Ok, if my story teaches you anything it will be these things....
-Focus on the ride
-Never rely on the kindness of stragners
-Support our Troops
-CAA membership is as important to your bike as insurance
-Never rely on the kindness of co-workers
Focus on the ride:
May last year, nice day, I'm on my way from optical place at Vic Park and Lawrence. Heading home to ajax, feeling pretty good boppin along. I decided to cut through Twyn Rivers from the Sheppard Ave side. I had just crossed over the bridge and was midway through the sharp left before the hill, how I know i wasnt focused was because next thing i knew I felt the rear give a twitch and im on my side going through the turn with the bike on my leg. I managed to kick the bike off my leg and get to a standing position while I was still travelling across the road(My gear made the entire difference. Dainese jacket, SIDI Vertigo Air boots, JoeR gloves. There was a car travelling behind me who was nice enough to go around me as I slid across the road in the opposite lane and then continue on his journey without looking back.
Never rely on the kindness of strangers:
So my bike is on the side of the road on its side, in a position that my front end is in the ditch and my rear is hitched up on the road. Its awkward enough that I cant right the bike without help, but I'm trying anyway, and people are just driving by me, one after another, not even stopping to ask if I was ok or anything, about 8 or 9 times! When my pop first taught me to drive, he also taught me to be prepared to help in the event that someone needs it on the road, because one day I would need help too, so I try to live my life like that. This day tho it seemed like help wasnt coming.
Support our Troops:
So with helmet still on and dead tired from trying to lift the bike, i just sat on the ground and leaned up on the bike, for a quick rest and because I think I was in a bit of shock. I had my eyes closed and was just trying to determine my next move when I heard someone go by and pull to a stop. It was a white dude about my age (33) and he comes up and he asking me if im ok. I thought I was, but he didnt seem convinced, so he had me take off my helmet, so he could check me for concussion and whatnot (Not a scratch on my lid). It was then he looked down and realized jeans was red on one leg right on the bottom of my knee. He goes back to his jeep and comes up with a F\A kit, so Im all grateful and telling the dude I was surprised he had that on hand, he comes to tell me hes a military medic just back from tour in Afghanistan, hes driving from Alberta to go and surprise his parents who didnt even know he was back on home soil! To tell you I felt like a complete arse for my careless actions causing this guy to take time away from that to help me out was an understatement, but it also taught me something about what we as people consider "important" in our lives. The people who had passed me before this gentleman had something they thought was much more important to do, but to not even ask if a person is ok before leaving, have we seriously fallen that far? He actually sat there with me for like an hour and a half until my buddies showed up, just to make sure someone was there to help me out, like he's got nothing better to do. Its sad now that we introduced ourselves but I cant remember the gentlemans name, but I **** u not I will never forget how he went out his way that day.
CAA membership is as important to your bike as insurance:
So I managed to get a hold of one of my closest friends, whose wife happens to be an insurance person for SF(cant remember title, but is good for info) She first asked me how damaged the bike was(snapped left clip-on, cosmetic damage, frame sliders improperly installed but did help save the bike!)so I told her it was minimal, but inoperable. She advised me not to call insurance if I could avoid it and eat the repair costs, since I hadnt hit anyone else I agreed and called my buddy for a tow. Sadly he was in the west and couldnt help me, but he knew where I was a would send someone to help me. Now I should mention when my buddy came down the hill from Sheppard, he told me there was a cop at the top of the hill trying to catch people. So now Im crapping myself because I cant have anything on my driving record for work, and Im worried that someone passing would tell the cops that a bike wiped out down the road, so I positioned my bike so the good side was sticking out to the road, thus making look like I just took a rest break, LOL, until the tow truck showed up. Now for those who dont know, if you have CAA membership they will always send a flatbed to get your bike. I didnt have CAA at the time, but I knew I was gonna have a problem when a regular tow-truck showed up. The african driver comes out to talk to me and my buddy and so I told him my info, and asked him how much from there to Salem and Taunton. No problem, he says, its just gonna cost 200 bucks!! I wanted to choke the life out of the dude, but beggars cant be choosers and by this time I had been down there in the sun for hours! So I said ok u gotta deal, he says, let me get my things from the truck. He comes back with a flannel shirt in his had and some extension cord. So im looking at my boy like " Is this dude gonna fix my bike right here or sumthin?" He wraps the flannel shirt around my frame, then proceeds to feed the extension cord around the shirt, loops the cord on his overhead hoist, and lifts the bike up in the air on the cords!! I swear to effin u know who I thought I was getting Punk'd or sumthin, this could not be real, but the guy turns to me and says "Ok, we're good" WhoTF is good I wanna ask him! But my boy's like "Chill dude, itll be alright" but he's in tears from trying not to laugh at the look on my face, stoopid *******, lol. So I hop in my buddys KIA and follow behind the bike all the way up to taunton and across, I gotta give the tow truck dude his due, the bike did not budge one bit the whole way home. So I gave him his money, put the bike on its stands and started to decompress. It was like 5:45 on the clock but for me it was 4:20 at that point, feel me?
Never rely on the kindness of coworkers:
So a week after crash Im at work, and a dude I kinda know comes up to me and says "Hey I saw you crash your bike the other day down in twyn rivers, but I had just finished my shift and I wanted to get home." Sorry to use poor language but at this point in my brain Im saying "You phucking *********, you saw not a random stranger having an accident, but someone you know well enough that your stupid *** will stop and approach said person to tell them just how big a ********* you are, but you couldn't stop to offer assistance!!?" Lucky for him, I need my job and our policies on creating a poisoned work environment are very vague, so I have to be careful what to say to this idiot. So figuring I gotta see this degenerate everyday I just smiled and was like "Ya, lucky I wasnt hurt too bad" but I havent spoken to this dude since, and I told some other people at my work who ride what he did and they couldnt believe it.
Learned a ton of stuff from one fall. Trust me God makes things happen for a reason. I am grateful for the riding lesson and Im grateful for the soldier who went out of his way to help me:salute:. Im also grateful to the people who didnt help, youve reinforced my belief that I must help people who need it when necessary, because we as good people have to take care of each other, otherwise we at risk of becoming an endangered species.
IOU 8 minutes, lol sorry
