Posts Tagged ‘crash’

Went for a little ride yesterday (68 degrees on March 30?  I’m gone.)  Rode out to my sons ranch to check on his progress with some fence.  Really nice day with a bit of gusty wind.  Hung out on the ranch for a bit and then headed back home.  I’m  about 300 feet from home, slowing to make a right hand turn onto my road.

I see 4 kids playing “hood” basketball in their front yard.  As I approach, they lose control of the basketball and it heads into the street.  I adjust my speed accordingly to allow the ball to get past me (it was coming from my right side) and to make sure that there wasn’t going to be a kid chasing it.)

As I get within a few feet of the ball and either an act of God or a random gust of wind stops the ball in its and(unfortunately) my tracks.  I hit the damned thing with my front wheel.  You might think that the ball would bounce off this 600 pound iron horse like a club smacking a golf ball.  Yup, you might think.  Instead, the wheel rode UP onto that damned ball, the front end slapped all the way left and then rolled off the left side of the ball onto the road cocked fully left.

Thud.  Bang.  I’m laying in the street next to my bike.  A BASKETBALL???  I couldn’t believe it.  Fortunately, I wasn’t going more than 10-15 MPH at the time of impact.  My leather did its job and isn’t much the worse for the experience.  I got three patches road rash and so did the bike.  A bicyclist was passing by and stopped to help me pick Mabel (my bike’s name) up off the road and push her to the curb.  After some examination and recovery time I got her back into neutral and started.  Finished my few hundred feet to the house and put her in the garage.  Went inside to get momma to bandage me up and see how bad it really was.

I have ridden many many tens of thousands of miles over 25 years experience and only been all the way down two or three times.  I wouldn’t ever even believe a basketball could drop you if I didn’t experience it myself.  So, watch out for basketballs.  White Men on Harleys can’t jump!

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