Peter and I were in our truck on the way to our hockey game on Saturday night when we noticed a guy on a Superhawk weaving through traffic, lanesplitting at ~80mph, just generally being an asshat. This is pretty standard around here, so we commented on it (“frickin’ squid”) and then forgot it.
A couple of miles later, we both happened to be watching as the same rider took an exit ramp too hot and lowsided. He wasn’t moving as we passed the exit.
I was on my cell phone calling 911 by the time Peter (who was driving) was switching lanes to exit at the next exit ramp to come back around to the guy.
Long story short, it took us a few minutes to get back around to the rider, who was wearing a textile jacket, gloves, and full face helmet (I honestly didn’t notice whether he wore boots/shoes or pants/jeans). He had gotten the bike upright and I was still on 911 with the dispatcher when he just hopped on his bike. As he rode past me, I yelled “ARE YOU HURT??” he shook his head and yelled “NO, THANKS!” and rode away.
I told the 911 dispatcher to cancel the ambulance, gave my name and number and description of the bike (I think she was a little surprised that I could rattle off the make, model, and year of a bike I saw for all of 2 or 3 seconds… 😉 ).
I’m glad the guy wasn’t hurt, but I wish he hadn’t been so fast to just leap onto his bike again and ride off. I know from experience that adreneline will kick in and then crash (figuratively) and I hope he made it to a safe place to pull over and assess his own and the bike’s damages. He was going pretty fast and lowsided pretty hard.
People, if you EVER go down, even at slow speed, take a few minutes to rest and get your heart rate down again before getting back on the bike.
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