Passes & Canyons Blog

I’ve told at length of the crash I had on June 29 and its aftermath, including that my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom was totaled in the crash. I’ve showed a couple photos of the bike in the yard where it was hauled and some folks have questioned my statement that it had been totaled. It doesn’t really look all that bad. So I figured I’d discuss that.

When I was much younger I took the word “totaled” to mean that a vehicle was beyond repair. Later I came to understand that it really means that while it could be repaired, the expense to do so is more than the vehicle is worth. In short, the latter is why I deemed it totaled.

Before I went to the yard to look at it I spoke with my mechanic and he said I should shoot some pictures and send them to him, and he would be able to tell by looking at it whether it could be repaired. I did so but never heard from him, so I was on my on in making the decision.

First off, salvage yards like that are running a huge racket. By the time I was able to go see it it had been there three days and the charge was $135 per day for storage. There was no way I could get it out of there that day so just to get my own bike back in my possession would have cost me four days storage, $540. Keep in mind I paid $800 for this bike 37 years ago.

Then what about repair? I have no good idea what that would cost but I’m sure the fork would need to be replaced because it was definitely bent badly. I had case guards on the lower portion so the engine was probably fine. And while the right side exhaust pipes were fine, the bike obviously went down on its left side and that pipe was mangled.

Now, I know that my mechanic had an identical bike sitting in his shop for a long time because the owner needed pipes and was finding it absolutely impossible to find any. So I’m looking at paying $540 to get it out of jail, an unknown cost for repair, and a certainty that I’d never find pipes. Add to that the fact that the bike leaks oil and then burns it like a smoke machine sometimes, and my inquiries into fixing that ran into estimates of $3,000 or more. My estimate, based on some searching, was that before the crash I could maybe have sold the bike for $3,000. I didn’t have the work done and boy am I glad I didn’t.

So I declared the bike “totaled.” And I walked away.

Here’s the funny thing. I loved that bike. It was the first bike I ever owned and after 37 years I was still riding it regularly. I thought I’d never part with it. But when the time came it didn’t affect me emotionally at all. It was kind of a relief because that meant I no longer needed to deal with the hassles that came with it.

I had had that very same sort of experience twice before. The first was when Judy and I decided to get married and we bought a house together. I had lived at my old place for 17 years and loved that place. I thought it would tear me up to leave it. But it didn’t. The new house is much nicer and has none of the hassles that old place had. Like pipes freezing every time it got really cold in winter. I’ve never missed it at all.

And then there was the time last year when I parted with my 1999 Kawasaki Concours. I had had that bike for 25 years and loved it. But lately it had been causing me trouble and when I sold it I felt relief.

Apparently it’s OK to love something and to part with it. A very interesting life lesson. I guess it’s called life.

Biker Quote for Today

Life may knock you down, but a bike will always lift you up.

How great it was to take off on my V-Strom on Monday after getting the all-clear from my neurosurgeon! I had wondered if I would feel unsteady or uncertain but it was just like they say about riding a bicycle–you never forget and it just comes back naturally.

I didn’t have a whole lot of time because I have a piano lesson every Monday at 2:30 and it was nearly noon when we got home from the doc’s. I needed to have lunch and to put up that quick blog post announcing my return. I wanted to go somewhere where I could get a good photo to go with this post so I figured if I headed down to Daniels Park I could get the shot and get to Chad’s in time for my lesson.

The day was a little cooler, in the low 60s, so I dressed warmly and wore my electric vest. That was more than I needed as I headed south but I have found previously that Daniels is about 1,000 feet higher than home and that difference means several degrees cooler. I got near the park and there was a lot of road construction going on so I had to take a detour. No problem, I know my way around here quite well at this point.

Got to the park and stopped for a photo. Yeah, it was darn chilly. Up on this high point I could see to the west and there were storm clouds moving in and it looked like it might already be raining over the foothills. Not a problem, I had my rain suit with me. I also wondered if the chill might just be the cold front moving in.

Needing to get to Chad’s I now headed north and no, it’s not just the front, it still got warmer as I continued north. But I was darn glad to have my heated vest. Meanwhile, the bike was running great and I was feeling great. So good to be back on the bike!

Following my crash I had mentioned to Judy that I intended to spend some money on some new, really good (read: expensive) riding gear. Back in August, around my birthday, Judy asked me if I would like a new riding suit as a birthday gift. I told her let’s not do that just at this time. I really didn’t want her to ask why but she did so I told her how at that moment I was feeling some hesitation and uncertainty about getting back on the bike. I think that’s a fairly normal reaction after you go through what I did. That image of that car headed right at me sticks with me. Well, it occurred to me just recently that all that reluctance and hesitation had just vanished. When my neurosurgeon asked if I was giving up riding motorcycles I told him no way, as soon as I get home from here I’m taking off for a ride.

