Friday, July 30, 2004

Motorcycle accident

It happend.  It happened on my birthday.  I crashed the bike on my way back home after a day of riding.  I was alone.  I was on the Meadowbrook heading north and took the exit for Hempstead Turnpike heading east.  There is a pretty long off ramp and I punched the throttle too much.  I didn't anticipate the curve left up ahead.  When I approached it I pulled the front break too hard and the front wheel locked up.  The bike did a wobble and I went down going about 30 to 40 mph.  I went down on my left side and slid with the bike for about 20 feet.  As soon as I stopped I shot up and ran over to the grass on the side of the road.  I was in a bit of shock and disbelief that this had just happened.  I was pissed.  I ripped my helmet off and tossed it.  I checked my left arm and saw that it was bloody from road rash so I covered it up with my sleeve.  I checked the bike and saw that the bike's left engine cover was cracked and was leaking oil.  All of the oil from the engine drained out.  I still couldn't believe what had just happened.  I left the bike where it was and called Geico.  I was on the phone for about 10 minutes with them and they put me in touch with a towing service.  The towing service said they would take an hour to get there.  I don't even think he understood where exactly I was.  So, I figured it would take more than an hour because he was not going to find me right away.  I contemplated arriving back to my house in a flatbed truck with the bike.  I didn't like that picture.  They had also told me that it was going to cost close to $200 bucks to tow this thing 5 miles with a couple of extra fees added on to that cost.   I didn't want to wait there and I didn't want to show up at home like that.  I decided to pick up the bike and walk it back to my house.  I cleaned myself off and picked the bike up off the road and out of the huge pool of oil.  I started the walk back. 
I suppose it was a combination of pride and a way to work out my aggression.  The trek back home was exhausting.  I got home after 3 hours and pulled the bike into the garage just as I normally would.  I washed up and sat down for dinner with my parents but I couldn't really eat.  I started to get nervous about the pain coming from my abdominal area.  I told my parents about the accident and asked my mom to take me to the ER. 
I had a CAT scan done and an X-ray of my arm taken.  Everything was fine and I was back home at 4am. 
I stayed home from work the next day to rest.  I iced down all day and thought about the accident.  I was lucky I didn't seriously hurt my self.  I just got bruised and scraped.  Also I was lucky I was not riding anyone on the back.

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