03/05/2024
Yes I've been a bit quiet.... too many public holidays, and not enough time in between to catch up with work. Also, while on holiday, had a bit of a situation with a bike driving into me.... Thankfully there were no serious injuries but I'm still a bit of a wreck when driving.
I came out of a corner (in the cruiser) and saw 2 bikes approaching me, driving abreast, one in my lane. I took my foot off the accelerator, moved left the few cms I could and put my left wheels on the verge. All the bikes had to do was tighten up their formation and they could pass me in the other lane, still driving abreast.
To my utter horror the bike in my lane moved to his right (my left) and kept coming straight at me. I hit the brakes and steered the Cruiser off the road. I could not believe it but the GS (BMW1200) followed suit. I'm pretty sure I came to a standstill before the bike hit me but the noise upon connecting was nerve shattering. I saw the rider bounce off my bonnet, both rider and pillion flung backwards and then falling sideways off the bike. All in slow motion.
I got out of the Cruiser ready to collect limbs, torso and head from different locations, stump blood flow, put limbs on ice, etc. (don't ask, 17 years of first aid training and watching all 20million episodes of Grey's Anatomy), but both rider and pillion were back on their feet by the time my feet touched terra firma. More bikes arrived and soon everybody was speaking in tongues unbeknown to me. Imagine being a stranger in your own country - where you were in an accident, and you don't understand a word anybody is saying.
Turned out it was a group from Poland on rental bikes, they drive on the other side ( refuse to call it the right side) of the road and the rider's instinct is to keep right to avoid a collision, not left as we do in SA.
A doctor in the group checked both rider and pillion and pronounced them as alive and OK (I still could not believe it), but we decided to call an ambulance to have them checked out in any case. Eventually we dislodged the GS from the Cruiser's bumper, I warmed up the glow plugs 3 times (as I always do) and the 1HZ roared into life within a split second. The Poles have now dubbed her "The Tank" .
I drove the 10kms to my campsite outside Greyton for the night, picked my spot on the banks of the Riviersonderend, opened a Savanna and started shaking. Driving the road again 3 days later, and dissecting the incident in my head, I came to realise how lucky the GS and it's occupants were - no thanks to the rider!
I drive slowly on gravel, "gravel travel" to me means chill time. I slow down more when approaching a turn, as advanced driver training taught me to accelerate out of the bend (not hit brakes in the bend if I'm going too fast). And I'm naturally cautious, so I tend to follow the rules. So I was already going slow, and slowed down more for the bend, which enabled me to stop a split second before the bike hit me and thus lessen the impact.
I always drive in 4x4 high range on gravel, so I always had control of the vehicle (OK this was to my benefit not the biker's!) - imagine losing control and hitting both bikes!
I chose to keep my plastic bumper on the Cruiser and not convert to a steel bull bar - the impact for the bike's occupants may have been a lot worse coming to a dead standstill against a steel bull bar (though may have been a lot less damage to the Cruiser). (Lots of weighing up to replace it with a steel bull bar with insurance money, but I decided against it. For now)
It is a a busy gravel road, between apple farms, and it is picking season - read "many trucks". There was a truck behind me and I was prepared to pull over and let him overtake me if he was riding my ass - but he kept his distance and we were comfortably driving along at less than 60km/hr (as per my GPS recorded tracks) - if I let him past, the GS would've hit the truck not my Cruiser, and I don't want to guess how that would've ended.
All's well that ends well they say - besides me still getting pins and needles on my scalp when I see a bike (or any vehicle!) approaching from the front and encroaching into my lane. Not to mention the chill up my spine when a bike opens up throttle near me - the roar of the engine literally sets my nerves on fire. And I love adventure bikes. I used to ride back up for an adventure bike company, so I have a lot of patience with them, until a few years ago I was going to get a bike myself. I give them their space to enjoy the road as much as I do, I love that little sideways nod or the left hand coming out with two fingers extended, to say thank you for moving over to let them overtake.
It's only been 6 weeks since the incident, so I'm sure my nerves will improve with time. But for now, I'm pooping in my pants on a regular basis.
Meantime my baby is at the panel beaters. Cosmetic repairs only - new bumper, new grill, new headlights, and panel beat the dent out of my bonnet where the rider's helmet landed. Would've been quicker but I have that special raptor paint on the car - which, by the way, is helmet proof - and we had to find a slot to get the raptor paint done.
Hopefully will be reunited with my baby next week!
