I Fought the Road and Road Won
Published November 13th, 2006 in City of Angels, It's Really Just All About Me....How was your Saturday night? Mine pretty much was great, until the end. On my way home from the USC game, I was riding my motorcycle on the 10 West freeway and a car in the lane next to me decided it liked my lane better… Needless to say, I swerved to avoid the drunken idiot who was coming from the game (I was working for ESPN and was pretty sure I was only one at the game not totally drunk.) I hit the median curb thingy at about 60 mph and rolled for about 200 feet. My bike slid along farther than I did.
Luckily, I’m a very clumsy person. So, I’m used to falling down. I managed to go very limp and just roll with it and not fight it to avoid sliding and causing some real damage. The idiot who ran me off the road was long gone by the time I came to rest.
I’m okay. I have a small fracture in my foot and I’m covered with some serious road rash. I spent day yesterday, at the wonderful St. Joe’s hospital, high on some serious legal meds getting dirt scraped out of my wounds. The staff was very kind, concerend and careful - I highly recommend going there if you’re ever injured.
My poor bike is a bit scratched up but I’m having it picked up from the yard today and I hope they can fix her up good as new. Will I still ride again? Oh, hells yes.
Many people may consider it a wake up call for me, or even irresponsible to be riding a motorcycle now that I’ve got a little one in my life. But this is something that may be hard to explain to some — it’s more than just a passion for me. It’s a part of me. It’s something that sets me free and reduces stress. It’s hard to put into words but I’ve been riding since I was 16 years old and this is my first (and hopefully last) time I’ve ever had a problem. I’m a safe, careful, and smart rider. And, if I had to be stuck in a car, in traffic, I’d probably die of a heart attack from the stress anyway.
So, I’ll be recovering from my cuts and scrapes for the next few weeks but I’m happy that I was able to walk away from this and live to tell the tale. I’ll try to get some pictures up of all the aftermath.
20 Responses to “I Fought the Road and Road Won”
- 1 Pingback on Nov 22nd, 2006 at 3:13 pm
- 2 Pingback on Feb 20th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
- 3 Pingback on Mar 20th, 2007 at 12:11 am
Dude! Glad you’re OK. I had a buddy who used to work in an ER, and when we’d ask what were the worst injuries that he saw without hesitation he would declare “motorcycle injuries, hands down.” You done good walking away from that.
And what up with the dickweed who drove away? Don’t they have cameras all over the place down there? Where were Ponch and John? Want me to pull in some favors with ‘the family’ to make them go away?
Glad to hear you’re okay!! My husband has a bike too but he feels a careful bike rider never drives when the sun is going down because then your chances of an accident are upped quite a bit. It soothes my heart anyway. Sending my well wishes to your lady too - her heart must have dropped into the soles of her feet… I know mine would have.
It isn’t irresponsible to ride a motorcycle, but you might want to wear more clothes when you do. I know that it is a pain to carry around the jacket, etc, but reading “getting dirt scraped out of my wounds” suggests to me it might not be a bad way to go. (end santimonious rant)
All I can say is that I’m glad you are alive
I’m guessing you were wearing a helmet…
Glad to hear you’re okay!
Glad to hear you are OK.
I completely feel your pain. I have had multiple idiots decide that my lane was the lane they wanted to be in. Fortunately, I always had a way out (knock on wood).
Did you scrape the helmet? When it comes to helmet-wearing, I’m a pro-choice rider in a pro-choice state. I like to keep track of ancedotal stories about post-crash helmet condition.
Anyway, glad to hear you’re okay and that you won’t give up riding.
Ride Safe.
It’s a beautiful looking machine and I’d want to climb right back on it if I were you. I suggest a blast of Richard Thompson’s “Vincent Black Lightning”, the greatest song about vintage Vincent motorcycles of all time. Okay, the only song, but it’ll still raise your spirits.
Thanks for all the kind words. I am okay and getting better everyday. L.A. Mommy is staying home with me and giving me the baby treatment.
I did have my helmet on, I didn’t have leathers, but I was covered from head to toe with denim. That helped a lot, but leather is the next item on my Christmas wish list.
As soon as I realized I was going down I put my head on my chest and waited for it to be over. It’s got a long scratch on one side and that’s about it.
One thing I’ve discovered from all this — my body does not like narcotics. My pain killers are really jacking me up. Which is just not fair.
Wow! That’s pretty scary.
If you ever do that again, it better be for stuntwork.
I’ve only driven a ‘bike’ once - totally freaked me out. If cars weren’t around, it would be OK.
Motorcycles… they’re EVERYWHERE!
I won’t show this to my husband. He sold his around 10 years ago, right after our oldest was born. One of our last rides together was going out to see the Christo Umbrellas in Tejon pass. I was tired and frozen and never rode with him after that.
He always says he doesn’t regret selling it, but I’m not taking any chances with a mid-life crisis in our near future..
By the way, I am sorry if my comment sounded preachy and not kind. Please read my comment as “Glad you escaped with minor injuries, I shake my fist at the driver who caused this.” I was thinking those things, but somehow that did not translate into what my fingers typed.
Sorry to hear, brother. Stay off those things, they’ll get you killed!
I am so glad to hear you are okay! I’m a little behind in my blog reading and when I saw your latest post I had to backtrack…yow! I hope someone catches that asshole. Feel better soon!
nonlineargirl - you didn’t sound preachy at all. And, yes, I’d love (LOVE!) to get my bandaged hands on the other driver. But I’d probably have to start blogging from prison.
Sandy - it would kill me to stay off them, too.
CityMama - thanks for the kind words. And thanks to everybody who has commented. I’m getting better every day. I’m a pretty fast healer and I’m responding very well to everything! Your words are part of my treatment!
I have recently started to follow this “blog”. It’s been interesting and fun, until this one. I do want to say I’m glad you are ok. Definitely get leather. As a child, we were NEVER allowed on motorcycles unless all of our skin was covered. Denim is good, but leather is better. When I was 9, my dad and I wrecked going down the highway. Let’s just say, I barely had a scratch and we were very lucky. Every time I see someone riding around in shorts and no shirts, I can’t stand it.
Anyway, after all that babble, glad you are ok. Keep up the interesting work.