I got to Chad’s just a few minutes late but not much. After the lesson I came out to the bike and it was spitting rain. Now the front had made it all the way into town. I put on my rain jacket and took off. Even with the jacket stopping the wind it was chilly so I flipped on the vest again. I love that thing. I made it on home without really getting wet and that was my ride for Monday. Soon after I got home it poured. Now I’m going to be watching the weather closely and I plan to get out a lot in the next week or two. I missed the whole summer; I will not miss the fall.

Biker Quote for Today

“The man hunched over his motorcycle can focus only on the present instant of his flight; he is caught in a fragment of time cut off from both the past and the future; he is wrenched from the continuity of time; he is outside time; in other words he is in a state of ecstasy. In that state he is unaware of his age, his wife, his children, his worries, and so he has no fear, because the source of fear is in the future, and a person freed of the future has nothing to fear.” – Milan Kundera

We just got back from the neurosurgeon’s and I am free to resume all activities. Yahoo!

Now I’m going riding. I’ll tell you all about it on Thursday.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if your jeans have a crease.

In the last three days, and in another four, three events have occurred/will occur that should effectively close the book on my crash with a drunk driver. On Monday I finally got the police report of the crash, and Monday of next week I will see my neurosurgeon presumably for the last time and will be free to resume my life in full. And then yesterday I got a report from the Arapahoe County DA on the sentencing of the guy who ran into me. The case is wrapped, and soon my recovery will officially be at an end. Finally.

I had wondered about the sentencing. I knew there had been a hearing at which the judge had rejected the DA’s proposed plea bargain and instead insisted on harsher punishment. I actually had it on my to-do list yesterday to email the person in the DA’s office who I have been in contact with to ask about the sentencing and then there it was in yesterday’s mail.

The recap is that he was sentenced to 24 months of probation, separate on two counts but presumably to be served concurrently, plus 48 hours of community service. Between a long list of fines and assessments he will also have to pay a total of $2,835.50. This list is pretty interesting. If you, like me, have never been on the defense side of a court case you may find this a bit of a surprise. I’m not at all sure what some of these mean. Leaf fine?

Count 2, Driving Under the Influence Per Se (misdemeanor)
$78 — Victim Compensation Fine
$10 — Restorative Justice Charge
$25 — Public Defender Appl Receivable
$25 — Request for Time to Pay
$2.50 — Genetic Testing Service Charge
$90 — Leaf Fine
$200 — Alcohol Evaluation Fee
$25 — Traumatic Brain Injury Fund
$1200 — Probation – Supervision Fee
$5 — Court Security Cash Fund
$35 — Court Costs Prior to 6/6/03
$5 — Rural Youth Alcohol/Substance Abuse Surcharge
$100 — Persistent Drunk Driving Surcharge
$600 — Drive Under Influence/Ability Impaired
$222 — Victim Assistance 37% Fine 050103
$2 — Sub Aff.Driving Data Surcharge

Count 6, Vehicular Assault-Reckless (Level 5 felony)
$163 — Victim Assistance 37% Fine 050103

From here, the DA’s office will keep me informed of the progress of this fellow’s probation and alcohol treatment program. That is, they tell me, the only thing to be reported will be if he fails them along the way, plus the fact he has successfully completed them if he does. I’m hoping he does. On the whole, I’d say he came out of this a lot worse off than I did, but it will really be a good thing for him if this helps him beat that monkey that has been on his back. And our roads will be safer.

Now at last I’m going to be able to ride again and I can get back to my main focus, writing about riding motorcycles. I’m really looking forward to that.

Biker Quote for Today

100 reasons not to date a biker: 28. If another bike or car wants to race, you better hold on.

Who knew it takes months before the police report of a crash is available to be seen? Following the incident on June 29 when I was hit head-on by a drunk driver while on my old Honda CB750 I quickly filed to receive notice when the report became available. I received that notification today, four months later.

My primary interest in seeing the report was because I have almost no recollection of the event and I wanted some detail. Now, after all this time, I really only got two details that I didn’t already have. I was unsure as to where the guy was coming from. Was he heading east on Belleview and just drifted over into the oncoming lane (where I was) or had he just gotten off Santa Fe and was turning east onto Belleview and turned a bit too sharply? It turns out he was heading east on Belleview. Also, the police estimate he was going 35 mph.

The DA had told me he moved into my lane because he thought, in his drunkenness, that it was a lane open to him. To hit me he had to first take out a sign telling him to stay to the right and then his right wheels had to bounce over a concrete median that rises about 18 inches above the road. That impediment was probably responsible for slowing him down enough that his impact with me was considerably lessened from what it might have been if he had struck me unimpeded. Thank you very much median.

