You know I've been riding about 5 years I guess, mostly street with a little dirt biking thrown in and in that time I've had my share of close calls and one minor ride injury. But I had a close call the other day that was more then that, Much more. I almost Died. It Still give's me the ******* when I think about it And as I'm writing this. I thought I would share my experience with you in the hope that our new riders would get something out of this and the thought of maybe Other's would tell of their Worst experience so that all of us may learn something about how to be better riders.

I'm going to work as usual on the kawi and I stop in the circle k for a pack of smokes and some cash. As I leave the circle k parking lot I pull up to the edge of the road. I look left, there's No traffic. I look right, There's a car coming about 30 yards away with another about 40 yards behind him. I decide to go after the first car passes and before the second car gets there.

I look left again, still no traffic. I look right again, the first car is just about even with me. My hand tightens on the throttle and I start to give it a little gas and feather the clutch just a little. The first car approaches and is now rolling past me. I get ready to go. I don’t know why but I look left One Last Time. Was it biker Instinct, Was it my Guardian Angel, I dont know and I will never know.

Oh my god. There is a full size truck coming down the road from the left doing about 35-40 mph and he's about 10-15 FEET from just were I'm starting to come out at. I grab the brake, pull the clutch, and kill the throttle. The truck rolls by so close that I can see the guys face and feel the wind coming off the truck. I would say he missed my front tire by about a foot and a half.

Now to an outsider looking at the scene they saw nothing but a bike waiting to pull out into traffic. To that biker it was a whole nother story. I sat there, I don’t know how long. I thought about what just happened and what didn’t just happen. I thought about my wife and my life. And I thought about what her life would have been like without me. I thought about what had me look left again. I had looked left twice before, there was no traffic. I thought about a lot of things in those few seconds that I was sitting there.

I was all set to go too and If I hadn’t looked left that one Last Time I would have died, No doubt. I would have pulled out in front of the truck and he would have t-boned me at 35-40 mph. My only hope of survival would have been if I was thrown. More then likely I would have gone under the truck along with the bike. Believe it or not as I sat there thinking about my mortality I actually felt Mr. Death standing there next to me. I finally compose myself, Look Both Ways and head off to work.

The moral of this story, Well for one Motorcycles are very dangerous. Two, Always, Always, and Always take the time to glance each way that one last time Before pulling out. Three, Never be in a hurry to get somewhere. Forth, and the Most Important. Even Experienced Rider's can make a mistake that can cost them their lives. Lets not Me or You be one of them...



LV

 

Good story and all too true, if anyone has not gone over to the ADVrider Face Plant section, do so, it will put a reality check on our two wheel riding obsession.

My favorite part was:

That includes better riders unintentionally pushing you beyond your comfort zone......... let them get ahead and go, if the're your friends they will wait for you up ahead or come back, its always better to be last and have them rib you a little at the watering hole when done. BTW I get some ribbing from my more experienced mx friends.

 

Yea I have been riding since 1982 and have had a couple of close calls but nothing like that, I suppose the pucker factor was in full force that day.

 

Close call for sure, glad you looked bro.

Guess my closest calls have ended me up in the hospital and weeks of recovery. Lately just a week ago while doing some canyon carving and entering a corner that was a decreasing radius corner, I found out, I ad to much speed and the pucker factor got the best of me, I let off the gas and hit the brake, the bike stood up and I was over the DY and half way into the oncoming lane. *%*@ not good, luckily there was no oncoming traffic or It would have been disastrous, I to thought about my wife and kids.

Moral of this story, know your road.

 

i guess you call it a close call bet maybe it was a call that actually happened. i ended up in the emergency room with this one.
i was riding around at our local track putsing around. then i just decided to go faster and push myself a little harder. but in doing this a littler ride half my size and on a motocross bike. decides to cut me off, while u was going off a double. well my instinc was to save myself and not run him over and flatten him like a pancake. but my second instinc was to stop as fast as i could so that i did not hit him. well if you are guessing choice two well you are right. i slamed on my brakes and that bike bucked me off harder than you wouldn not belive. and there i was throwm to the ground at 30 mph and had landed on my shoulder. for a minuet i thought that i was ok but as i got up my whole arm started to hurt. well i broke my arm right after my growth plate. lucky i suppose, it could have been alot worse. so that was the first time i had broken any bones my clean record has been abolished.

 

Same here i am glad you looked. my dad rides to work almost every night. and every afternoon when he wakes up he tells me what happened on his way to work. they never come out as a happy story. it is either a close call. or too close. i almost lost him on one of those rides so i am very forgiving of what the lord has done GOOD LUCK TOO YOU ALL RIDE SAFETLY NOT STUPID

 

See smoking is bad for you lol

Glad you looked that last time mate don't wanna hear about anything worse than what happened to Brian or Tony here

Cheers

Garry