On the way home from work, I had to stop and get some gas. After topping off, I pulled out of the gas station and started riding away. About ¼ mile down the road it makes a slight turn to the left so I start an easy lean and I heard this horrendous grinding noise and the bike wound lean over. Suddenly horror set in as I realized that the kick stand must have not been all the way up and fallen back down when I hit that last bump in the road. (Our city is pretty well known for lack of road repairs).
Well I couldn’t lean to the left, but the road was turning to the left… I straightened up and I grabbed all the brakes I could, but even that wasn’t going to be enough to get stopped in time and I saw the curb coming quickly. I looked at the side walk and I saw a driveway cut-out and thought I could just roll up onto the side walk, but I would need to thread my way between a power-line pole and a No Parking Sign - the sidewalk was not an option. My only thought was – oh this is going to hurt.
My only choice, as I could see it was let the bike hit the curb and then bail out and get away as best I could… yeah right. I turned the handlebars as far as I dared and continued to hear that horrendous grinding but I wanted to give myself any chance that I could to get away from the bike. Just before I knew the bike was going to hit the curb, I heard another horrendous grinding noise, but this one was different from the kick stand and all of a sudden, the bike started to follow the curb. What the…???
Well I guess the Good Lord decided to reach out and touch me, because the mounting piece for the right floorboard was just at the right place that it was dragging right along the curb. Between the floorboard, the handful of breaks that I had earlier, and the slight turn that I had on the handlebars the bike just followed the curb. While all this was happening, I was able to quickly stick my foot down and kick the side stand up, lean into the turn, and coast out of it. I guess another blessing is that my wife was behind me in her car and she knew well enough to back off as all this was happening and not try to run me over.
It’s funny how in reality this lasted about 10 seconds but to me it seemed like it lasted 10 minutes. I took the very next right and found a parking lot where I was able to get stopped, collect my thoughts, and let the shakes begin. I also found I had a difficult time getting off of bike because the seat was stuck to my butt.
Did I mention, I love my floorboard! I also made sure to give the side stand a squirt of WD-40.
Well I couldn’t lean to the left, but the road was turning to the left… I straightened up and I grabbed all the brakes I could, but even that wasn’t going to be enough to get stopped in time and I saw the curb coming quickly. I looked at the side walk and I saw a driveway cut-out and thought I could just roll up onto the side walk, but I would need to thread my way between a power-line pole and a No Parking Sign - the sidewalk was not an option. My only thought was – oh this is going to hurt.
My only choice, as I could see it was let the bike hit the curb and then bail out and get away as best I could… yeah right. I turned the handlebars as far as I dared and continued to hear that horrendous grinding but I wanted to give myself any chance that I could to get away from the bike. Just before I knew the bike was going to hit the curb, I heard another horrendous grinding noise, but this one was different from the kick stand and all of a sudden, the bike started to follow the curb. What the…???
Well I guess the Good Lord decided to reach out and touch me, because the mounting piece for the right floorboard was just at the right place that it was dragging right along the curb. Between the floorboard, the handful of breaks that I had earlier, and the slight turn that I had on the handlebars the bike just followed the curb. While all this was happening, I was able to quickly stick my foot down and kick the side stand up, lean into the turn, and coast out of it. I guess another blessing is that my wife was behind me in her car and she knew well enough to back off as all this was happening and not try to run me over.
It’s funny how in reality this lasted about 10 seconds but to me it seemed like it lasted 10 minutes. I took the very next right and found a parking lot where I was able to get stopped, collect my thoughts, and let the shakes begin. I also found I had a difficult time getting off of bike because the seat was stuck to my butt.
Did I mention, I love my floorboard! I also made sure to give the side stand a squirt of WD-40.
