clickie wrote: ↑Thu Feb 13, 2020 7:37 pm
mockbee wrote: ↑Thu Feb 13, 2020 12:30 pm
I come pretty close to dying 3 or 4 times and it always seemed so normal at the time.
WTF you talking about?
Well, one time that comes right to mind, was when I was riding my motorcycle on my regular route from Bayview to Nob Hill in San Francisco on the 101......... It was daytime, sunny, dry, 60 degrees on the 101 freeway going north and I was going about 65-70 mph and passing a regular car on its left, that was going about 65 mph as well................. (This was on a Honda Shadow cruiser, so not one of those crotch rockets, those things are crazy) ..................I was passing and I noticed the driver slowly easing into my lane.....The freeway was doing a slight turn, and I was on the outside, so it was really hard for me to correct and move away from the car..... It may or may not have had a blinker on, or just one at the last moment............ Also, I may have been preoccupied with the view. If you know this route, it's as if you are riding right into the SF skyline and the bay is sparkling in the distance............ Anyways, she keeps coming towards me and pretty quickly I realize I am going down at 70 MPH................. It happened really quickly, and all I remember is a really loud scraping sound of metal against concrete, and sparks flying everywhere.... It seemed to go on a while and then it just stopped and there was silence........................ I ended up in the middle of the freeway, legs and arms spread out like a starfish gazing straight up at the sky, my motorcycle and the car that hit me nowhere in sight.... I think, - I better get up, there are many, many cars behind me going freeway speeds that are about to arrive..............So to my amazement. I get up........... I walk to the side of the freeway and assess what just happened........... No fear is present.......... Just a matter of factness, like I just tripped on the sidewalk stangely and needed to get out of the way........... I see that my motorcycle is practically underneath the car that collided with me and it is stopped near the side of the highway on the left, about 30 feet in front of me..... I walk over and think I should probably get the motorcycle out of the middle of the highway...... I can't lift it because the car is on it. So I knock on the window of the car to see if she can back up a bit. The young woman inside looks at me like I am a ghost.............. I am sure she thought that I had died.......... She rolls down the window and she is trembling really bad. I thought she might be hurt and had to calm her down, saying it's okay, everything is okay...... She asked me if I was okay, and I thought, that's a good question.......... I probably shouldn't get on my bike if I am not okay. I move my arms around in all motions, I moved my head back and forth and up and down and bend over, then I jumped up and down on my legs, slap my ribs............ Everything seemed perfectly fine... Nothing happened to me..... I got my pants slightly torn, nothing happened to my helmet and the motorcycle jacket I was wearing had some tear/burn marks on it, and my hip was a little sore, but other then that nothing........... I lift up my motorcycle and did an eight point check and it seemed fine as well. By this time the 101 is so backed up and we are totally in the way....People are honking and trying to weave around us and doing all sorts of strange things..... It had been about 10-15 minutes probably and no cop stopped by.... I wanted to get out of there.... We exchanged emails/phone and car info, and I left it at that.....and I rode off. After having my mechanic check the bike that evening, I rode my motorcycle the next day to work. Sounds crazy now.
I was saved by the fact that my mom had constantly insisted that I have an engine guard installed on the bike, so at some point I finally did it. She had a friend who got in a wreck and had his leg burned beyond repair, because he didn't have an engine guard. Also saved by the fact that my wife's helmet was strapped on the back side of the motorcycle that it tipped over towards. That created a nice size pocket for my body and leg while I was careening down the highway at 60 MPH going sideways on a motorcycle with a flare of sparks going over my head. Otherwise I would probably would have been dead or missing half my body.