Ride With Tank

I can’t believe how long it has been since I updated!

Spring has been awesome this year and I have been getting a decent amount of riding in.  Two nice trips to West Virginia, including a lonely ride up US250 after dark!

All is not exactly well in the world of Tank.   Last Wednesday I was on my way home from QSL Bike Night in Sharon. I was behind a semi and I was riding in the center of the lane. I know better than to ride in the center, and I don’t know what I was thinking, but that was where I was riding.

I saw something in the road after the truck passed over it, but I really didn’t have time to swerve to avoid it. I honestly only had about a half second to react. I braced myself and put my weight on the pegs and hit it square on. It was a far more substantial impact than I expected. It was a real solid hit.

I was going about 70 and both tires lost air instantly and the bike started wobbling and weaving something fierce. The bike kind of settled down a bit and I got it to the side of the road.

I got off the bike to survey the damage and my heart sunk when I found that both wheels were destroyed. I was hoping it would only be the tires.

Since the bike was so low it didn’t have much lean on the kickstand and a big truck flew past and the wind was enough to blow it over. Luckily, I was able to kind of catch it and allow it to drop gently with no damage other than some scratches to the saddlebag. I started to pick it up, but then figured it would probably just blow over again so I figured it would be safest to just leave it as it was.

So now I realize that I did not have my cell phone with me. I wait for someone to pull over with little success. Finally, a really nice guy pulls in and he has a phone. So I call the wife and ask her to call Geico, but I was not sure she fully understood where I was, so I decided to fire up the SPOT and send her a help message with my exact location. I totally forgot that it would also send a message out to folks on RideOhio.org.  The message said to call Geico, but most cell phones only allow 160 characters, so most people did not get the full message. All the same, unknown to me, lots of folks were making calls to get me some help, and I thank them all for helping!

The highway patrol showed up and put out flares while we waited for the tow truck.  As we waited, he decided to check me out and copied the VIN from my motorcycle.  When he started doing this I started screaming “I ain’t going back to prison”.  This kind of freaked the guy out, so we had a little talk.  I explained that I have some minor mental issues and there was no real reason to taze me.

We got the bike home and in the morning I gave it a good once over.  The damage is limited to the wheels, so that is a good thing!

Back Wheel

The object I hit

Geico came to the house and gave it a look over, called another tow truck and handed me a check for the damages.  Once the new wheels arrive all will be well in my world again!

Vstom heading to the shop for new wheels

Live and learn. Don’t ride in the center of your lane in heavy traffic. Don’t leave home without the cell phone. If you ride in the center and leave your phone at home you still have friends that will bail you out.  Don’t yell “I ain’t going back to prison” to a cop.

Lesson learned for truck drivers, you gotta throw some pretty big parts on the road to make a Suzuki go down! Bring it on, bitches!

Seriously though, I consider myself pretty lucky to be uninjured. I don’t ever want to do that again!