I Got Lucky...Again!

[Gixxerdale]

I think I used the 7th of my 9 lives yesterday!

It started out a little ominous when I headed up Highway 18 towards Crestline in the San Bernardino Mountains. As soon as the road started to climb I found myself in heavy fog and drizzle with about 20 feet of visibility. Of course I was wearing my sunglasses down in the valley, and now they are making it even harder to see, but there is no safe place to pull over. After a few miles I make out a couple bikes in a large turn out and I pull in. The 3 riders approach asking about 2 riders they were missing. I hadn't seen them in the fog, so they were going to return and look for them. I went on to Crestline to alert the rest of their group.

Once reaching Crestline it was clear sunny and warm. What an amazing change in weather! Task done and the remaining riders heading down to find the missing riders, I continued my journey.

The goal was to reach Big Bear to meet an old friend for lunch, who had retired there a few years ago from LASD. The ride along Rim of the World was absolutely beautiful I was above the clouds and traveling down a twisty road mile after mile. Life is good!

Once in the town of Big Bear traffic was heavy. After getting across town I call my friend who informs me he is heading to town for the annual car show. Cool. Big Bear is a small community, but the local car club has some really nice cars on display. It seems that whenever I venture there I catch a car or bike show in town. I can't think of a nicer place to hang around and check out some rides.

After the show, we caught up on old times and made some future plans. I decide it's time to head back down the mountain at a bout 2:45. I planned on taking Highway 38 down which puts off the mountain fairly far to the east, but a great road especially on sportbike.

About 45 minutes into the ride, while on a short straightaway, I'm gaining on a new Toyota Matrix and there is a right hander approaching. Then the Matrix starts heading towards the fog line. So I goose it to get by. Now I'm thinking cool, he's going to let me slip by and enjoy a brisk pace, WRONG!

Just as I'm about ten feet away and hugging the DY, he continues! Straight into the mountainside. I'm grabbing all the brakes I can and trying to stop short and get away. Now we are about even but the loose dirt of the mountainside is blinding me. I could see the car launch off the face of a boulder and begin flipping some 20 plus feet of the ground. Then it's gone, not really. My visibility is maybe 1 foot in the massive dust cloud. I have no idea where the car is and worse I'm no longer sure of my position on the road.

I do my best to shave speed and come to a safe stop, when suddenly I get hit hard in the right shoulder and chest, moving my front wheel and changing my direction. I found out later it was a window from the car. I'm being pelted with rocks and small car parts! Then In a brief flash I see what looks like a 6 foot 4 X 4 about to hit me in the head and left side. The impact wasn't to bad but it altered my direction again! Turns out it was part of an Aero kit that ran along the side of the car from wheel to wheel.

Now I'm really concerned. I'm essentially blind, have a cliff down to a deep ravine somewhere to my left, a rock wall to my right, a right hand corner somewhere ahead of me, and an out of control car somewhere close by!

With all this going on my tires are skidding on car parts, rocks and dirt, so I have to keep releasing and grabbing more brakes trying to get some traction to stop. At one point I ran over what was about half of the front right aluminum wheel of the car. It nearly ripped the bars out of my hands, but somehow I was able to stay up right.

Now it's getting quieter, the dust is thinning and I'm nearly stopped, amazingly still in my lane, but heading straight for the rock wall. I figure that I must have crossed the DY a few times. I park the bike and turn around to see 2 little kids running in the road.

Before I can even shed any gear I run off and scoop up both kids in my arms and get them over to the shoulder by the Gixxer. The little boy about 6 is asking if he is bleeding and if he will be OK. He is fine, not even a scratch. His sister about 8 is screaming for her Mom and asking if she is going to die! She has several severe head injuries and is loosing a lot of blood. I do my best calm them when the husband, father, driver emerges from the wreckage screaming "Oh my God what have I done! I fell asleep!" He was uninjured not a scratch, but of no use to help out!

About this time a mini van pulls up, and what luck, an ER nurse and she has cell service! My Nextel sucks! With the 911 call completed, she takes over the 2 kids and I head over to check the mother still in the car. It’s not good and I will leave it at that.

She was in the passenger seat and the roof above her was completely crushed as was the rest of the car around her. I did what I could for her until the paramedics arrived. All the while the husband was running around half out of his mind with what just happened to his family.

Nearly 2 hours after the initial accident, I had given my statement to the CHP and started down the mountain again. It was a very slow and somber ride the rest of the way home.

I hope the mother survived and the kids can deal with what happened. It seems to have filled my thoughts all day today, so I thought I’d post it and maybe get it out my system.

I took a few pictures during the ride, a few at the car show but only one of the accident, after things were wrapping up. I’ll post them a little later.

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable holiday.

Dale (Just glad to see another day.)

[Louis]

How tdo you manage to get yourself into such trouble? Glad you made okay Dale. My thoughts are with the family.

oh and remind me to not ride with you

[Gixxerdale]

Originally Posted by Louis

How tdo you manage to get yourself into such trouble? Glad you made okay Dale. My thoughts are with the family.

oh and remind me to not ride with you

I guess it's all the miles I ride, the odds must be higher? Or Murphy is following me around!

The Gixxer actually took it well. A few scrapes and gouges on the body work, nothing major. The tires need to be replaced due to all the glass and car parts I ran over. They are pretty well worn anyhow. I wouldn't be surprised if I broke some belts in the tires! I haven't felt like doing a real close examination yet. I came away with just a sore right upper arm and some very bloody leathers I'll need to try clean.

