Crash Bang Wollop

Hey guys,

I used to hate reading these threads as they made me a bit like ahhh that really sux & secretly glad it wasnt me. Oh yeah, this its quite a long stiory as well, so get some popcorn.

Anyway, I was setting off for the day and was halfway up my farily long street doing about 50-60k's when a low flying bullet comes straight at the bike from the right at about 90 degrees. That bullet was in fact a dog, a colly sheep herding son of a bitch in fact. Literally.

So what do I do, NO.....not the right thing, not only did I brake hard on the front anchors but I ALSO swerved to the left leaving me bikeless & flying over the right side of the bike to land hard right on my shoulder. The dog may have baulked at the last minute who knows but to me it defintely looked as though at the current speed I was travelling it was quits for the dog and me, so I relied on instinct in the split second I had available to me. I thought I'd practiced standing it on the front OR swerving enough, but when it came to the crunch I guess I was just not practised enough, so anyone who reads this, go and do some emergency braking & swerving (BUT NOT AT THE SAME TIME) practice right now....

Anyway, I got up at the scene and noticed my right shoulder in front of me on my chest. Yep dislocated...So having huge amounts of adrenalin flowing through me, I managed to pop it back in no mess no fuss and it didnt really even hurt that much to tell the truth (next day was a different story)...Also instinct, but the right one this time. Oh, yeah, & thank god for Dririder jacket bodyarmour. The thing looked like it had been to Iraq & back on the outside, but none of the crucial protection had been compromised. Buy one its well worth the money and could save your skin...

So, the owner comes out looking all sheepish himself and says I'm really sorry we're moving today and we usually lock the dog up. WELL !@#$ING obvious statement that one... Anyway, I then had to literally tell him to pick the bike up and help me back home with it which he 'reluctantly' did as I thought my arm was broken and I probably had a mild concussion yet still had more presence of mind than this idiot. I just couldnt believe the guys attitude & felt like smacking him around some which he probably deserved. Anyway, I tell him I'll be back a bit later when I had recovered enough to discuss the matter as at that stage I thought my arm was broken and needed a few pain killers stat....

So, later in the day my wife and I went back up and I swear, I am just disgusted with the way ppl are becoming in Brisbane, they were doing a runner on me! Look I understand how bloody stressful moving is etc but a bit of courtesy, like walking 2 minutes down the road to see how I was doing might have been nice & took 2 seconds out of their day. So anyway, the house was empty with the kids packed off earlier I guess and the guy and his wife in the car literally ready to take off. They looked bloody pale when my wife and I rocked up thinking they had gotten away scott free. So, we get into it and I'm just still a bit shocked from the accident and the guys wife being a 'real charmer' said that liability wise your not supposed to swerve for animals and that she had looked that up just before on the internet. I was just gobsmacked and couldnt even get words out!!! Thank god my wife was there & simply said, 'Oh, and I suppose you would have preffered your dog to be killed right before the eyes of your 2 young children???' I love my wife. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s -->

Anyway, the short of it is we negotiated down a price to get the bike fixed up as it wasnt too bad and he said he would bring the money around in the evening after he had dropped his wife off and gone to the ATM to avoid council issues and me putting in my insurance claim etc. Well, guess what, we're still waiting 3 days later and I was stupid and trusting enough NOT to get ALL their details as at the time we spoke they said they had no insurance and it was really a council issue so complain to the council if we wanted to etc. (As I said, a charming couple). Anyway, I'm now out of pocket and out of sorts. I could track them down, but for a few hundred bucks is it worth it as I have a crapload else to deal with and the bike only ended up costing $10 for a new indicator reflector (though 8 odd hours of my time straightening and polishing etc as well).

The moral? Brisbane just isnt the same as when I was growing up and the quality of ppl is just going downhill. Oh, and make sure to get peoples full names and numbers at the scene even if they are reluctant to give them. Anyway, I'm going to now both complain to the council and lodge my insurance claim. I figure that they will get theirs some way or another... (As you can tell I'm not really a forget and forgive kind of guy).
Anyway, both the fizzer and I have lived to ride another day and thats what counts.

So, I'll leave you with these parting words:

"IT COULD HAVE BEEN MUCH WORSE. STAY SAFE PEOPLE AND PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE EVEN IF YOU THINK YOUR TOO GOOD FOR THE BASICS"

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lol thanx guys, I think a bit of both viewpoints could be in order. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s -->