The DU Lounge

Never had a serious accident, but I was lucky twice. In college at the University of Alabama in 1970 I had a 125cc Harley and had a spill in front of a hospital in Tuscaloosa. It was at night, in the dark, and the headlight on that motorcycle was never very good, and I've never had great night vision either. Instead of painted lines on the pavement they had cement hemispheres dividing the lanes on approach to the left-turn lanes. I never saw the cement things and hit one at 45 mph when I tried to change lines. I hit the pavement pretty hard and rolled 50 or 60 feet. A young couple and child in a car behind me almost hit me. They picked me up and drove me up the long circle drive to the front of the hospital and stayed until they knew I was all right. I think they felt responsible for me in a way because they came so close to running me over. I had a sprained left ankle and had to hobble around on crutches for three or four days. I was 20 years old then. When you're that young you can take that, but now, 55 years later, I don't think I would survive a spill like that. The motorcycle didn't survive it; the front wheel was thoroughly smashed up and my parents sold the motorcycle to someone who wanted the engine for a go-kart.

In 1973 I bought a Suzuki TS-185 and wow, was that thing fun! But I wanted a bigger one, so one year later I bought a Suzuki GT-380 and had it for quite a few years. A neighbor who restored motorcycles bought it from me for $50 (it wasn't in very good condition by then). I was "out of the saddle" for some years after that, mainly because I was living paycheck-to-paycheck and just couldn't afford one, as much as I missed riding. Finally in February 2003 I managed to come up with a big down payment and bought a brand new 2003 Kawasaki Vulcan 750, and wow, that thing was the best motorcycle I've ever had! That thing was FUN! But, I did have a couple of spills on it. One of them happened when I was riding out of my front yard and cut the front wheel to the right while the rear wheel was still in the mushy dirt in the yard and the front wheel was on the pavement. I'll never do that again. The rear wheel started churning up the dirt in the yard and slid to the left, the motorcycle engine choked down and the motorcycle smashed down on my right foot. That foot was 20 different shades of purple for about 10 days. It was a miracle that none of those small bones in that foot were broken, but even though the doctor said nothing was broken, I know some of those bones were bent. In fact, I can still feel a ridge on that foot where one of those bones is bent.

I traded in that Kawasaki in 2015 on the car I'm driving now. In 2018 I bought another motorcycle that I didn't have for long. The thrill was gone, because by then I was just getting too old and frail to be riding those things any more. I have owned a total of five motorcycles in my life. I have a Honda Metropolitan now, but it's not a motorcycle, just a little motorscooter that will barely touch 40 mph if it's wide-open and going downhill with a tail wind. And I rarely use it.

Deb, the way you phrased your question, it sounds like you're assuming that riding motorcycles is something very few people ever do. In my experience that assumption is faulty. LOTS of people ride motorcycles, especially at this time of year.

— Ron