I can't really wrap my head around what just happened. But I do know it REALLY REALLY sucks.
Went to the South Bay to do the oil change and clean up the SV. It served me so well touring up to Seattle and all; I thought I’d be nice and take care of it. Changed oil, replaced the bent shift rod, cleaned and lubed chain, I EVEN POLISHED THE FUCKING THING!!!!!
Came out to leave, and "man, that is such a purty bike!" I do that a lot.
Now it’s taken several steps toward being a little street rat. I can’t have anything nice. But THIS I don’t understand.
Coffee in Mountain View, then up Page Mill and over 35. I’m not going too fast, just a more scenic route home. 92 is totally backed up, stop and go. At the bottom of the hill there is a stoplight, where you can go straight or make a left turn. I always go straight, then hop on 280 with the big round onramp. But I thought you could also turn left and go that way. For shits, I decided to check it out. BAD IDEA. It’s all luck, what puts you in the wrong place? A stupid sense of finding out where that road goes…
Wait at the light, there’s a guy on a sport touring bike pulled up just behind me, I’d passed him earlier, a nice responsible rider. I get a green arrow, make the turn, straighten up, and I’ll be on my way. Hey look, a little pothole thingy in the pavement.
A little pothole that makes my bars shake violently. I thought, "the bike is tossing, but it will come out fine" Then, "I’m fucking crashing!" I can’t believe it. I don’t understand it. It wasn’t a giant pothole, I wasn’t moving all that fast, and I was going in a straight line.
I fall hard on my left hand and slide a ways; the bike falls on its left and slides even farther. I watch it slide away throwing dollar signs out behind it. Then I see the guy on the sport tourer coming up and braking and swerving, maybe a little too much, and thinking he's going to hit me. This made me feel guilty and I was very relieved he didn’t. I get up, and I’m really pissed. This makes no sense to me, and the bike, the bike was pristine. Not anymore.
I walk toward the bike and all I can think about is how it’s gonna be all fucked up, and it was so nice just a few hours ago. And all my good riding gear is trashed, which I just bought a few months ago, and all because of this fucking pothole.
The guy had pulled over and I was at the SV same time he was. He wants to know if I’m ok, I just want the bike up. We get it up and out and I start feeling sick, and I know my finger’s fucked, but not sure how badly.
A lady in a car stopped to help, but I sent her away, since there wasn’t much to do. I started calling James immediately to try to get help, since everyone else is in Europe, but was too out of it to remember that James was at Thunderhill racing… An ambulance was suggested, but unnecessary. I felt sick for a while and sat on the side of the road to gather my wits after sending the other biker on his way.
I told the guy I wouldn’t try to ride it away. My finger, I wasn’t sure if it was badly damaged. The SV handlebar has bent to an extreme angle, and left a funny scar on the tank (I’m not laughing yet. I loved my pretty blue bike) The mirror and stalk have broken off, there’s road rash on stuff, and the end of the shift lever is nowhere to be found (the only part I wasn’t able to recover.) The passenger peg is now very stubbornly stuck in the up position, as is the real footpeg.
I have a tow service. Do I tow it home? And leave it at a shop? $$$! And then how do I get myself to work? That’s a crappy option. Tow it to San Jose? What an operation, and then I have to tell my parents. The whole tow truck return to San Jose would be very dramatic looking, and more than they need. I always like to wait a few days to tell them, so I’m already OK, and they don’t have to panic.
I was starting to think that my finger WASN’T broken. Does the bike run? Why yes! Can I shift it, well, not really. The lever is missing the foot part at the end. I figured I’d try riding it to the end of the street to see, and decided that I could actually do it. My finger had become movable again, and the guy had given me his one sad little Band-Aid to put on it. Helpful? Mostly in spirit, but it was nice to keep the nastiest roadrashed bit out of contact with my gloves.
Got my sad little SV down to San Jose, riding with my hand up in the air the whole way to try to keep swelling down. Got to the house, and fortunately the parents were at church. I figured I had 40 minutes to get out before they came in and I had to do some explaining. I pushed the SV as close as possible to the wall so they won’t see the roadrash. They MAY notice the lack of mirror, and then look, but I’m hoping for the best. Anyway, I’ll tell them in a couple of days…
Called a friend for paramedic advice, mostly because, well, I’ve just crashed and want to hear a friendly voice. Also any tips on what’s the right way to clean this up. No luck, so I ran hot water, scratched away some of the dirt, doused it with bactine, took some ibuprofen, and put a gauze bandage deal over it. I’m missing a bunch of skin. I think it will take a while to heal, but be ok? I hope.
Couple glasses of water to calm down, and out the door. With any luck, they won’t be home or see me leaving.
Damn, I still haven’t been able to get my street tires on the DRZ, and so much for preserving these knobbies. The extra wheel set concept sounds good, but for me it doesn’t really work. Fuckit. And I’m on the road, heading home, hand in the air. This is really hard to do on the freeway for and hour. It’s like those people who accidentally leave their blinker on but I’m using a hand signal and left IT on. All the bikers coming back from Laguna Seca think I’m waving at them. Whatever. I’m fussy and sad. I just lost $1000 to a fucking pothole.
What MUST be replaced:
My riding gear. Fuck, this is the worst part. That really costs a lot, and it was mostly new.
The handlebars.
The shit lever.
The mirror
Then the really ought to replaces:
Footpegs and brackets,
Frame slider? Maybe
Need to see Joe about fork straightness once I’ve replaced the handlebar.
The tank is a new shape, with a cross-hatched scar from the bar end. The tail and signals and holeshot flyscreen have roadrash.
Fucking goddam piece of shit pothole.
I still don’t understand this. I’ve ridden over millions of potholes. I don’t get it. I know my dirtbike would not have lost its temper for a pothole. Fucking streetbikes.
Comments:
Rebecca:
hah!
Make that "shift lever."
"must replace... shift lever"
freudian slip
ouch.
MonkeyDude
Hey, sweetie. I hope you're healing up ok. Horrible to find you on here this way... but hopefully you're doing alright. You might want to try and get that ring off your finger, if you haven't already. It could really do damage to your finger by leaving it on... you can get it cut off at a jewlers and they can repair the cut fairly easily, if I remember correctly. The rest of the stuff is just that, "stuff," and it can be replaced... glad to hear you're ok for the most part.
Posted by MonkeyDude on Tuesday, July 13, 2004 at 5:15 PMMarisa
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CRAP!
I'm so sorry!!
:(:(:(
Let me know if there's anything I can do.
Kevy
Welcome to the Crashed SV Club darlin'. I'm sorry! I can honestly say I feel your pain. It always seems totally fine till the last second before you eat pavement. Then you sit up going "What the fuck just happened?!?!?!"
It wasn't your fault.
It was the universe cocking the Fuck-with-me-gun.
At least that's what I tell myself.
I'm going to have a rather large bill myself to get my bike back.
You wanna team up and do some porn together? That'll make us $3k quick!
;)
Posted by Kevy on Tuesday, July 13, 2004 at 7:59 PM
Pot holes, rocks, they all fuck your shit up. I wrote down the parts you need, if I come across any in my search for straight wheels I'll shoot you a link or pick it up for you. Take care of that chunck of meatloaf on your finger
Posted by Ink and Metal on Wednesday, July 14, 2004 at 11:41 AM
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