Passes & Canyons Blog

What is it like to be on the receiving end of that phone call? The one where a police officer or some other emergency services person calls to tell you your husband or wife or whoever is not where you thought they were, but are instead in the emergency room somewhere?

I asked Judy that question after my recent head-on with a car. At least when the news is not all that bad, apparently the call can be handled pretty well.

In Judy’s case, the phone rang and she didn’t recognize the number but I guess caller ID identified it as the Littleton PD so she picked up. Then the officer addressed her in a manner I suspect has got to be something they are trained on. He told her, essentially, “I’m Officer So and So and I’m talking with your husband here in the emergency room at Swedish, who has been in an accident but is in fairly good condition.”

Quick and efficient. First he tells her he is talking to me, so clearly I’m not dead. Let’s put that fear firmly to rest. Then the reality–I’ve been in an accident and yes I’m hurt–but not horribly. Oh that’s a relief.

Now, Judy is not the sort to panic or flip out when something like this happens. I imagine in some cases despite all the care in planning the statement, the person on the other end of the line is going to freak out. But not Judy. From that point on he was able to explain all he needed to explain, tell her where she needed to come, and it was OK.

I can’t imagine what it must be like for the officer when the news is worse. I have this idea–I could be wrong–that if the person involved is dead they send someone in person to the door. There can’t be many assignments much worse than needing to deliver that news.

Or if the injured party is really, really badly hurt. “Yes ma’am, your husband is clinging to life and if he does live he will certainly lose a leg.” How horrible would that be? I can’t imagine receiving that call. Actually, the officer probably would not pass that information along in the phone call, just “He’s alive but he’s hurt badly and you’re probably going to want to get down here.” Then let the doctors deliver the really bad details.

I’m super glad in my case there were no really bad details. Judy is, too. Now I’m just wondering how long it’s going to be before my body stops hurting.

Biker Quote for Today

Driving a car versus riding a motorcycle is like playing a basketball video game versus playing basketball.

In the middle of last week I saw a piece by KRDO out of Colorado Springs titled “State Patrol says confusion over new motorcycle law leading to more crashes.” This was in reference to the recent law that allows filtering–not lane-splitting–on Colorado roads. The new headline is “Law enforcement says motorcycle crashes and deaths are up across the state.”

The information KRDO got from the Colorado State Patrol (CSP) was so bad I knew immediately I had to do a blog post about it. It turns out, it was so bad that going back to the article today I found that KRDO had revised the headline and inserted a three-paragraph editor’s note pointing out the original inaccuracies and clarifying the information. Good for you, KRDO. Bad on you CSP. KRDO also extensively revised the article, which makes me wish I had copied it down at the time because now I can’t quote you the really bad information that had been given.

When I had initially mentioned to Judy what the CSP had said she just shook her head and said “The State Patrol is just rewriting the legislation the way they think it should have been written.”

Essentially, KRDO quoted the CSP as saying that confusion on the filtering law has led to more crashes. It also said people mistakenly believed that filtering was allowed on highways, when actually it only applies to city streets. That particular statement is mind-boggling in how far off it is. In fact, KRDO said in the original article that nothing in the law differentiates between highways and city streets, but CSP was saying if they see people filtering on the highway, even if traffic is at a dead stop, they will issue citations.

Here are a couple of the clarifications:

At the time, CSP stated that confusion over the law was contributing to an increase in motorcycle crashes and fatalities this year. They have since clarified that there is no data linking the law to the rise in incidents.

Additionally, CSP initially told KRDO13 that it is illegal for motorcycles to pass cars in standstill highway traffic. We sought confirmation multiple times and were assured this was correct. CSP has now clarified that under the new law, motorcycles are permitted to pass vehicles at 15 mph or less when traffic is stopped on the highway.

Now, there’s no question that some motorcyclists are using this filtering law as a justification for doing things the law does not allow. I have more than once seen riders blasting between cars at speed on the highway. If the CSP nails them I won’t shed a tear.

But dang, CSP, how can you guys enforce this law when you don’t even seem to understand it?

Biker Quote for Today

Darkness will always be looming in the background, somewhere in the distance, just around the bend. But at least we can have faith in our motorcycles to keep us grounded, to give us courage and perspective, and to light the way in the face of our demons.

I don’t have the energy to do anything active so when I’m not sleeping–which I do a lot of–I have a lot of time to think. Right now I’m thinking I lead a charmed life.

