So, they say there are two kinds of bikers - those who have crashed, and those who have not crashed YET. I am sad to say that I am now the kind of biker who has crashed.
Sunday Sept 29 2013 will forever be in my memories as the day I crashed. The 30th annual Santas Anonymous Toy Run was this day and I was participating as usual. About 9am it decided it was going to start raining, but not a good rain...mostly a mist kinda cloud like rain. This is quite a distinction to anyone who is a biker. A good rain will wash away the oil and grease on the road...a mist will not.
After dropping the toys off at Hawrelak park, me and 2 other friends decided to go for some food. As we were approaching an intersection the light turned yellow. Normally I would have simply gone through but as I was leading some friends I elected to brake.
With the rain, the road was wet with some standing water...and as it wasn't a hard rain it never washed away any of the oil and grease. I locked up my rear brake and caused the bike to fishtail. First to the left and I managed to control it somewhat, but it then went out to the right which is when the bike threw me.
I landed on my right hip/back area and apparently just tucked my arms and rolled. (don't remember) I lay there for what seemed like only a few seconds, but which was probably closer to 10 minutes not saying anything only to have my first words be "is my bike ok?". The paramedics were there and put me on a spine board and neck brace and brought me to the hospital.
I spent the next 3 1/2 hours on the damn board as they did their xrays and tests. Nothing was broken so they sent me home. Nothing was broken but MAN was I in pain!
My friends had my bike towed home for me so I got a look at it the following day. Handlebars were slightly bent (just the risers out of position), windshield scratched, mirror broken, highway peg and saddlebag took the majority of the damage. Everything was fixable!
The following Saturday I replaced the mirror, straightened everything and got back on it for a ride. I was still really sore and the bruising was horrible, but I really wanted to get back in the saddle ASAP. I'm glad I did!
It has been 9 days and I am still really sore and walk with a limp but it is getting better. I got off SO lucky that nothing bad happened. I could have hit something or someone. If you have to crash your bike, this was probably the best way to do it.
Ride safe out there people...beware those dangers that you ignore after a while. Wet roads, gravel patches, all can be really bad. After 65000km in 4 seasons it happened to me... It can happen to you in an instant so respect the bike!
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