OB_Dirty Pete
Registered
Ranger's story inspired me to ask you all a question.
Most experienced riders I know have had at least one intervention by higher powers in their motorcycling career. The kind of near miss where you're pretty sure you're gonna buy it but you ride away without a scratch. Maybe you pull off the road, stunned by feeling the Grim Reaper's cold black robes brushing over you, and thank somebody up there.
It's an experience you never ever forget. Have you ever had one on a bike? Here's mine.
1985. On the elevated highway that runs between Honolulu and Pearl Harbor. Riding a rented Kawasaki 900. 75 mph in medium traffic, second lane on a 4-laner.
200 feet ahead and two lanes to my right something flies off a truck and it's on a trajectory toward me. I'm not too worried. Then the thing takes it's first big bounce and to my horror it breaks into two components and I can see from the way the pieces are bouncing and cartwheeling in the air that they're heavy steel castings about a foot across each and the're irregularly shaped so they're bouncing unpredictably.
Both pieces are bouncing toward me in slow motion. I decide (I remember actually deciding, everything seemed slow) not to take evasive action because of surrounding traffic, but to stay in my lane. I couldn't hit the brakes because there was a wall of trucks on my tail.
I stood on my pegs to be ready to duck the pieces if they came at my body. I stared exactly between the pieces to keep both in my peripheral vision. As they approached I could see one was going across my front tire and the other was going to slam into me in the lower abdomen. I stood straight up on my pegs, leaned forward and lifted my right leg high as I could.
Then they hit simultaneously. One piece went under my front tire and threw it up about a foot off the pavement. I felt the other other piece impact my right foot.
I was surprised to be still alive and upright, but freaked out. I refused to look at my right foot for fear it had been taken off. I looked behind me and saw the wall of trucks that would have smeared me if I'd gone down.
I pulled off at the next exit and stopped the bike on the dirt ramp, breathing pretty hard. My boot was torn on the little toe area and I had a lot of pain. A minor cut and bruised bones.
I'm am not religious but I spat my gum out, looked up to the sky and thanked The Big Guy out loud.
Most experienced riders I know have had at least one intervention by higher powers in their motorcycling career. The kind of near miss where you're pretty sure you're gonna buy it but you ride away without a scratch. Maybe you pull off the road, stunned by feeling the Grim Reaper's cold black robes brushing over you, and thank somebody up there.
It's an experience you never ever forget. Have you ever had one on a bike? Here's mine.
1985. On the elevated highway that runs between Honolulu and Pearl Harbor. Riding a rented Kawasaki 900. 75 mph in medium traffic, second lane on a 4-laner.
200 feet ahead and two lanes to my right something flies off a truck and it's on a trajectory toward me. I'm not too worried. Then the thing takes it's first big bounce and to my horror it breaks into two components and I can see from the way the pieces are bouncing and cartwheeling in the air that they're heavy steel castings about a foot across each and the're irregularly shaped so they're bouncing unpredictably.
Both pieces are bouncing toward me in slow motion. I decide (I remember actually deciding, everything seemed slow) not to take evasive action because of surrounding traffic, but to stay in my lane. I couldn't hit the brakes because there was a wall of trucks on my tail.
I stood on my pegs to be ready to duck the pieces if they came at my body. I stared exactly between the pieces to keep both in my peripheral vision. As they approached I could see one was going across my front tire and the other was going to slam into me in the lower abdomen. I stood straight up on my pegs, leaned forward and lifted my right leg high as I could.
Then they hit simultaneously. One piece went under my front tire and threw it up about a foot off the pavement. I felt the other other piece impact my right foot.
I was surprised to be still alive and upright, but freaked out. I refused to look at my right foot for fear it had been taken off. I looked behind me and saw the wall of trucks that would have smeared me if I'd gone down.
I pulled off at the next exit and stopped the bike on the dirt ramp, breathing pretty hard. My boot was torn on the little toe area and I had a lot of pain. A minor cut and bruised bones.
I'm am not religious but I spat my gum out, looked up to the sky and thanked The Big Guy out loud.
.