In the past year and a half I’ve had two vehicles totaled, both entirely due to somebody else. Some people might look at that and say their life was cursed but I don’t see it that way.

In the first instance some guy with his face buried in his phone blew through a red light and hit me broadside, demolishing my car. I came out of that totally unscratched. Not the slightest injury.

In this second instance a drunk ran into me head-on, and this time I suffered severe injuries. But nothing that happened to me is anything from which I will not recover. It will take time, and it is painful, but I will recover completely and be as good as new.

I’ve always tended to think of head-on crashes as the worst kind but I no longer think this. That guy hit me head on and my motorcycle took the greatest brunt of the force. It gave its life to save mine. Imagine how different it would be if he had hit me broadside, as the other guy did. For certain my leg would be crushed and I might easily have been crippled for life. That’s if I didn’t lose the leg entirely. I’ve known two people who have lost legs in motorcycle crashes.

And then there’s the vehicles. I really liked my car, and it didn’t have a lot of miles on it so I was planning to drive it for a long time to come. But you know what? I like the car I got to replace it even more. I really, really like my current car. Now, it cost me all the insurance money plus $10,000 cash to get the new one and I’m not thrilled about that, but it’s only money. My health and well-being count more than the money.

With the bike, this was a really special bike. That CB750 was the first bike I ever owned and I have owned it and ridden it for 40 years. I loved that bike. But you know, it was an old bike and old technology. There were a few things I really honestly did not love about the bike. One was removing the seat, which took a wrench, finesse, and about five to ten minutes. Then the reverse to get it back on.

Another was the way it smoked. I thought a couple times I had resolved that issue but I had not. It still smoked like crazy when I started it up and I would stand there embarrassed hoping none of my neighbors was looking out their window at how I was turning all the air in the neighborhood blue.

I intended twice to just spend whatever money it took to fix this problem but when it finally came out that to do so would cost at least $3,500, and probably more, I decided to do what my mechanic had been saying all along: just live with it. And of course, now I’m so glad I did not spend that money.

Unlike with the car, I don’t want to just absorb all this loss. I do want some sort of recompense and with whatever money I can get for it I will buy a new bike and a lot of new, really good (read: really expensive) protective gear.

Of course, through all of this my wife has been there like a rock beside me, and that most of all is why I truly believe I lead a charmed life.

Biker Quote for Today

Graveyards are filled with people who “had the right-of-way!”

I was finally feeling able so I went to the impound lot yesterday to take a look at my Honda CB750 Custom. After Sunday’s crash I knew it would not be pretty.

As expected, the front end was totally mashed and twisted. I couldn’t tell that the frame was bent so with some money it might be rebuilt, I don’t know. The pipes on the left side were mangled.

I figure it’s totaled but if not, the lot has its own way of forcing you to that conclusion. That bike is probably taking up about 14 square feet of a multi-acre lot and for that space they are charging $135 a day. To get it out of impound even now would cost $675. They’re closing for four days for the 4th of July and I assume the cost keeps adding up on those days. That’s got to be some of the most valuable real estate on the planet.

The guys working at the lot were super helpful in removing my bags and the pigtails on the battery for my heated vest and trickle charger. That entailed lifting the tank to get one bag off and removing the seat to get to the battery. Seats didn’t used to just lift right off like they do today. It’s a major pain.

One of the guys asked me if I had a lawyer. I said no, though several of my friends have been telling me I need to. He said he got in a bad motorcycle crash some years ago and the guy he worked with was great. He dialed him up right there and handed me his phone. I’m sure he gets a finder’s fee.

So I talked with him but this was not a very good time to get into any kind of real discussion, so he agreed to call me later. He did and we talked. I told him that if the guy who hit me is some poor schlub who has no insurance and barely has two dimes to rub together that I’m not interested in going after him personally and loading him up with crushing debt for years to come. He agreed that that was not what he wanted either, that they would go after whatever insurance company could be found legitimately obligated, and then work for a settlement without going to court.

My wife is an attorney and she abhors litigation but agreed that if I wanted anything out of this I would need to get a lawyer. I would like to be made whole. That motorcycle, besides being something I loved, had some value. The helmet that saved me from severe injury was not inexpensive and will need to be replaced. And I just put a lot of money into that bike in the last year, getting it into top running order. It was running great.

