Whoops! Dropped it!
So .. I'm driving home from work a couple months ago. It's the first really, really nice day. It's almost 90, I'm sans helmet, sans gloves, wearing ubiquitous black dress pants .. and seriously considered ditching the leather coat because I was really warm, but since I was only a couple miles from home I decided that it wasn't worth the trouble of trying to smoosh that beast it into my tiny saddlebag.
Sitting at a red light in rush hour traffic behind a large cargo van when the light turns green. I pull forward as traffic starts moving, look at the road in front of me as it's revealed by the van and ... horror of horrors!! .. it looks like someone poured a drum of oil up my lane. It's shiney, and completely covers the lane for as far as I could see (aka: the bumper of the cargo van in front of me).
My inner monologue is telling me "don't you dare touch your brakes" and "can I get over to the dry lane next to me?". I'm lallygagging in the very beginnings of second gear and trying to edge over to the dry lane, when the van in front of me hits his breaks. A quick mirror check tells me I'm boxed in, and that bumper in front of me is slowing down. Knowing this will end poorly, I gently tap the break ... and the bike gets squirrly, skittering out from under me.
When I felt it go, I kicked off of it (getting caught under it when it falls is one of my worst fears) with a "stay in your lane .. please please please .. stay in your lane" as I tuck and roll, watching my baby do acrobatics down the street without me. Using the momentum I had, I vault to my feet before I even stop moving and start walking over to where my bike rests, and then realize that I'm upright when maybe I shouldn't be and do a quick self-check for anything broken. Satisfied that my legs bear weight, and my arms are working, I start to notice details around me.
The bike had stopped to rest wheels to the sky, resting on it's handlebars. The car behind me managed to stop at a respectable distance, and everyone who could see me had their windows down asking if I was ok. I saw no less than 5 people already on the phone calling it in. 3 cars pulled off and their occupants got out to assist. My guardian angels obviously know how to work the metaphysical phone tree.
One guy, who was walking on the other side of the street, silently stepped through the traffic that had stopped to make sure I wasn't a bleeding heap in the road, handed me his packages, pointed at 4 of the guys who were standing there wondering how they could help, and then pointed at the bike. Everyone took an edge, turned it shiney side up and set it gently on the curb. He then took his packages, and continued on his way - all without saying a word or acknowledging my thanks.
One lovely gentleman (turns out later he was a mechanic) looked over the bike, reattached the gas line, which had popped off - which was, amazingly enough, the only thing to come unattached - and pronounced the bike ok - to he suggested addressing the bent handlebar sooner rather than later. :)
A cop arrived a short while later while I waited for my buddy to come and escort me home .. I'm pretty sure they got about a dozen calls about a girl who's bike went tumbling down the road without her. After assertaining that I was ok - he got on the radio with the DPW at my instance to get a clean up truck out there STAT! Now that I can actually SEE the road ... literally the entire lane was covered in oil for at least 2 blocks. It looked like an oil drum just spilled all over the road and I was really worried that the next person to cross it wouldn't have been so lucky as to walk away.
Final damage - the engine guards got a little scrapped up (that's their job, right?), as did the top of the windshield and top of the right turn signal. Small dent in the gas tank where the handlbar hit it .. not even deep enough to crease the paint. Handlebars were bent - but they were straightened back out again at a buddy's garage and are still rock solid after being fixed. Saddlebags didn't have a mark on them, nor did anything else, for that matter.
Damage to myself .. well - this is the amazing part. The jacket took some scarring from where I slid on my left side, popped the zipper of that pocket and wore away a bit of the embroidery, and my knees got a bit of road rash. The pants - believe it or not - survivied the encounter with the pavement. I didn't even know I was bleeding until I got home and changed. My hands, which I was really worried about - not a single scratch, and my head never hit the pavement. I can only assume that since the lane was so slick with oil that I slid across the pavement instead of getting chewed up by it. However, my riding buddy is now calling me the accidental queen of "tuck and roll baby!". I guess there was a reason I learned to fall from horses for so many years. Who knew I'd ever need to apply the same skills on the road.
