Why do I hate 101? Talk about near-death. A few years ago I got off the graveyard shift, hopped on my trusty DR650 thumper and headed for home on 101 South by 3Com/Candelstick Park. I merge into rush hour traffic doing 60 when less than a minute into the ride I hear a huge crash and feel my hands being ripped from the grips something ferocious.
After what seemed like an eternity, I feel my body slam on the tarmac, my Shoei whacking the pavement, and see the road screaming by from the corner of my eye. Fear then kicked in, wondering if I was going to be flattened by a big-rig or auto. I put my hand down and POOF! watch my glove fly off, and I distinctly remember hearing my self say "Fu*k!!!". So, still sliding on my back I try to put my foot down and BANG! my heel catches a lane marker and my body twists and starts rolling. I force my arms out and manage to stop the roll and just let myself slide the rest of the way.
I was so pissed that I felt no pain and hunted down the G-D-S-O-B-M-F! taxi cab driver that almost orphaned my five kids and widowed my loving wife. Just as I was raising my helmet to bash this guys's head in he reeled back and shouted that he was the passenger, not the driver. Just then I felt that warm liquid rolling down and that hot roadrash sensation and the pain starting to kick in. That cooled me off real quick.
Thank GOD I didn't get run over. The CHP bike cops later told me as I was lying on the gurney that I flew over two lanes of cars and landed on the side almost 220 feet from the point of impact and was extremely lucky I wasn't dead. Witnesses said the idiot driver was weaving in and out speeding, I guess trying to get his fare to the airport so he could catch a last one before quitting time. Amazingly no bones were broken.
I must say though that the scariest part of this whole experience was when in the ambulance this trainee EMT started cutting up my pant legs with those sharp scissors and nearly snipped off my manhood. That would have been real ugly!!!
Needless to say I was off bikes for a period of time, and just recently decided that this was the year to get over the fear and trauma. And what better way of self-healing than by buying the biggest, meanest, fastest, quickest MF bike in the world...the Hayabusa!
Ride safe!
