Sunday, October 12, 2014

...and then there was the motorcycle "accident"

FH and I visited a new brewery, Former Future, on saturday and then decided to head to wit's end to try their new selection of beers. We only had one beer at Former Future (it was good, but not as good as wit's end), thankfully, because the event that transpired next could have ended badly.

We were on FH's motorcycle (not the Ural) and debated dropping the bike at home before going to wit's end but we decided to go straight to wit's end on the bike. A blue subaru wagon pulled into the parking lot in front of us. I should mention that FH was blaring the motorcycle stereo, and the motorcycle isn't exactly quiet. We were about 7 feet behind the subaru.

Wit's end is in an industrial park so the parking lot is small, a row of parking slots on each side. As FH was trying to decide where to put the bike (the motorcycle parking had been taken over by a food truck) the subaru suddenly started backing up. FH and I yelled at the guy and FH tried to steer us out of the way but before he could push the bike backwards the guy hit us. FH laid the bike down and I somehow managed to, uncharacteristically, jump off the bike gracefully (I only got a little scuff on my pants where I rolled out of the way as the bike was going down - it's a touring bike and NOT light - I didn't want it to land on me, or worse, end up under the subaru).

As we went down the fucking fuck wit asshole kid who was driving the subaru finally stopped. He got out of the car and was like "um, what happened?" I was waiting for FH to lose his mind (he does have an Italian temper, on steroids) but FH was focused on the motorcycle and getting it up so he could see the damage. The kid (guess he was in his early 20s) appeared stoned and he launched into an explanation: "I'm sorry I hit you dude, I'm lost, and in a huge hurry". As soon as he said that I turned into bitch central and yelled "Oh, you're in a hurry, so it's okay that you almost fucking ran us over?" He said something else trying to defend himself and I started REALLY yelling at him, saying, among other things "you realize you could have killed us?!? and "we were yelling and screaming at you as you were backing up (his window was rolled all the way down so I don't know how he couldn't have heard us) and you didn't even stop until you hit us!". What made me so mad is that he didn't apologize (he didn't even seem to understand that he HIT us) and his general stoned as shit demeanor. Meanwhile, FH's thumb was bleeding all over the place because he hit a piece of glass as the bike went down and sliced a huge chunk out of his thumb.

FH and Stoned Fucking Asshole exchanged information and SFA gave FH $300 in cash (which is good, there are a lot of uninsured drivers in Colorado as I found out when I was rear ended by that cunt Kandy Schertz who never paid for the damage she did to my car and gave me fake insurance information). After everything was settled SFA gave FH a hug and shook his hand. He also offered to shake my hand but I gave him a hug too because his hands were shaking and I think I might have scared him with all my yelling. Though, I wanted him to absorb the gravity of the situation. If FH didn't have so many years riding who knows what could have happened. And I don't want SFA to kill someone else with his careless asshole-ness.

We went into wit's end to discover that the patrons had been watching the drama. Pat got FH a band aid (he refused it and instead put super glue on the gash in his thumb instead) and got me a drink. I couldn't stop shaking and I realized it was because I had been so primed to punch SFA that it was hard to get my adrenaline under control. In the end I'm glad I didn't punch him because 1. that's not an adult thing to do and 2. I might not have been able to stop punching him.

I will also admit that one of the reasons I was so pissed is because last saturday I spent 2 hours at the mall (I HATE shopping) trying to find a pair of pants that were not jeans that fit me (though the pants are an inch short they're tapered and they look okay, anyway, what designer makes small pants with a 33 inch inseam) and I happened to be wearing those pants when the accident happened. They were undamaged. As was FH and I (except for the thumb). The bike is another matter but FH thinks he can fix it, which turned out to be a fucking great deal for SFA.

Anyway, check your rearview and check your mirrors before backing up. And share the road with cyclists. It only takes a few seconds to kill someone, or damage the only pair of pants they own that fit them.

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