All things considered - I know I was damn lucky. So much could have gone badly that didn't. I'm ok .. the bike is ok .. and I didn't cause any collateral damage with my traffic acrobatics.
Still mad that I dented the gas tank tho. It's the only think I don't know how to fix.
Sitting at a red light in rush hour traffic behind a large cargo van when the light turns green. I pull forward as traffic starts moving, look at the road in front of me as it's revealed by the van and ... horror of horrors!! .. it looks like someone poured a drum of oil up my lane. It's shiney, and completely covers the lane for as far as I could see (aka: the bumper of the cargo van in front of me).
My inner monologue is telling me "don't you dare touch your brakes" and "can I get over to the dry lane next to me?". I'm lallygagging in the very beginnings of second gear and trying to edge over to the dry lane, when the van in front of me hits his breaks. A quick mirror check tells me I'm boxed in, and that bumper in front of me is slowing down. Knowing this will end poorly, I gently tap the break ... and the bike gets squirrly, skittering out from under me.
When I felt it go, I kicked off of it (getting caught under it when it falls is one of my worst fears) with a "stay in your lane .. please please please .. stay in your lane" as I tuck and roll, watching my baby do acrobatics down the street without me. Using the momentum I had, I vault to my feet before I even stop moving and start walking over to where my bike rests, and then realize that I'm upright when maybe I shouldn't be and do a quick self-check for anything broken. Satisfied that my legs bear weight, and my arms are working, I start to notice details around me.
The bike had stopped to rest wheels to the sky, resting on it's handlebars. The car behind me managed to stop at a respectable distance, and everyone who could see me had their windows down asking if I was ok. I saw no less than 5 people already on the phone calling it in. 3 cars pulled off and their occupants got out to assist. My guardian angels obviously know how to work the metaphysical phone tree.
One guy, who was walking on the other side of the street, silently stepped through the traffic that had stopped to make sure I wasn't a bleeding heap in the road, handed me his packages, pointed at 4 of the guys who were standing there wondering how they could help, and then pointed at the bike. Everyone took an edge, turned it shiney side up and set it gently on the curb. He then took his packages, and continued on his way - all without saying a word or acknowledging my thanks.
One lovely gentleman (turns out later he was a mechanic) looked over the bike, reattached the gas line, which had popped off - which was, amazingly enough, the only thing to come unattached - and pronounced the bike ok - to he suggested addressing the bent handlebar sooner rather than later. :)
A cop arrived a short while later while I waited for my buddy to come and escort me home .. I'm pretty sure they got about a dozen calls about a girl who's bike went tumbling down the road without her. After assertaining that I was ok - he got on the radio with the DPW at my instance to get a clean up truck out there STAT! Now that I can actually SEE the road ... literally the entire lane was covered in oil for at least 2 blocks. It looked like an oil drum just spilled all over the road and I was really worried that the next person to cross it wouldn't have been so lucky as to walk away.
Final damage - the engine guards got a little scrapped up (that's their job, right?), as did the top of the windshield and top of the right turn signal. Small dent in the gas tank where the handlbar hit it .. not even deep enough to crease the paint. Handlebars were bent - but they were straightened back out again at a buddy's garage and are still rock solid after being fixed. Saddlebags didn't have a mark on them, nor did anything else, for that matter.
Damage to myself .. well - this is the amazing part. The jacket took some scarring from where I slid on my left side, popped the zipper of that pocket and wore away a bit of the embroidery, and my knees got a bit of road rash. The pants - believe it or not - survivied the encounter with the pavement. I didn't even know I was bleeding until I got home and changed. My hands, which I was really worried about - not a single scratch, and my head never hit the pavement. I can only assume that since the lane was so slick with oil that I slid across the pavement instead of getting chewed up by it. However, my riding buddy is now calling me the accidental queen of "tuck and roll baby!". I guess there was a reason I learned to fall from horses for so many years. Who knew I'd ever need to apply the same skills on the road.
All things considered - I know I was damn lucky. So much could have gone badly that didn't. I'm ok .. the bike is ok .. and I didn't cause any collateral damage with my traffic acrobatics.
Still mad that I dented the gas tank tho. It's the only think I don't know how to fix.