Close Call

Last week I had a very close call on my way to work. It was a bit of a relaxed work week because of the July 4th holiday, so I was about fifteen minutes later than usual leaving my house. I found out that there is a whole lot more traffic at this time. Before I pulled out of my yard, a group of three cars drove past. These cars were not going very fast, so I caught up very quickly.

We were on a long straight stretch of road and I could see no oncoming traffic, so I decided to pass all three cars at once. Just as I got into the blind spot of the center car, it pulled out to pass the lead one. Shit!!!! I swerved away from this car to the only place I could, the left shoulder of the road. This is a country road, so the shoulders are gravel and I was probably going over 70 miles per hour at the time, so I was trying my hardest to keep the bike from washing out. Just when I thought I had it steady, I looked up ahead and a mailbox was right in front of me. Double shit!!! I just tried to make myself as skinny as possible, so I could squeeze in between the passing car and mailbox (this all happened in a matter of seconds). Somehow I managed to clear all of this and let the car get ahead of me, so I could get back in the left lane. I passed both the lead car and the car that had driven me off the road.

The driver was a younger woman smoking a cigarette. I don't think she ever realized what had happened. In my younger, more aggressive days, I may have tried to kick her door or at least give her the middle finger, but calmer heads prevailed this time...I was just happy to be ok.

I've had quite a few close calls while riding and even one crash, but I can't remember a time I was more shaken up. So many things could've gone wrong, that I'm really lucky that it worked out. So, I'm sorry to say that I'm hanging it up. I'm going to sell my bike and give up motorcycling.

Nah!!! Just kidding! I would never do that. But I’d like to use this as a reminder to all you riders to be safe!

"Try not to die." - Betty White