The Post: "Evil attack squirrel of death! " reminded me of the funniest and ONLY time I ever fell on a bike:
This was way back when, just after fire was invented:
Friends had those little Honda 50 cc "mini bikes" (I forget what they are called, but we all know them, tiny wheels, large seat, you could almost pick them up) and they were really popular with the camping set - you could stick them on the back bumper of the camper and head to the hills for a weekend of camping and mini-biking - must have been about 1969.
Anyway, there we were, all camping and riding, I had a 125 yamaha or suzuki dirt bike (I forget??) and did ok. I could hang with the the group and knew my limitations. I had been riding since before fire, and was pretty cocky and prided myself that I had never taken a fall.
Anyway, Saturday afternoon, we all started swapping bikes, and I ended up on one of the mini-bikes. I'm not that tall, (5'2") so it was unusual for me to have my knees up near my chin, but that was how tiny these things sat.
Anyway, I take off, knees near my chin, HELMET on (as ALWAYS) and start zipping along a trail near the camp ground. Now it had rained a bit the week prior and in fact there were puddles around, but we all know that dirt bikes NEVER get dirty (I WISH)....anyway, I'm tooling down a dirt road, and low and behold to miss a big mud puddle, I go up a slight hill on the edge of the road and as I pull back onto the road I get that little sucker's front wheel dropped into about a 4-5 inch rut right into the middle of this dirt road when I pulled back onto the road. THEN the back wheel drops into the same rut, THEN...
the rut drops down to about 8" deep and those dang footpegs flip up and PIN my feet to this little monster. So there I am zipping along about 25MPH in a DEEP rut with my FEET pinned to the bike and (I can see this thing coming) I cannot get out of the rut and it's getting deeper!!!
THEN:
that Sucker bottoms out, pinning the footpegs into the side of the rut (with my feet are crushed between dirt, footpegs and bike).... and IT FLIPS!!!
I'm pinned to the bike and it is flipped over and I go SPLAT!!
- Worst fall I have every had. I couldn't catch myself and landed upside down flat on my back with that sorry SOB ON TOP OF ME on the hardest packed dried mud (AKA concrete!) anyone could imagine!
Knocked the wind out of me and brused my entire back. Thank God for that Helmet!!
Everyone comes to help and I can't speak because I can't catch my breath!!
They wondered if I had broken ribs, or vertebra, broke neck,etc. etc. start looking for a backboard, splints, etc. and I couldn't speak and was turning blue frantically trying to get air into my lungs.
Luckily, nothing was broken (except my pride!) and other than brusies from top to bottom I was fine.
When I could speak, I swore NEVER to get on one of those monsters again! At the time I had the dirt bike and a 650 Yamaha road bike, I weight under 100 lbs and the bike that hurt me the most was the smallest I've ever rode. Go figure!
What's your story?
Linda