About a half mile into my ride I realized that my efforts at wiping off the outside
of my helmet visor were futile, as the inside had filled with condensation and frozen
over. I opened my visor up and was immediately pelted with tiny little missiles of
ice, which quickly froze over on my glasses. Seizing the first opportunity to do
so, I pulled into a McDonalds on Evans and took my glasses off and put them in my
tank bag, this becomes important later trust me. Leaving McD’s I had my visor cracked
about halfway and was squinting trying to keep the ice out of my eyes. I know I should
have had my glasses on, but my vision isn't that bad and the visibility was for shit
anyway. I figured that by the time something was close enough to matter Id have already
hit it and would enjoy the surprise.
One thing I've learned to do when riding in inclement weather is set stages for myself.
I'm sure many of you have played the same game. You establish a series of landmarks,
or intersections, between yourself and your destination. Each time you pass one you
feel a bit closer to home, safety, and warmth. It helps me focus on the task at hand
but, like most Americans, my attention span is pretty short and I need to set short-term
goals. As I approached one of my landmarks, the intersection of Evans and I-25, I
realized the first of the two lights I had to pass through was turning yellow. “Fuck!”
I cursed through my clenched teeth as I realized that I hadn't the time to slow down
and went through the intersection as the light turned to red. I increased my speed
hoping to make the next light as well. As I came up on it I saw the green turn to
yellow, I was still about ten to fifteen feet from the intersection, I wasn't going
to make it and there was a press of cars waiting for their turn to go. Fearing the
worst I made a decision. I dropped the bike into neutral and locked up the front
break. The back end quickly came around and I laid the bike on its side. Thank the
God of Motorcycle Engineering for opposed engine cylinders! As I slid towards the
intersection I tried to squeeze myself onto the bike. I came to a stop parallel with
the edge of the sidewalk as traffic began to turn in front of me onto Evans.
“Get UP!” a voice in my head started screaming (this is probably similar to Pavements
morning wake-up ritual these days). I struggled to get up and found I couldn't. I
started to remember all the stories I've heard of people laying their bikes down
and getting cooked by the engine, bad move. This had the effect of causing me to
writhe and flail around on the ground trying to free myself by sheer momentum. Still,
I couldn't get the mass of metal off me. I felt no pain, I didn't think anything
was broken, but I couldn't get my left leg to respond. Images of Dan's x-ray filled
my mind, and still the voice raged at me, “Get your shit together and GET UP!”I looked
down, expecting to see my leg twisted at impossible angles, what I did see was that
my boot was pinned underneath my front tire. I reached down and pulled on my leg,
still stuck. I tried to turn the wheel, wouldn't budge. Finally, in desperation,
I pulled on my leg as hard as I could and slipped my foot out of the boot. SUCCESS!
Now, as my sock quickly soaked up the water in the street, all I had to do was free
my boot, put it back on and ride home. As I was getting the boot out a curious thing
happened. A motorist in a truck who was turning off the highway stopped and offered
assistance. How nice, I thought, they're not all bad. The rest of my ride home was
pretty uneventful. I did, however, discover that the pair of glasses I had put in
my tankbag were missing when I got home ( I told you that would be important). So,
if you're passing over the intersection of Evans and I-25 and see a pair of black
framed glasses with slightly blue lenses, please retrieve them and return them to
me. I really like those glasses. |
