Search the Community

Well, time for another entry and its not a good one. I hit the road again. This time I can only really put it down to my own fault. On my normal commute to work, was following a line of cars who were passing a tractor driving along the verge. The guy was going steadily and keeping as far left as he could. Mostly the cars ahead were filing past easily, but I slowed some as the car in front had its turn. Moments later he braked hard and so did I. I guess it's been too long since my last emergency practice and I presume I grabbed too much. Bike is quickly down and I hit the road next to it. We both slide a few metres to a stop. Distinctly remember my head hitting the ground and being very concerned about the very full lane of traffic (including large trucks) headed the other way, that I was kind of sliding towards. Came to a halt and stood up, getting myself of fhte road as quick as I could. Can see a car pulling up behind me on the verge. The car and tractor carried on, but in all honesty, they may not have seen anything until well down the road. I didn't hit either so they didn't need to get details etc. Pulled off the gloves and helmet and headed for the bike, lying silently on its right side on the road. The guy from the car is asking if I'm alright, and to be honest I'm not sure. I know I'm walking and thinking so it can't be all bad. We lift the bike and push it off the road. He's still asking if I'm ok and amazing a couple of other cars have stopped. My pants are torn , but my BDUs (fatigue pants, cammo pants) have done a pretty good job as the knee has a double layer. Wrist is sore, knee, head a little bit too. Bike is scrathed a lot. No pegs, no levers broken or bent, indicators etc all working order. It starts and runs ok. No leaks. Yay I can ride out of here, so no police report (and likely ticket too). The other bloke offered to give me a lift, but I decide to ride on to the base as there's a hospital there anyway. He does follow along behind as far as he's going, in case I change my mind. Really nice of him to do that. Next day I'm fairly sore, but I've really escaped again. Got a couple of grazes on my knee, that the medics cleaned out and dressed. Wrist and head ached a bit, but that's gone now. So nothing broken (I have a habit of not noticing broken limbs for few days - no idea why, but on two occasions I've had broken limbs only to think them sprained (once arm, once leg)) The bike will be off the road for a few weeks I guess, for insurance and repair. Back to bus/train for a while. Gotta kill my resale - this is my advertisement if I was to sell :) 2004 VFR, Over 100,000km. Crashed twice, dropped once more, some minor scratching. Ridden in all weathers and left out in the rain several times. Always serviced. Comes with very scratched topbox. But I love it (and all realtionships have ups and downs) and won't be getting rid of it. Has got the Mrs nagging a little though.

No luck on the parking ticket. It gets whisked straight off to State Debt Recovery... ah well. I was in the wrong, so not really a lot to argue over. Just have to remember that for this area, bikes don't get any lenancy. Summer has struck, 40C the last two days with 42C today. Warmish on the way home. Already had two bush fires in the local area. Luckily not a lot of damage (unlike Victoria last summer) but its only December and there's at least 2 months of the fire season to come. Here's a picture I took on the way home today. I'm actually about 20km from the fire by this time but the sun was in the right spot. Yesterday there were diversions in place and some of my staff watched the bush burn, across the street from their homes. Bike wise - so far no repeats of my strange cut outs. That's good. Perhaps it was the idle and the battery.

A couple of hot ones here with more on the way, and summer is still officially two weeks away. 42C on the way home. Equal hottest I have ever ridden in. Luckily the dramas from last week seem to have gone away (see here) and made it home safe & sound. Been an interesting couple of days on the commute. Traffic blocked up on the way in with a truck parked at an angle across two lanes. Driver digging through his toolkit beside it. Hit the onramp to change freeways as normal, only to have to avoid someone reversing back up it (just go to the next off ramp!!). The day before I caught up to a guy towing a racecar on a trailer. Was alongside when I realised there was people riding in it!! Oh actually no, he has two manikins sitting in the seats. Bit of laugh to brighten the day! Even passed a fire engine. His lights and all were on but he wasn't speeding. Sat behind him for a little bit, but figured as long as I don't speed who can say I'm in the wrong. I think he was a little surprised and sped up. Then there was a red light and that was all his...