| Tuesday, 12-Jul-2005 00:00 |
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living the fine line between life and death
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motorcycles are the biggest passion of my life ... but most dangerous one as well. last night a friend of mine went down (felt) right in front of me & it just reminded me again how dangerous this passion is ...
he felt due to a combination of stupid "coincidences": weather, the way we were riding, new bike he was getting used to ...
all of the sudden I saw him hit the ground right in front of me, started sliding on the pavement, as if he was trying to break dance & then he started rolling to lesser the "road rash" (nasty burn marks on your skin when your skin hits the asphalt at 40 mph +). i'm breaking and i see his motorcycle (as if it was in slow motion) slowly sliding across the highway (sparks flying), right in front of me. then i see another friend of mine, almost running him over. we stop the traffic on the highway, pick up his bike, get him to a safe place .... he's ok, just shocked - could have been much worst if a car would get involved in this mess.
i had few close calls ("almost crashes") myself & it just makes you think when it happens - a "wake up call" from above:
- 2 weeks ago, after hitting a nasty bump at 140mph on a turn, my bike tank slapped me (when the handle bar starts to wiggle back and forth) and all i could do is straight the bike up and break as hard as i could. i heard my brand new tires (thank u Michelin!) screeching on top of their longs and saw a car in front of me getting closer and closer ... last minute, i was able to swerve and avoid hitting it ... it was very close ....
- last nite, it rained a bit & against my better judgment i brought the bike up to 140 on the BQE only to be caught by stop dead traffic & as i started breaking ... i feel my front tire sliding (yes, i believe it was the Michelin tires again, that saved my life) ... i let go of the front break, tried rear, front again and swerved to the side to avoid hitting a big truck that was stopped in my way ...
i must say that i have been very lucky so far ... i thank who ever is watching over me and yes ... this was a wake up call and it did wake me up a bit, not that i want to stop riding, but my eyes are wide open again.
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