And yeah, I am hurting. The pain shifts around. Sometimes it’s my thumb with its stitches. Other times my right knee hurts like hell. But pretty much my whole right side hurts. And just today now my whole left hand has turned purple.

So yeah, I guess I’ll be hiring a lawyer. Then I’ll just be able to leave it all in his hands and whatever comes out of it is what it is.

I’d much rather this had never happened.

Biker Quote for Today

“There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.” — Ernest Hemingway

I missed posting here yesterday. I spent most of the day Sunday and Monday at Swedish Medical Center. On Sunday I was on my CB750 Custom when I got hit head-on by a drunk driver. I’m hurting a bit.

I had headed out to ride a route I want to lead an RMMRC ride on, checking out time, distance, and to make sure I planned the ride for a day when the restaurant I planned to stop at for lunch would be open. I only got as far as Belleview and Santa Fe.

I was in the left-turn lane on Belleview, waiting to turn on to Santa Fe, when, in what is a very hazy memory, I noted with alarm, “That car is heading right at me!”

The next thing I remember is being loaded into the ambulance, although one of the ambulance guys told me later that I did ask him “How is my bike?” Apparently I was lucid but all that is gone from my memory. That happens when you have a head injury.

I do have a head injury. They say it is a small amount of bleeding on the brain. They gave me repeated CT scans and saw that it is not getting worse and so it will heal itself over time. Meanwhile, they gave me anti-seizure pills to take for a week.

I also had a large gash on my left thumb that required five stitches, and the whole right side of my body hurts. If I had not been wearing my helmet I hate to think how much worse I would be.

I haven’t seen the bike yet. I suspect it is totaled. Surely the front wheel is bent and presumably the fork is seriously twisted. Who knows about the frame.

The driver did not leave the scene. He was arraigned and will face charges. I’m less interested in seeing him punished than in him getting help. If he was that drunk before noon on Sunday he obviously has a serious problem. He needs help.

As always, my wife has been the most dedicated, the most caring person imaginable. She is a saint. She hates it when I say that to people but it’s true.

Biker Quote for Today

The natural state of a motorcycle is laying on its side; only due to constant care and attention do we manage to keep them upright.

We get less extreme, and we like to think smarter, as we get older. At least everybody I know has.

Do you ever drink and ride your motorcycle? I never do now but I sure can’t say that about years ago.

Take for example one night John and I spent in Laramie. He and I had taken just a two-day ride, up through North Park and the Snowy Range to Laramie, motel, home down I-25 the next day.

This was in the really early days, maybe our second overnight trip ever. The first had been a three-night thing with Bill along. Bill couldn’t get free for this so it was just John and me.

We were young and out for a good time. And what is there to do in Laramie on a Saturday night but hit the bars? So that’s what we did. This bar. That bar. That bar. And how about that bar.

As you might assume, we drank quite a bit. But no problem, we were only about two miles from our motel. And we weren’t drunk. No, I’m sure of that. Absolutely. I think.

Either way, we were not going especially slow heading back to the motel, and with John in the lead, we got to the turn into the motel and he just whipped right into that turn . . . and I’ve never seen a bike go from upright to on the ground so quickly in my life.

John was just scraped up a little and his bike just dinged up a little–worst thing was his windshield was smashed–but he was thinking about other things. Like the cops coming along and stopping and then having him do a breathalyzer test. He yelled at me to help him get the bike back up quickly and then he pulled on into the safety of the motel parking lot. Fun night.

Then there was another time, when the OFMC was in Idaho and we pulled over at this bar in Arco. We had a good time with the locals in that bar, even bought a round for the house, and then we were on our way again. We weren’t drunk. No, I’m sure we weren’t. But we sure did find that going really fast was a lot of fun. Who knew it could be that much fun? And nothing happened. We reached our destination OK.

There were plenty of other times when we had a drink or two along the way, and that doesn’t even address the many times we would do a joint or a pipe at a stop along the road.

We don’t do any of those things anymore. But man, we sure used to. And we’re still alive and in one piece. It’s nice living charmed lives.

Biker Quote for Today

The turbulence of the mind begins to calm, and all the noise of modern life becomes quiet. Regrets of the past, worries of the future, anxieties, loneliness and the fear of death. Those demons . . . they all fade into the background in a cloud of dust as your body tunes into the present. It’s like that momentary state of enlightenment that monks and mystics spend a lifetime chasing.