Almost bought the farm

[yechave]

Thought I would post some pics of what was just about our first and last purchase for "the farm." http://www.sendpix.com/albums/08012010/fjls0yd2fr/

Pics are not the best, but it was either keep my eyes on the road or risk another potential accident taking them. Gives a decent perspective on the blind spots, stones, skid marks and difficulty making the turn.

Four of us took a four hour ride on the 12th, weather was great in Pa. After seeing everyone else home, I decided to take the long way back on Mountaintop Rd I believe, and put on some more miles.

I've been back on forth on the main road here for twelve years, and I don't recall that I ever took a left, up the steep hill from the northbound lane.

The first two pics posted are going northbound. There was absolutely no one coming when I committed myself to the turn, and had to really slow down due to all the stones at the intersection. By the time we had just started heading up the hill, I smelled rubber and next glanced to see a red sports car sliding sideways towards us. I stayed on the yellow line as he both slide sideways and also went up the hill, missing us by about a foot or so.

I have just over 3k miles riding experience since I started again last Oct, quit after riding about 18 yrs, but never with a pillion. I have been exceptionally careful with a grandmother passenger.

We've both been back to check out the skid marks and try to figure how it almost ended our cycling days. From what I can tell, the other driver was going way too fast, but was fortunate enough to have good reflexes. The vantage point of the pics was taken from a full size van, so I am considerably higher here than sitting on the LT. The other driver was sitting even lower than we were in the sports car.

The stones played a major factor in all of this, having to slow to a crawl to not risk sliding out making the turn too fast.

Thought it was worth posting, just for safety sake.

Surprisingly, I was not startled in the least, I never saw it coming. Once the other driver got past me, they took off like a bat out of hell.

I missed a very large deer in the very first few minutes we took this bike for a test ride, literally by a hair. Had close calls with two more deer in the following three weeks.

This near collision would certainly have done us both in.

Someone must be watching over us.

[Morley]

Glad you're ok. I think I know that road. And if it is the one I'm thinking of, that guy must have been flying to lose it on the curve...it isn't all that sharp. Lots of idiots up there lately.
Stay safe and keep sharp.

[gglove]

Wayne I am glad you are ok. I bought myself the Ride Like a Pro dvds for christmas. They are great. I thought I was a fairly good rider, with over twenty years experience, until I tried some of the skills in the dvd. I am sure we all benefit from some practice.
Good luck and stay safe.

[nplenzick]

You are to be commended on using all your sense's. Just think if you didn't smell that tire smoke. I'd say you did pretty well. You also get another plus for the amount of reflection you have given this incident. Some riders (and drivers for that matter) just brush things like this off not really given much thought to what could have been and how to better prepare yourself for future incidents. One of the things I love about riding is you can never be good enough, there's always something that you can improve in.
I've spent 20 years on race tracks (four wheels not two) I learned a great deal on high performance driving which believe it or not has help me tremendously in my riding. It's given me a deferent perspective on how I read road conditions, traffic, looking for deer, etc. I really look forward to the not to distant future when I hope to return to the racetrack this time on two wheels. There are many track days at Pocono near you. You might check them out sometime.

[yechave]

We both took the State rider safety course prior to getting the LT. My SO got her first MC license and had her first ever ride on any MC just a few weeks prior on our RT.

I also bought and highly recommend the "Ride Like a Pro IV" dvd's and a few others as well. They helped a great deal! One problem for me was I got too much information all at once.

Still, you just never know. The day this happened, weather and all driving conditions were quite excellent, with the only exception being the stones all over the roadway, which made the turn a problem on the bike.

I know a lot of people really put it to the metal coming south over the bridge, and not all that many cars make a left in front of you at this intersection. Sorta makes you think what if any part of the bike was seen, including the outstanding Motolights! I think the visibility was somewhat limited to both of us due to the barriers on the side of the bridge, but I can't be sure. It seems from the pics, I should have had good visibility to the light, and I do not recall seeing anyone coming before I committed myself to the turn. Had there been any doubt, I would have stopped first.

This is near the Slatington bridge were 248, 145 and 873(?) I believe, all come together, just west of the Lehigh river, at the collision center.

Very grateful nothing more came of it all.

[gglove]

Wayne I agree a great deal of information on the dvd's. I am trying to work on all the lessons that are on the program. I had my first accident this summer, after twenty odd years of riding without incident, in the parking lot at work. I was not injured but the bike had a fair amount of cosmetic damage, who would have thought a mirror was $350 :mad:
I then thought I could use a brush up on riding since it has been a good fifteen years since my last course.
Again glad you are overall OK.

[yechave]

I dropped the RT the first few minutes of ownership, right in the dealer's lot. Wow, did that hurt! Won't try to prevent another bike from going down again. Took about six weeks or more to recover from that injury. "Forces of Nature" have some outstanding, all natural remedies...anyone cares to look. I think I may have needed surgery had I not stumbled onto that site.

Glad you only broke the mirror! That was the first thing to pop off when I dropped the RT, and the salesman tried to help grab the bike. Another one of those unexpected lessons about the BMW's. The mirrors were not tethered to either bike.

I learned a great deal with the Pro dvd's, spent a good deal of time in an empty lot doing slow speed maneuvers. Wish I had seen that dvd prior to going for the safety course. I've passed that around to everyone we ride with.

To think I risked taking either of these bikes out with no idea how to pick them up properly, and more so, no one offered that information before we bought either bike.....is very scary.

I must say, some nice folks we met with a Harley did tell us about that. Just didn't seem likely to me that anyone being 5'5", could lift such a big bike. So, I guess I never gave it much thought.

Really thankful for all the safety information, how to pick the bike up video and other links, provided on this forum.

Ten years living in fear of what other medical problems could take me out, it was high time to live for the ride, and enjoy being on a bike again. I knew the LT was right for us, the moment I first rode it.

I actually felt ok with getting an older bike, that already had some damage. My initial thought was the LT was way too big, so we got an RT. That was too small for two up riding, IMO, and with a couple thousand miles on the RT, the LT did not seem quite so big. When I took that out for a test ride, it was much easier to ride, IMO. I really had no intention of riding any more after the RT trip.

My intent was to rent a Harley for a weekend, and that was it......
I got very sick the weekend we had it rented to go to VA, and had to cancel that rental. Took a Hertiage Classic the following weekend. Fun but a brutal ride. I knew I did not want to own a Harley after that ride.

Once we got the bug, we only went to look at an 1985 K bike for $2500.

$10k later, needing to yet install the new shocks & aux lights, buy some filters and do some other service, I am still amazed at how we ever ended up with a BMW.

Nonetheless, it gave me the incentive to look for a few more good tomorrows.