Noah (angelbob) wrote,

It's just as well that I'm not a man who believes in omens.

About a week ago on a long motorcycle trip I managed to knock my bike slightly sideways at a random stop in a parking lot. I caught it *just* before it hit the ground. I'm a little out of shape at the moment, and I was very low on blood sugar at the time, so I wasn't shocked to be having slightly more trouble than usual slapping around a 350-pound bike with just my thighs.

Yesterday two different cars made random kamikaze lane-changes toward me. In one of those cases there was a car in the lane I would otherwise have moved into. I affirmed that going from a lane to lane-splitting in the narrow strip next to the same lane is viable. In fact, it can keep you from being hit and tumbling onto pavement.

This morning on 880, about a hundred feet ahead of me, there was a nasty sound and a cloud of something white (smoke? airbag chemicals?). I got a brief glimpse of the driver (she looked fine) and her car (it looked bad), but mainly I was paying attention to the large truck hauling stuff to or from a construction site, swerving majestically. He made it, and I'd taken evasive action as soon as I realized things were squirrelly. Still.

Just prior to the trip on 880, a friend expressed concern about motorcycles generally, and I got to trot out the "same number of accidents, just more injuries" bit. I'm generally pretty comfortable with my odds on the road because at least if horrible things happen to me, I'm pretty sure I've screwed up to make it so. Even if it's "somebody else's fault" in the insurance sense, it means I didn't take evasive action, didn't leave enough space, or whatever. I *like* hobbies where the consequences are direct and easy to recognize, and where I can tell quickly whether I'm any good or not :-)

As I say, it's just as well I don't believe in omens. But I *am* being more careful on the road lately.
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