[ST] Vixen's a virgin no more...

["Marc Danziger" <marc@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

So I'm sitting at home, watching Willem Dafoe play Nosferatu with a big old
icepack on my knee and a new set of crutches...

As you might imagine, I went "boom". Actually, 'crunch' (when the car hit
me from behind), then 'bounce', and _then_ 'boom'...

Legally, his fault; practically quite a few things I could have done
better.

What happened:

After looking at some real estate in exotic Lennox, I was riding home
(south on Hawthorne), and stopped for an ambulance sirening across a light
at 120th. Stopped looking in my mirror, all looked well. Light changed to
red, waited, and as the opposing light went yellow, heard another siren
approaching. In earplugs and helmet, hard to judge the distance...

When the light changed, instead of going, I inched forward to see around
the truck in the left turn lane, saw a paramedic truck hauling ass down the
cross street Code 3, and stopped.

Whereupon I got punted.

Hit hard, and my first thought was "OK, I can ride this out...". Next: "Uh,
oh, I'm _really_ far out here...I'm gonna get hit by a _paramedic_." Next:
"Not gonna make it...foot down and dab!!" Next: "Falling over too fast,
bail out!!" Next: "Was that the bike bouncing on my foot?", followed by
"shitshitshitshit!!" 

Quick look back, and everyone is stopped, the paramedic wagon swerves
around me...the copilot and I share a moment through his passenger
window...

..quick selfcheck, never hit my head, hands and wrists OK, waggle hips,
OK, flex knees, OUCH!! I twisted my right knee rolling off the bike...my
foot was pinned and the lower leg wouldn't follow. When the bike bounced,
the foot came free.

Have I mentioned my Daytona Security boots ROCK?? Nothing on the foot or
ankle at all...

So I pull myself to sitting, and all of a sudden there's quite a
crowd...the paramedics stopped half a block down and reverse their way back
to me, a motor officer shows up, and I'm pulling my phone out to call Grace
and try and intercept her, as I think I'll be needing a lift. I just get to
"Hey, sweetie, I got hit by a car," when the nice policeman makes me hang
up and talk to him. Probably not the nicest thing I could have done to her.

Lots of huhu, I decide I don't need a ride in the nice ambulance, and Juan,
the nice man who hit me has insurance and will stick around until someone
comes and gets me. I get Grace back, who's headed for a m/c accident 1070
radio is mentioning on the 405 at Culver, and call my friend Johanna with
the dealership truck for Vixen.

Johanna shows up with help and loads Vixen (seems OK, bodywork on the right
side, can, misc damage). Grace shows up, and they load me in. We have a
debate re emergency room or not. My orthopod is backed up and can't see me.
Grace is driving, so she wins, and we go to the ER. x-rays are clean, knee
is painful, so I've got a soft cast and crutches. 

We'll see what happens.

Vixen's in the driveway, and I'll check her out tomorrow.

Learning experience:

My bad for two reasons:

1) I 'teased' the other driver out; while he was a moron for hitting me, I
should have done what I do often, and gestured 'stay' with my hand and just
sat still for a moment until I knew what was going on.

2) Once it happened, I should have just got the heck out of Dodge and
bailed off the bike rather than trying to ride it out and risking a)
getting hit by the crossing traffic and b) getting in a crash _with_ the
bike rather than _without_ it.

Oh, well, what the hell as Yossarian says....

Grace is still in a finger brace from her spill, and now I'm in a soft
cast...aren't we the perfect couple??



MarcD


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