Bishop88
Registered
There's a guy lives down the street from me, goes through vehicles/motorcycles more often than anyone I know (and that's considering myself being 40 and having owned about 25 vehicles and 6 motorcycles over the years). Anyway, his current ride is a Ducati 1098...gorgeous bike. I was in my driveway yesterday with my 18 yr old son and this guys comes rollin by on the Dookie...shorts, flip flops, and a T-shirt. Does a lap around the neighborhood, and on a brief straightaway I see the front go up...hits 12 o'clock, and starts to come down. But then it happens. I see the front quickly go up again, I see sparks from the custom dual undertail exhaust as it scrapes concrete, then I just see the headlight swinging wildly back and forth as he proceeds to smack her into the pavement and bounce it about 50 yards down the road. Ugh...just instant destruction. Well, my son and I hop in the Jeep, race over, and get to him just as he gets her upright. Gas everywhere, lots of road rash and plenty of blood. I casually know this guy, he's in the military just like I was and we had come across each other on base a few times. I've never really gotten to know him though. Well, he's pretty beat up and you can tell he is trying to process the gravity of the situation. I told him to go on home and get cleaned up after making sure he didn't need medical attention, and offered to walk what is left of his bike home with the help of a couple neighbors.
This story sucks as is, and I wish I could end it there because I have already highlighted several important lessons from this incident. But unfortunately, there's more to the story. As I got over to him and began talking, that's when it hit me. The unmistakable odor of alcohol coming from our fellow rider. The guy was completely coherent, and likely didn't have much, but this just reiterates that which all of us should already know. It's never worth it, even after just a couple. Now, I don't know for sure how much this guy had, but either way...it was too much. Even if he hadn't laid her down. I don't want to think of how much worse it could have been....I have four kids that roam this neighborhood.
As a fellow veteran, my intention today is to go check on him after work. Not just to see if he's ok, and not just to oogle the mangled machine in his garage. I am more interested in making sure everything else is ok. This guy has been a super responsible neighbor for years, and I've never known him to be reckless before (but again, I don't know him super well), but this was enough to get my attention a bit. I've kept a few details outta this for anonymity, but I do know what this guy's job is, and I do know he has a good deal of time down-range, so just hoping there's nothing brewing behind the scenes. Either way, my goal is to find out today, and offer any assistance I can if necessary.
Let's make sure we are looking out for our own folks. I may not know this person very well, but I definitely don't want him to be another statistic. And if I am way off base (which I hope), then at least a bit of mentorship is in order I'd say...
This story sucks as is, and I wish I could end it there because I have already highlighted several important lessons from this incident. But unfortunately, there's more to the story. As I got over to him and began talking, that's when it hit me. The unmistakable odor of alcohol coming from our fellow rider. The guy was completely coherent, and likely didn't have much, but this just reiterates that which all of us should already know. It's never worth it, even after just a couple. Now, I don't know for sure how much this guy had, but either way...it was too much. Even if he hadn't laid her down. I don't want to think of how much worse it could have been....I have four kids that roam this neighborhood.
As a fellow veteran, my intention today is to go check on him after work. Not just to see if he's ok, and not just to oogle the mangled machine in his garage. I am more interested in making sure everything else is ok. This guy has been a super responsible neighbor for years, and I've never known him to be reckless before (but again, I don't know him super well), but this was enough to get my attention a bit. I've kept a few details outta this for anonymity, but I do know what this guy's job is, and I do know he has a good deal of time down-range, so just hoping there's nothing brewing behind the scenes. Either way, my goal is to find out today, and offer any assistance I can if necessary.
Let's make sure we are looking out for our own folks. I may not know this person very well, but I definitely don't want him to be another statistic. And if I am way off base (which I hope), then at least a bit of mentorship is in order I'd say...
