Life get more exciting

[pecunium]

A week ago I had a real accident on the bike (which was a scooter). Bike is totaled (in all probability). I might be able to repair it, but that would be, in essence, a complete teardown and reassembley. It looks as though the frame is bent. Everything else works (well the throttle seems stuck at about 15 percent, but given the way things were torqued, I'm not surprised).

That said, it was a good wreck.

The guy next to me drifted, or thought about changing lanes, or something. I looked over a tad too long (I am a moderately experienced rider of motorcycles, but not a recent one), and the two cars in front of me stopped.

I had good following distance, and all the needed gear (helmet, leather jacket [the classic style, with the belt done up], jeans, boots; well above the ankle, and studded gloves).

I saw the stopped cars, hit the brakes, and saw there was no way to stop in time, so I laid it down.

It was over in an moment. The bike hit the ground (and so too my shoulder, hip and foot).

From the aches, pains, scrapes, and bruises, I have a pretty good idea of the next bit. My shoulder rolled, the helmet dragged, my head rolled, the front tire of the bike hit the driver side rear tire of the car, and the frame bent; shoving the fairing into my topside (right) knee.

I was, as one is, up in a moment. The lady in the car was out shortly thereafter, all shook up because she had never seen me (bike, good following distance, etc.).

Apart from the bike being totalled (it cost $800, all in, and I;m guessing the needed parts [fairings, frame] are about $400; a good used scooter is running about $500, and [if there are still some at that price] a new replacement would be $700 (I can live without delivery. I'll look into a new scooter, and then disassemble this one to sell/keep for parts. If I get an actual motorcycle, I'll offer this for a project, and then probably sell it for parts, but I digress) I'm fine.

Not having transportation sucks. I was gettig used to the idea of being completely independent of others again, but I'll be able to replace it in a month, or two; the belt will be a little tight, but the GI bill ought to be paying me by October.

It could have been a lot worse. It's the first time I've ever had to lay down a motorcycle. It was a lot less scary than the occaisions I've had to lay a bicycle down. Which may have been the speed of it all (I was doing about 40 when I saw the stopped cars, and something between 15-20 when I hit the ground).

I'd have to say time on bicycles, and horseback, helped a lot. Everyone I've spoken with about it says I was lucky enough to do everything right. I'll put it in the win column, under Victories, Pyrric.

Comments

[harimad.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're OK! And very sorry your bike is less so.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

ouch. Glad you are in one piece, though.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Me too. As such things go, I've been more beaten up with falls on horses.

It was, oddly enough, not scary; more an Oh Shit!, much like my worst falls with horses.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

I think that's adaptive. Scared is for before the crisis. It's not helpy during.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

All the car crashes I've been in (one as a driver, a few as a passenger) had a much larger sense of dread, same for bicycle wrecks.

I think it has to do with a greater sense of control on a horse/motorcycle (can't say why that doesn't translate to bicycles).

[elisem.livejournal.com]

Whew! Well done, but really sorry you had to do it.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Me too. I was amazed at how easy it was. The worst part was that I'd been worrying about exactly that sort of accident; because the road was being odd for traffic.

But, for all that one's mind goes, "Fling the bike at the ground while moving is nuts," when driving along, the actual deed was done without thought.

[batwrangler.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you only broke your bike. Sorry about the bike.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

Everyone I've spoken with about it says I was lucky enough to do everything right.

I'd disagree. You were lucky that you didn't get hurt worse in the process because there can always be debris on the road or you're hitting at an awkward angle or the wrong piece of bike sticks out: but you had taken precautions, you'd gotten the equipment, you'd prepared yourself mentally (I hadn't known that laying down a bike is an option that would get you out of trouble in certain situations), and you were prepared enough to put the plan into action when it was clear that you needed to act, rather than dallying and wondering whether you should do something else or hoping the situation would resolve itself miraculously after all.

