Warren t claim wrote: ↑Thu Dec 14, 2023 10:13 pm
Accidents, tumbles and your thoughts on your own mortality.
How many times have you suffered a collision or tarmac interface situation?
For some reason, I've never come off a bike. In my early days I put it down to being a riding god but with the benefit of hindsight, I was just incredibly lucky. The fact that I made it to my 18th birthday is a miracle in itself. Older and more experienced riders used to say of me that "he'll only ever have one crash" which I took as a compliment before it dawned on me what they meant. Take into account some of the utter deathtraps I've ridden with exploded fork seals, well fucked head and swinging arm bearings, shit tyres up to and including baldy Avon Deathmasters and chains that would disgrace an outside toilet on early 80s bikes that even out of the crate had pretty dubious handling then if I was a cat I surely must have used up at least seven of my lives by now. It must be said that I've had more near misses than I can remember.
It is said that with age comes wisdom and it is true that as a (former) instructor I do know how to ride safely but away from the training school.....
Not many years ago a friend told another friend that I ride like a cunt! This was after a ride out that included a stop at a knee down roundabout on a deserted industrial estate and he saw his arse when I lapped him on the outside when we were doing circuits. Another friend said that I was wincingly brave around left hand country lane bends where visibility is shit due to high hedges.
I've only had 1 major accident, and I was bloody stationary. Had a BMW f650, loved it, big single piston, made lovely thump thump noises. I've always worked nights, was going to work one night, November 3rd, 2010, my birthday. Got to a set of traffic lights, couldn't be arsed to filter past as only a few cars in front of me and knew I'd leave them behind as soon as I was through the lights and out onto the country lanes to Rugby. Pulled up behind a booted Mondeo, luckily I left a decent gap. Sat there holding the brake light on, also had a decent heinke gerrick( spelt wrong I know) jacket with hi Viz flashes on the back, white helmet, so I hardly blended in to a red Mondeo. Sat there minding my own business then heard the sound of breaking plastics and mangling metal sounds. Next thing I remember was ambulance staff cutting my gear off and being carted off in an ambulance on blues and twos. A young girl in a Corsa was it transpired putting her make up on whilst driving and slammed into me at 30mph. The police said later she'd made no attempt at braking at all, so if not been there as a crumple zone she'd have piled into the queue of cars regardless. My front wheel of my bike made it halfway through the boot floor of the Mondeo and I was sort of sandwiched in the middle of the two cars.
I was x-rayed the hell out of me as they'd thought I'd got a broken back. Turns out nothing was broken, but I had a chipped vertebrae and damaged ligaments and muscles pulled of bones etc. My legs and chest went nearly completely black with bruising and there was a massive dent in the tank from my bollocks and pubic area. I had a pair of bollocks Leroy would have been proud of. Was of work for 4 months, left the misses, and ended up in a bedsit. Eventually got a 30k pay out which helped me put the deposit down on a new house after the ex wife got everything. I blame that accident for how I am now, I think it started things off.
