and it needs to be sewn up.
I yelp, and gasp, my way through the lidocaine (it burns me when it goes in), and CG watches as he sews me up; all I feel is a numb tugging. It was about 0200 when we got out, so we'd been there about 5 1/2 hours.
Things I'd do differently:
1: Stop at the next opportunity to look at my leg.
2: Do a better job of bandaging myself up. It was shoddy work.
3: Have taken a route home I better knew. I don't think trying to cut up Grant saved me any time, and not knowing it turned into the freeway could have been really bad.
Things I did right:
1: Got the bike up, and out of the semi-blind spot of the corner
2: Called someone as soon as I knew I was hurt.
3: Put a plan of action into motion.
Things that helped: 26 years of riding a bicycle, in traffic. A couple of years of intermittent riding of mopeds and small motorcycles. Having power (and 150cc will move 425 lbs of me, gear, and stuff to 20 mph fast enough to be clear of the intersection before the cars next to/behind me are across), makes it a lot easier to keep track of the surroundings.
All Gear, All The Time. I had boots, a motorcycle jacket, helmet and metal studded gloves. The only damage (apart from my knee; which was bitten by a "feature" of the bike (a spring-loaded U-clip to hand one's helmet from) was one of the studs on the heel of the glove caught a bit of pavement and there is a right angle tear, about 1/4" x 1/4", and a bit of scuffing on the inside toecap of my right boot.
I pulled some muscles in my left arm (I was trying to hold 300 lbs of bike... ain't gonna happen), and I needed two stitches. If I'd been in sneakers, wearing a shirt, without gloves, wearing shorts (or any arrangement of that sort of things), I'd've been a lot worse off. This was a "nothing" wreck. Slow, low, and simple.
Move it one foot to the right, and my head hits the curb, so I need the helmet.
I've been looking at the gear the other scooter riders are wearing (as with anything I see more scooters now than I did before I had one; I can't tell if I am more aware of bikes, or there are more here. I know that I've always been attentive to them, I wonder if I mistook some scooter for bike in the past), and most of them are wearing 3/4 helmets, and gloves.
Me... Nope. I take it up to 35-40 miles an hour, as a matter of course. That's too fast for bare skin, or mere cotton, to meet the road. I don't know if I'll wear chaps all the time, but if I'm wearing slacks, not denim, the chaps go on (the only reason I didn't have them on is they are too large in the waist, and I haven't taken them in yet).
I've gotten some nods from guys on motorcycles. I've gotten some funny looks from guys on scooters, I don't know if that's because the former think I'm taking it seriously, and the latter think I'm over the top, but that's sort of how it feels.
In any case, I'm not going to stop putting it on, any time I think about skipping some of it, I'll have a scar to remind me.
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no subject
Date: 2009-08-09 05:55 pm (UTC)A 50cc scooter will do 30 mph. That's power. F=MA Motorcycle, car, scooter, bicycle. Dumping at 30 is bad.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-09 06:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-09 06:41 pm (UTC)My dad, who rode motorcycles and horses and drove log trucks (and fuel trucks in Europe from 12 June 1944 to VE day) taught me to think about how fast I was getting myself into trouble- on a bike, or a 14 foot aluminum salmon fishing boat with a merc outboard- and to think about the cone of hazard that goes in front of a moving object. Life has taught me that physics, especially gravity and inertia, never stops paying attention.
Julia, or, as I told my kids when they were learning to cross the street: you are small and soft and slow and squishy, and cars are big and fast and hard: Never forget that.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-09 07:30 pm (UTC)I've seen cyclists get speeding tickets; Calif. doesn't say, 'The speed limit for things with motors,' it says "the speed limit."
Back in the late '80s there were some kids training themselves to luge with modified skateboards down Mullholland. They made the news when the CHP issued them tickets for doing in excess of 50 mph in a 35 zone.
They weren't completely stupid:
They were going with traffic.
They were on a sparsely travelled section of the highway, and at non-peak times.
They were wearing safety gear (leathers and helmets).
They replaced their brakes every three or four stops (they were using sneakers from thrift-stores).
But... they were really fast (though low to the ground, which makes a big difference, it's a big part of why bikers have lower leg injuries much more than they do upper body), and they were pretty much invisible (the same thing which makes them safer from impact injury, made them more likely to be unseen.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-09 07:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-09 09:38 pm (UTC)I know Lake, and I assume they started around the curve in Alta Dena.
Somewhere around 60 MPH, they lose the ability to add speed with the gears, and the guys on the Tour de France don't usually get much above 60 mph on the long downhills.
Lake just isn't steep enough to get that fast.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-09 11:12 pm (UTC)