Following on the heels of Anonymous' wish that I "die in a fiery motorcycle wreck," yesterday I almost did exactly that.
Coming home from work I pulled out onto Highland Street and hit the gas. This is one of my favorite parts of the ride because it is straight, flat and usually safe. As I made my way through the gears I noticed a maroon SUV inching out of a driveway on the left hand side of the road. "He won't go," I thought to myself as I kept cruising, thus breaking the cardinal rule of motorcycling - Don't Ever Assume Anything. Ever.
And so, as you can guess, the SUV went. He darted out straight across the road toward another side street and directly into my path. I hit the brakes hard and prepared. I say "prepared" because I knew I was going to crash.
These are the thoughts I remember thinking:
-Wow, so this is it, this is what it's like to crash. It really does happen fast. -I hope my face is okay, the wedding is so soon. -I hope my arms don't break so I can play the last show. -I probably won't die, right? -I should be wearing my leather pants. -What if I do die? What about Sarah and our future kids and possible a puppy?
I literally thought every one of those thoughts and about a million more as the side of the SUV raced up to meet me.
At this point, somehow through the grace of something, the driver of the SUV hit the gas. This allowed me to slide around the bumper and not T-bone the car. I missed by about a foot, I'd say.
Needless to say I then felt like I had to puke and pulled over to get a grip. As I sat on the sidewalk an old lady approached me. Sweet, I thought, here comes some sympathy for the injustice just done to me:
"Are you OK?" "Yes, thanks." "You know, you seemed to be going too fast." "Well, he shouldn't have cut me off." "It looked like you were going too fast. Those things are dangerous." "Hmmm. Fuck you, Grandma." (Note: not actually said)
Why do some people have to stick their obnoxious know-it-all noses in shit that doesn't concern them, thus making the situation way worse? Arg. But that's a topic for another day.
Anyway, I made it home a little wiser and a lot more wary. Whose fault was this whole situation? Honestly, it's probably about 50/50. I shouldn't have been so cavalier and the SUV driver should have looked my way before just pulling out into the road. Of course, seeing that in any crash I'm going to be the loser, the onus for safety is really on me and so I guess it really is my fault. Live and learn.
