hqueen's collection of Far From the Usual stuff.

[Dawn419]

So glad to hear you're okay after the bike incident!

After doc and I had our bike accident in Feb. '07, I'll never ride without my leathers on. The doctors couldn't believe we'd been on a bike since there was no road rash. Hello? We had on our helmets and were covered in leather from the neck down.

 

[Denim Deb]

I see people riding in flip flops, tank tops and shorts. I think they're nuts. I don't have leathers, but won't ride unless I'm in jeans. I try to wear something on my arms too, but admittedly, some days it's just too hot and I can't afford the stuff they make for hot weather.

 

[hqueen13]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the warm thoughts! I'm VERY grateful that we are ok, too. The universe gave us a lesson, and admittedly it wasn't a kind one, but it got the point across without too much damage.
Yup, definitely won't be riding in incorrect clothing from now on. E knows that and will be helping me to get the good stuff.

Dang it... there was something else I thought about posting, but I forgot what it was now.... Gah... too many things in my head!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

When I first met DH, he almost exclusively rode his bike. He's got an BMW R1100 RT (or something like that) I know I should know that, but hey... he can't remember my chicken breeds, so I can't remember the whole name for his bike, lol.

Anyway, couple weeks after I met him he convinced me to get on behind him. I'm not scared of bikes - grew up on dirt bikes so I can ride. My problem is giving control to someone else. We were a couple blocks from home, going slow around a corner when a car pulls out of a store on the corner. We slowly glided over to the shoulder - should have been ok, but a road bike doesn't do well on gravel and we went down. We both had helmets and jeans on - but my jeans were no match for the big rock I landed on. Get this - I needed nine stitches in my knee and my jeans weren't even torn on the outside. I got cut without ever getting a hole in my jeans. Weird!

I recovered just fine, but I don't think his ego ever did. It was a humbling experience for sure. He now has Draggin Jeans and Joe Rocket jacket along with gloves and he never leaves for a ride without them and his full-face helmet.

So glad you are ok.

 

[Icu4dzs]

I am relieved to hear you are OK. Laying a big bike down is NEVER fun. Fortunately, in all my years of riding, it happened only once but that once was enough to "get my attention".

I was coming down a steep hill with a 7-11 store at the bottom of the hill. An old man and his wife were in a car and pulled out into the street and just stopped! They didn't turn or move. I had several options; go through him (not a good choice), go over him, (equally bad) or go around him into oncoming traffic. Bad option 3 was elected and I went up over an embankment into someone's yard and finally laid the bike down going a good deal slower. The owner of the bike, who was on the back, had bailed out while I went up the embankment. He was not hurt. The old man never got out of the car. He just sat there and all I could imagine was that the old guy had a small stroke or TIA and just did NOT belong behind the wheel of a car.

A guy who saw the whole thing came running over to me dressed in a Harley-Davidson leather jacket to see if I was OK and told me that I had done the best piece of riding he had seen in many years. I was grateful for his approval but needed to get the bike off the ground. He helped and I got back on an took the owner back home. I was done for the day.

We who ride 2 wheels all know that you really don't need the helmet and the leather every day. You only need it on one day; but you wear it on every day because you just don't know which one THAT day is going to be!

Saepe Expertus, Semper Fidelis, Fratres Aeterni
Trim sends
//BT//

 

[Dawn419]

We who ride 2 wheels all know that you really don't need the helmet and the leather every day. You only need it on one day; but you wear it on every day because you just don't know which one THAT day is going to be!

Amen, Trim, Amen!


Deb,

We cringe everytime we see folks riding in shorts, tanks tops and flip flops. To top that off...we have the no helmet law out here. I can respect that it's "your" choice to wear a helmet or not but I just can't imagine not wearing one...especially after our incident.

We came up to an intersection, had the green light and a kid ran his red light. We never saw him coming due to a concrete wall/barrier. We saw the vehicle next to us drop back (SUV and taller than we were), we both checked it out of the corner of our eyes and BAM...there was the car in our path. Doc hit the front brakes, which threw us over top the car (instead of through it). Our 1200 cc Sportster totalled the Lexas and apparently hit hard enough to put the kickstand down as the policemen and EMTs said she was upright when they arrived at the scene. The front end of the scoot is trashed but the frame is just fine. Can't wait to have her back on the road as we have't ridden since the incident and I'm looking forward to it. Thing that worries me the most is the deer population out here as we seem to have at least one a month that decideds the best time to cross the road is when we get right on top of them as they're deciding to leave the shoulder of the road.

 

[Denim Deb]

I know someone who has a special name for folks who opt to ride w/no helmet where it's legal-organ donors. And while I believe God can protect me in the case of an accident, I also believe that He expects me to use some common sense. I know people who think that since they're riding a scooter they don't need the same protection. But, they're still on a bike and can expect the same type of injuries in an accident.

Trim, glad you were OK as well. Did you ever find out what happened to the old guy?

 

[moolie]

Glad it all turned out ok and you are still with us--be safe!

 

[hqueen13]

As E says, there are two types of riders - Been down, and going down. I can now say I'm a "real" rider in the first category. I looked at him at one point and told him that now it was his turn to fall off Storm (he's been riding with me some as well), and his eyes got wide and he shook his head! I just laughed at him. The other day I told him that you can expect it to feel EXACTLY the same two days after you fall off a horse as when you fall with a bike, LOL.
Trim, that is pretty crazy. Glad you weren't hurt, either.
That is really the biggest thing that scares me about bikes, you're SO vulnerable. Even with leathers and gear, if you go down its going to be bad. My shoulder and elbow were burned through my leather jacket even though the leather never got a mark on it. And there are so many factors that you just can't control, you have less visibility than in a bigger vehicle, and people have a harder time seeing you (I've decided that my gear will be BRIGHT colored! I like purple, but we'll have to see what the options are...).
I'm pretty much not muscle sore today, which is great. I do have lots of lovely colors coming up, but since I've been using all my natural stuff pretty much everything that is coloring up bruise wise is already yellow/greenish instead of black/blue. The worst of the pain is still in my knee where the scabs constantly rub against my pants, and the area just below that where my knee was pinned. There isn't much visible bruising except for faint yellow, but it is pretty tender to the touch still. I even have a mark where the internal bleeding went downward along my shin bone. I rarely get hurt so in a weird way this is sort of fascinating The scabs are just gross though! Last night I somehow ripped off about half of the one on my shoulder Today it is all gross, too. YUCK!!!

Oh, the only other thing of late that I forgot to talk about was that E stripped the cast iron pans that I had that had gotten so rusty. They look lovely now, and since I JUST found the information on how to REALLY season cast iron, I can get right to that. He started with olive oil, but now I need to strip that off of there and start over. I am sure he didn't get a good enough coat on there so I think I should just be able to scrub them down with dawn for a little bit and then start over. We'll see what happens anyway. Wish me luck!

 

[moolie]

Cool about the cast iron, I love mine to bits and it really never gets put away--always sitting on the stove--because I use it every day