Post by gdcpony on Jun 12, 2011 23:07:12 GMT -5
Today one of my daughters, the oldest, worked her butt off for a prize. Her prize? A five mile bike ride on the back of my XS650. So she strapped on her helmet and leather chaps (my rule) with a long sleeve shirt. Me? I went against my usual chaps and leather jacket for the first time and just threw on my helmet with my shorts and T-shirt (mistake #1).
We went a usual route and I was just enjoying the end of a hard day (put in a garden, firewood, cart work, and a yard sale). I saw my next door neighbor's son along the bike trail and honked to him and waved (mistake #2). When I looked back up there was a groundhog in my path and I was too close to avoid it at the 45mph I was doing. So I think I barely clipped it, but recovering from that put me to the side of the road and a turn was coming.
From here it all happened fast, but it felt like forever. I tried to start leaning, but I felt a sliding (gravel near edge in the bike trail) and pulled the bike back straight. There was a grass field down off the side of the road there, and I thought I could make it down to it and stop there. My left peg caught in the bank though, and that turned the bike. I realized right then the bike was going down and hooked my daughter off the bike so she wouldn't be pinned under it (I am not sure it was the right thing to do). My doing so caused me to yank the bars and the front caught and flipped the bike to the other side without me on it. It stopped that way.
Total injuries: I have some rash on my left arm and leg from the grass. My right arm is bruised (go figure considering the damage done to that side of the bike). My daughter got away with a bump on her knee. She wasn't even shaken, just ticked that her ride was cut short. I was shaken up stripping her gear off and checking her over. I suffered more from that than the none so gentle care of my wife afterward.
I am still adding up the damage to the bike. Handlebars, levers, turn signals, right side muffler, and both sets of pegs so far. I might end up having to get rid of it with the wife in the mood she's in (understandable).
So how many other mistakes did I make?
We went a usual route and I was just enjoying the end of a hard day (put in a garden, firewood, cart work, and a yard sale). I saw my next door neighbor's son along the bike trail and honked to him and waved (mistake #2). When I looked back up there was a groundhog in my path and I was too close to avoid it at the 45mph I was doing. So I think I barely clipped it, but recovering from that put me to the side of the road and a turn was coming.
From here it all happened fast, but it felt like forever. I tried to start leaning, but I felt a sliding (gravel near edge in the bike trail) and pulled the bike back straight. There was a grass field down off the side of the road there, and I thought I could make it down to it and stop there. My left peg caught in the bank though, and that turned the bike. I realized right then the bike was going down and hooked my daughter off the bike so she wouldn't be pinned under it (I am not sure it was the right thing to do). My doing so caused me to yank the bars and the front caught and flipped the bike to the other side without me on it. It stopped that way.
Total injuries: I have some rash on my left arm and leg from the grass. My right arm is bruised (go figure considering the damage done to that side of the bike). My daughter got away with a bump on her knee. She wasn't even shaken, just ticked that her ride was cut short. I was shaken up stripping her gear off and checking her over. I suffered more from that than the none so gentle care of my wife afterward.
I am still adding up the damage to the bike. Handlebars, levers, turn signals, right side muffler, and both sets of pegs so far. I might end up having to get rid of it with the wife in the mood she's in (understandable).
So how many other mistakes did I make?