What I had hoped the report would tell me, but didn’t, was what happened to me. Did I go flying off the bike? How far? How did I hit the ground? What was my state immediately after? Was I unconscious? Was I alert? Did I immediately sit up and try to get up?

None of that information is included in the report. Dang. I wonder if the ambulance crew filed a report that might have that sort of information. I do know there was a witness who told the police what he or she saw. That’s the person I’d really like to talk to. And if there had been a trial I’m sure that witness would have been called. But there was no trial, just a plea bargain.

I’ll probably never get answers. Oh well. At this point I’m just focused on the future. One week from today it will be 12 weeks since surgery and presumably I’ll get my life back and be able to drive and to ride my one remaining motorcycle. That meeting with the neurosurgeon will be in the morning and unless the weather is terrible I’m going to be out riding that afternoon. Yahoo!

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if you think fringe is a mandatory accessory on your leathers.

Ever since my crash back on June 29 I have had numerous conversations about it with people who have very different ideas about the aftermath than I do and who seem to find my take on it all a bit peculiar. Tell me what you think.

First off, I can’t count the number of people who told me they hoped the drunk driver who hit me would get the book thrown at him and end up doing some serious time in jail. They are surprised and confused when I explain that that is not my desire at all.

Here’s my thinking. First off, the guy had a clean record before this. Apparently, however, he had had a drinking problem for some time. So what is the better outcome here: let the guy rot in a jail cell for a couple years–at great cost to all of us taxpayers–and then turn him loose with nothing to stop him from falling right back into that trap of the monkey on his back? Or how about, get him into a good treatment program where he can hopefully beat that monkey and live a better, more constructive life–all at a much lower price tag than locking him up? Without a felony conviction to further screw up his life.

As I see it, the second option is not only cheaper, it is a more positive outcome for him and for society as a whole. And make no mistake, that felony conviction does screw up your life. We have a family member who got a felony conviction at 18. For 25 years now he has kept his nose clean as a whistle, but that felony has followed him everywhere he has gone, making it hard to get a good job, causing problems when he tries to rent an apartment. All of that. He was arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced. He has paid his debt to society but society is not satisfied. And a potentially productive member of society is left to drive Door Dash and do other odd jobs just trying to keep his head above water.

Another thing countless people urged upon me was to call a lawyer and reap a big pile of money. Now, if the guy had insurance you can bet I would be asking for compensation for the loss of my bike and also the $450 helmet that did its job and is now trashed. But he didn’t. The DA’s office asked me about requesting compensation from the guy who hit me, which could be part of the court decision in his case. I said no.

Why not? Look, if the guy had any money he would have insurance. Meanwhile, I’m quite comfortable financially these days. There were many, many years when I was just scraping by, and there were even times when I was, to put it mildly, underinsured. But I’m doing quite well now, thank you, and for semi-wealthy me to insist on this poor schlub giving me a chunk of his meager stash of money just strikes me as kicking the guy when he’s down. I just don’t want to do that. He’s got plenty of trouble already. I’m not going to do that.

Then at last week’s monthly RMMRC meeting Tom, a retired attorney, recommended to me that I file a claim with my own car insurance company for pain and suffering and inconvenience, all that, caused by the crash. Right from the start I knew that my auto uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage would pay for the costs of the crash, such as the ambulance and the emergency room charges. And they did. But now Tom was telling me that through that coverage, my company is basically stepping into the place where the drunk driver’s company would have been, and so if I would have file a claim with them, I should now do the same with my company. He said it’s what they expect and they would probably cut me a check without a word of protest.

I’d say Tom really didn’t get it when I demurred. Why should I file a claim for pain and suffering, etc.? It’s not like I suffered months of agonizing pain or anything like that. It hurt a bit for a short while and that was that. And yeah, I still have some minor pain now and then. But he was basically saying, if I can get my hands on that money why would I not? Well, I’m sorry, I think we in this country are way too eager to lawyer up whenever we see a chance to get some cash. In my estimation it is simple greed. Well, I’m not greedy. And neither is Judy. Neither one of us sees any real justification for me to claim, “Oh, I’ve been hurt, I’ve suffered, and I deserve something for all my suffering.” No. Not gonna do that.

So I’m not vindictive, I want a positive outcome for the guy who hit me. And I’m not greedy. I was glad to have the insurance company pick up the actual costs but that’s all I ask of them. Am I really all that peculiar? I know a lot of people who seem to say that answer is “Yes.” If I am I’ll wear that as a badge of pride.

Biker Quote for Today

Never put anything on a motorcycle that won’t make it go faster or stop quicker.