I got very lucky, my bike kept my a$$ alive, and I'm glad just to be able to ride another day!

[GIXXER-Mike]

Extremely close call, Dale! I hope the mother is stable & recovers. Glad you made it out safe. Wow! Gotta be an experience to remember.

[Hayaboosta]

Glad your alright Dale really sucks when you see something happen up close and personal. You got to be a part of it, Hope the mother made it.

[Gixxerdale]

Here a few pics from the ride and car show. Just one at the end of the Toyota.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/gixxer....net/my_photos

[c50tiger]

Holy friggen' crap! The Matrix just made my 'Do Not Buy" list judging by that photo. Glad you made it through that mostly unscathed. Hope the mom pulls through ok.

[Clint]

Wow. It's good to know you're still around.

I'm a bit confused about how it happened, though. You got within 10 feet of what? What fogline? I guess it doesn't really matter, but I'm shocked and curious.

[trini0]

Glad to hear you made it through alright.
Not sure what I would have done.
Hope the family comes through ok.

[Gixxerdale]

Originally Posted by RowdyRed94

Wow. It's good to know you're still around.

I'm a bit confused about how it happened, though. You got within 10 feet of what? What fogline? I guess it doesn't really matter, but I'm shocked and curious.

Lets see if I can explain it better.

I was near the double yellow as the car moved to the right towards the fog line on the shoulder. I was within 10 feet of being parralell with the back of his car as I was going to pass about the time he continued into the mountain.

My mistake for assuming he was moving over to allow me to pass. Not uncommon for cars to do that here. From now on I'll hesitate a little longer before making my move, I usually do, but not yesterday.

Perhaps since I was so close it would have been wiser to accelerate beyond the crash? Hard to say since the car could have gone in any direction. My instinct was to stop and get back out of the way of the danger since it was slightly ahead of me and a few feet to my right. It became a problem when trying to stop on all the debris flying around. With the cars air time, I passed it at some point while attempting to stop.

Even once I stopped beyond the stopping point of the car, there was debris another 100 feet up the road. It was as if the stuff was just launched in all directions.It was like being in a mine field.

[wookie]

This weekend appeared to be not good for motorcyclists:

My buddy hit a curb with his Duc, while his wife was on the back, both got tossed off the bike and both have scratches on their legs and right knees, and hands.

My GZ250's engine died on the freeway and I had to pull in the clutch and coast to the shoulder and wait for help. (And I actually preyed to the gods of motorcycling "dear gods of motorcycling, please don't let me f*&^ up....").

[Gixxerdale]

Originally Posted by wookie

This weekend appeared to be not good for motorcyclists:

My buddy hit a curb with his Duc, while his wife was on the back, both got tossed off the bike and both have scratches on their legs and right knees, and hands.

My GZ250's engine died on the freeway and I had to pull in the clutch and coast to the shoulder and wait for help. (And I actually preyed to the gods of motorcycling "dear gods of motorcycling, please don't let me f*&^ up....").

No gear? Gloves and riding pants?

What's with your bike? Is it fixed?

[wookie]

Only helmet and jacket and gloves for my buddy. Only helmet for his wife.

Don't know what's wrong with it. I was doing 60 mph when I heard something like metal grinding (may be gears thrashing) and I didn't even think before I pulled in my clutch. After pulling over to the shoulder, I tried to restart it but the only sound I heard was best described as a hammer hitting some thing from the crank case, and the engine won't start. I will ask the dealer to pick it up and then get it repaired. It should be covered under warranty. But if the dealer says it's out of warranty and if it cost me more than $1,000 to fix, then I'm more inclined to just sell it as parts or as-is on ebay, rather than spending $1000+ on a bike that I only paid $3000. I felt bad pushing the GZ that hard on the superslabs anyway. Maybe it's time to upgrade ?

Glad to know that you're OK. The force will be with you, always.

[JES883]

Wow Dale. Wow.

Makes me think.

[themeatmanlandry]

Way to maintain a clear head (and control!!)!!

Glad you weren't hurt. I hope the occupants heal well.

[viper94bite]

That's insane.

[Gixxerdale]

It sure got me thinking! Going over it many times. The one ride where I looked at my rather large First Aid Kit and decided to leave it behind. To save a little room since it was a short ride for me and I never use it!

I'm reluctently taking the cage to work today. Sore arms and chest plus shooting pain in my bad knee. Hopefully back to "normal" in a couple days.

Plus the Gixxer is covered in dirt and dried auto fluids! I sure hope none of it is brake fluid. Helmet was too. It cleaned up OK and only has one permanent hit mark on the top. I guess I was ducking a lot!

Hopefully tonight the Gixxer goes up on stands for cleaning, maintenance, and a close inspection.

[ChicsterMG]

Glad you are ok, dale. I hope everyone in the car makes through ok.

The best first aid kits are the ones you never have to use.

[NWEng]

They were lucky you were there as they were going to have the accident regardless, and the kids and dad needed someone who control the situation until emergency crews could arrive. Good job and glad you're OK.

[SuzukiGirl1]

Wow!!! I am SO glad that you are okay!!! You sure had an angel sitting on your shoulder, didn't you????

I really hope that the mother made it...and I'm glad that there wasn't another car coming behind you!!!

Did you see anything on the news about it?