Monday, April 6, 2009

There are only 2 types of Riders

There are only 2 types of motorcycle riders:

Those who have crashed,

And those who will

It was a beautiful day and I had just picked up my bike from being worked on and getting maintenance after sitting all winter. One of my good guy friends invited me to meet him to go for a ride. He lives out in Carnation on Tolt Hill Rd. It was a gorgeous day and as I rode out there I definitely saw more bikes than cars.

3 motorcycle guys that had been riding in front of me somehow saw (or maybe just heard) my crash. They turned around and came to check on me. It was very kind of them, but I really didn't feel the need for all of the attention. I told them all that I was just embarrassed. But they assured me that I was in good company as they had all laid their bikes down at some point.

Extent of the damage: (which is not bad at all!)

Bike:
-Really, really scratched and cracked fairing (side of the bike)
-Blinker popped off
-Bent shifter



Me:
-Big toe that is either jammed or broken
-Scraped up knee
-Hole in my favorite flat shoe jeans
-Road rash (small cuts and bruises) on upper leg and hip (not shown)


After assessing all the damage I decided that the thing that I am most upset about is the hole in the knee of my Sevens jeans. I feel very lucky though, as I know the damage to both my bike and myself could have been much, much worse. I'm glad I was wearing my jacket, gloves and helmet because all of those areas would have been pretty torn up otherwise. My helmet took a lot of the fall and sliding on the gravel... better my helmet than my face. :)

After my little crash Kurt said, "well now what are we gonna do today?" But within about 45 minutes he had straightened out my shifter, and put back on my blinker. I cleaned out the little cuts on my knee and applied neosporin, and then we were back on our bikes. I was definitely a lot more cautious on the gravel as I pulled out of his driveway, but other than that it was a fun and beautiful ride. I'm not going to let a little crash slow me down. Lesson learned, and now I continue on my way. :)

4 comments:

Unknown said...

You're pretty brave for getting up and going again. Sorry to hear that you and your bike got banged up. I too thought the worst part was your jeans. Just about cried. I'm being sarcastic about the jeans (but not about you or your bike. I am sorry about that). Glad you're alright.

Ann said...

I'm so so glad you're ok. Your bike and jeans look better than I thought they would. But it is such a shame to ruin good Sevens! Be safe out there!

amyraye said...

so glad you're OK. super big bummer about the jeans. i know what a special relationship a girl can have with her favorite pair of jeans.
but did you just do this because you want to put off posting about your new haircut?
still waiting to see it...

Area Man said...

I lost track of how much gravel jacob and i had to pull out of our knees and arms; growing up in Wyoming, most of the roads around us were either dirt or gravel, and it didn't help that we liked to drive as fast as possible. i think jacob still has a watch he destroyed when taking a turn a little too fast on a dirt road. i don't think he kept the fencepost, though.

i almost laid mine down in front of a semi yesterday, while trying to get to school in a light rain. Left turn in front of oncoming traffic + oil spot + rain = likely disaster. Luckily, i got a lot of my crashes in early on in life, so maybe the balance sheet hasn't evened out yet.

i say you make those jeans your biker jeans. patch them up with a bandana or something.