That's not luck. That's training doing what it ought to do. It's like the plane in the Hudson: there was a great deal of luck involved in that there were no boats on the water in that spot so he had a good run, and luck that the plane ended up on the right side of level so they got everyone off, but no-one without Captain Sullenberger's training and ability to put that training into action would have been able to make use of that luck at all.

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

I've noticed that the better-prepared I am, the luckier I get...

[ckd]

"Luck is the residue of design."

[maps-or-guitars.livejournal.com]

I've always thought of luck as the ability to recognize when preparation and opportunity meet. It's a rare and valuable skill.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Such an opportunity. :)

[maps-or-guitars.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah! Consider if you'd waited much longer before dumping.

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

This is the most upbeat accident report I think I've ever read... sympathies that it happened and that you lost the bike, but kudos on doing the right things, coming out intact yourself, and taking such a positive attitude to it all.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Partly that's because it didn't happen yesterday.

I guess the rest is just me. It could have been a lot worse, so since it wasn't, the only thing to really be depressed about is losing the bike. That's just money. I can get money back.

I was much less upbeat for the couple of days after the wreck (and some of it is still painful. Looking at the remains of the bike is sort of hard; mostly because I liked it. It looks much racier now, with the angle of the front end about 10 degrees sharper. Very rakish. Not so good for riding, but great looks).

I am much more critical of scooter design than I was. Yamaha has one, which looks much like a Vespa, with far too many protusions into the legspace. Put that thing down and bashed kneecaps are the least you can expect. The instrument down by your left knee is likely to cause real injury. That it's so far down (already a problem on scooters in general, id on is wearing a full-faced mask [as I do]) means it takes longer; with more loss of road visibility, to check, but I digress.

[maps-or-guitars.livejournal.com]

Looks to me like you'll have a very exacting shopping list when you consider your next scooter: "what will *this* part hit when I drop the bike?"

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

I will be looking at two things; resale value (which means used, or really a really low price on a last year's model), and how well I think it will lay down.

I say resale value because the scooter was always interim. Part of why I couldn't stay in Aptos, lovely as it was, and pleasant my housemates, was the trial of getting from that side of the mountains to this one.

The scooter was freeway legal, just, but it's harder to see than a motorcycle, and didn't have the power to deal with certain situations. So, if getting to/from school, or about the area, is too much hassle on the bus/kindness of friends, I'll get a new scooter, and then sell it as soon as I can afford to get a bike.

But, the price of bikes is such that, with a fair bit of scrimping, and some careful shopping, I can probably afford to get one by November.

If I can sell some pictures (reminder to self, hit the Photographers' Market some more), find a job, get some articles sold, etc., then the bike is that much the sooner bought.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

And if they hadn't actually done it to your face, I'll bet that there were at least passers-by while you rode the scooter other days who sneered at you for wearing that much protective gear on a "mere scooter", too. So you get the last laugh there, at least! Very glad to hear you're generally okay.

I have no idea if I could dump a bicycle deliberately if I needed to (or recognize when I needed to fast enough). It was my main transportation for about 15 years as a kid, but I didn't practice my accident skills much at all (and this was pre-helmet, too). Let alone a heavier, faster-moving, more expensive, powered vehicle.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

I had to lay a bicycle down once, it wasn't exactly the same. I was cut off, and my brakes failed (I have no idea how). That was just me leaning as far as I could, and then not being able to stay up any more.

The heavier part actually makes it easier to drop... the gyroscopic stabilty fails sooner when the wheels slow.

And yes, I know there are those who sneered at me for being acting like it was a "motorcycle", or something. On the other hand, a lot of bikes gave me a wave; which I attribute to the gear. I was obviously taking the whole thing seriously.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

Yesterday I saw someone maneuvering her motorcycle between lanes of stopped traffic to get to the head. She was wearing a heavy-duty helmet (good) but light leather gloves, a denim jacket, sweatpants and sneakers (not good).