A Scare, and Loud Applause for Safety Gear

Well, I got hit today on the bike. A woman decided to cross the gore, and cut me off at about 25 miles per hour. I tried to stop, went up in an endo, bumped her rear quarter panel with my left handlebar, and went over.

I punched into the pavement, rolled, and came up looking for the license plate, worried I'd become a hit and run victim. She did the right thing and stopped. She was kind and concerned, and accepted her part. We exchanged information and I called CHP, if for no other reason than to get my bike off the freeway. One of the responding CHP Officers had just been in my court to testify.

Yesterday I spent almost seven hunderd dollars to tune the bike and replace the rear tire. Today it took a beating. Headlight broken, turn signals sheared off, foot peg broken, possible handlebar damage and who knows what else.

My right wrist is painfully stiff, my left foot hurts, and both my shins, just below the knee, are swelling nicely. I will not be feeling good tomorrow.

My wrist hurts from punching the pavement, my left foot was from hitting the pavement in the somersault, I think, and my shins are from my mirrors, one of which was stripped by the impact of my body. My helmet got a tiny bump, ripping the vanes that direct air into the helmet off. My laptop survived. My empty lunch tupperware did not.

Had I not been wearing the excellent safety equipment I always do, I would not be typing this now. Road rash alone would have put me in the hospital, and the impacts that so hurt my shins might have broken them.

Riding carries risk. Risk is something I manage by being as safe, knowledgable and observant as I can, always wearing the best safety gear I can.

Still, tomorrow is going to suck ass.