Bollocks!
Fell off my motorcycle, this morning.
Nearing an 'accident blackspot' I was actually thinking my usual mantra for that stretch of road of 'Don't go fast or drive too close - the cars often dive off into the garage unexpectedly here' when, after checking my mirror for a split second, I look up to find that the cars in front of me have slammed their brakes on for exactly that reason. I grab my brakes - a little too hard - and despite only doing about 20-25mph the front locks up and goes out from under me. I get thrown off and into the middle of the road. Fortunately there's a 'hatched area' there, so the oncoming traffic isn't aimed straight at my head. I'd scraped my knee up and sprained my ankle - both on my right hand side. Also a bit of bruising from where I rolled once, whilst on the ground.
So, in other words, nothing too serious at all. Incredibly, my helmet didn't even make contact with the ground - something I'm very glad about. Truth be told, I'm actually still in shock slightly. I can feel that my concentration and thought processes aren't quite right.
Nevertheless, I was whisked off to the A&E department of the local hospital (lucky that the local hospital still has one, really) courtesy of the three first-aid-qualified people who were the first to attend to me. I couldn't believe it when the second person talking to me was wearing a first aid badge (she worked in Boots, I believe). I'm very grateful to those people, of course. The doctors and nurses at the hospital eventually prodded me, patched me up and gave me a pair of crutches. I'm quadripedal for a few days, then.
The main pisser for me is, of course, the damage to the bike. It's mainly superficial - panels, lights, mirrors - but I'm just gutted to have dropped the bike when I've only had it for a month or so. It's absurd that as soon as I'd got it, I rode 1100 miles in first five (four, effectively) days that I had it, but then that a simple commute to work can cause such a spill.
The bottom line is that, although I have to admit that it was ultimately my fault - that I grabbed the brakes too hard when I probably didn't need to - you really can't be watching everything all the time and you certainly can't legislate 100% for people braking harder than you would like them to.
The upsides to it are that a) I'm not seriously hurt, and b) at least I've still got my 125 hanging around, so I can use that as a 'back-up' while my 600 is off the road. I'm not sure if you'd call the exposure to daytime television I'm about to have 'an upside'. I suppose there's UKTV History (which, criminally, no longer broadcasts in the evening for some reason) but other than that... thank fuck for the internet!
I want my 600 back! :-(
Fell off my motorcycle, this morning.
Nearing an 'accident blackspot' I was actually thinking my usual mantra for that stretch of road of 'Don't go fast or drive too close - the cars often dive off into the garage unexpectedly here' when, after checking my mirror for a split second, I look up to find that the cars in front of me have slammed their brakes on for exactly that reason. I grab my brakes - a little too hard - and despite only doing about 20-25mph the front locks up and goes out from under me. I get thrown off and into the middle of the road. Fortunately there's a 'hatched area' there, so the oncoming traffic isn't aimed straight at my head. I'd scraped my knee up and sprained my ankle - both on my right hand side. Also a bit of bruising from where I rolled once, whilst on the ground.
So, in other words, nothing too serious at all. Incredibly, my helmet didn't even make contact with the ground - something I'm very glad about. Truth be told, I'm actually still in shock slightly. I can feel that my concentration and thought processes aren't quite right.
Nevertheless, I was whisked off to the A&E department of the local hospital (lucky that the local hospital still has one, really) courtesy of the three first-aid-qualified people who were the first to attend to me. I couldn't believe it when the second person talking to me was wearing a first aid badge (she worked in Boots, I believe). I'm very grateful to those people, of course. The doctors and nurses at the hospital eventually prodded me, patched me up and gave me a pair of crutches. I'm quadripedal for a few days, then.
The main pisser for me is, of course, the damage to the bike. It's mainly superficial - panels, lights, mirrors - but I'm just gutted to have dropped the bike when I've only had it for a month or so. It's absurd that as soon as I'd got it, I rode 1100 miles in first five (four, effectively) days that I had it, but then that a simple commute to work can cause such a spill.
The bottom line is that, although I have to admit that it was ultimately my fault - that I grabbed the brakes too hard when I probably didn't need to - you really can't be watching everything all the time and you certainly can't legislate 100% for people braking harder than you would like them to.
The upsides to it are that a) I'm not seriously hurt, and b) at least I've still got my 125 hanging around, so I can use that as a 'back-up' while my 600 is off the road. I'm not sure if you'd call the exposure to daytime television I'm about to have 'an upside'. I suppose there's UKTV History (which, criminally, no longer broadcasts in the evening for some reason) but other than that... thank fuck for the internet!
I want my 600 back! :-(
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