Anyone who knows me will tell you style is not the first thing that comes to mind when my name is mentioned. That’s not to say there aren’t some style choices going on in my life. My choice of a modern Vespa was made in part because I liked the visual style. Beyond that I am beginning to have trouble. I wear jeans but more because of their utility than style. The riding clothes I wear were chosen for utility as well. I picked a bright yellow riding jacket because I wanted other members of the driving community to be able to see me and perhaps not run me down as readily. That bumblebee look has become of personal style now and I wouldn’t wear anything but black and yellow now. How would anyone know it’s me in pictures?
A helmet for many is a personal style choice, a safety choice, or a personal freedom choice. For me, like with the yellow riding jacket, it was a safety choice. The color of the helmet was a style choice.
So where the hell am I going with this?
Yesterday on the way to work I am riding into town on Atherton Street, a four-lane road with no center divider and many driveways and streets attaching themselves to it. I’m traveling in the right-hand lane at 50 MPH. A colleague from work, Chad, is behind me in his red BMW Z3. A Toyota Land Cruiser is passing on the left and just as it pulls even with me I see in my peripheral vision a large bird sweep out from in front of the Toyota’s windshield. This happens in an instant and my brain has time to acknowledge the flight path of the bird and tighten my neck muscles for impact.
The bird hits squarely in the center of my visor with startling force. It felt like someone took a swing at me with a baseball bat. The bird careens off to the right and I give my head a shake to make sure everything is still working. The Vespa GTS and I maintain a straight line on the road and continue on our merry way.
In the office Chad stops by to remark on the impact and how surprised he was by it. We both agree how nice it was to have a helmet — me so more damage wasn’t done, him because he didn’t have to run me over if I got knocked down.
At lunchtime I had to run an errand and as I was taking off my helmet in a parking lot a beautiful custom painted Harley Davidson Fatboy pulls in. The rider is in commonly seen style – T-shirt, jeans, boots, no gloves, no helmet, no goggles or glasses, no windshield. I can’t help but wonder what that bird impact would do. I remember my cousin was knocked off his Harley by an apple lofted from a passing car.
On the way home last evening I was aware of how little warning you really get for some things like a bird, a darting cat, dog, groundhog or deer. A rock thrown up by a passing truck. There is no time for evasive action in some of these cases. Just enough time to recognize the impending event.
I will have to seek some advice from those of you with more experience on what one actually does in these situations. All I can come up with is to brace myself for the collision and hope everything stays together and upright. And I suppose it is a reminder to slow down in certain situations and have some protective gear.
And there comes the personal decision. Style, safety, freedom. We each are responsible for ourselves.
UPDATE
Frank Armstrong aka pitchertaker posted a link in the comments section that deals with bird collisions of another sort. If you are a timid flier you may not want to watch this.
Geez….
Not sure why but when I published this post it did not allow comments. It now appears to be the default for me.
Happy to report no bird hits today.
Speaking of bird strikes…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KhZwsYtNDE&mode=related&search=
pitchertaker: That’s a frightening bird collision incidence. If it can do that to a big machine imagine what it could do to a little one…
I am going to add that link to the main post.
Hey Steve,
Forgive me if I sound out of place, but there seemed to be an almost comical element in the way you described the bird hitting your helmet. At the same time though, I got a good sense of what kind of impact even something like that could create (wow – the sense of a baseball bat!)
I guess that little scares like that are good for reminding us what else could happen at any time without warning and when we least expect it.
Cheers,
Michael
BTW Steve, howz the bird? I’m sure you didn’t make his day either!lol
On another subject,I can’t believe what happened to me the other day when after I commented about the turkeys the other day. I was in my car a couple of hours later when, for the first time in 31 years of living in FL, what walks out in front of me, ….a turkey. Unreal, it crossed a very busy road and unbelievably the turkey escapes unharmed.
Cody
That was an excellent post …
Style is important( at least for me ) but safety should always come first …
greek rider
I hear you. I am new to scooting, somewhat rural, and have elected the grey helmet and bumblebee jacket look.
I see riders of all kinds without protective gear, and I wonder..am I overdoing it, or are these guys CRAZY?
Your story puts a point toward – they’re CRAZY!
michael: I didn’t mean it to be comical but I think I have a tendency to lighten things when I retell an event. It sneaks into even the serious stuff I fear.
I think it is always good to be aware of risk and ride accordingly.
cody: Sadly the bird didn’t fare well. That is weird about the turkey. Next time I will have to talk about finding a winning lottery ticket or something so we can see if the syncronicity continues!
v for varate mas: Thanks for the kind words.
s u n d a n c e: I see the same riders and some even tell me I am overdoing it. I have learned to follow my own counsel and try to habitualize the protective gear as much as possible.
Took a look at your 100MPG blog. Nice work! And I like your yellow and black riding jacket too!
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First of all let me congratulate you on your blog. I’ve been meaning to say this for a while but I’ve never gotten around to it.
I wish I could write like you do.
Anyway, let me tell you how much I agree with your comments about safety before style even if we make certain decisions (like buying a Vespa partly because of style).
I have not had any encounters with UFOs since I’ve been riding my GT200 (7 months approximately), but I’ve had a hubcap come darting from the other lane on a highway at 65 MPH and hit the hood of the car and jump over the roof, I had a small rock hit and make a crack that i had to seal to prevent from spreading on a new windshield that had been replaced the year before from being hit by a continued rain of sand flying from a contruction truck in front of me on my way to the beach.
It is for these things that I wouldn’t ride without a windshield. I hate to think what that small rock would have felt if it hit me on the chest or the face.
That’s why I can’t understand why people would ride without proper gear. Even in hot weather, there are now many mexh jackets (and pants) that are almost like nothing except they offer protection.
For some reason, it looks like it’s always the Harley riders that wear the least protection.
The windshield protects you in cold weather by deflecting the cold air from you chest also.
My choice of colors is made with a little style in mind but mostly I want to be noticed. I have a yellow and black full face helmet, and a few jackets in bright blue and white and bright green and white, blue and red gloves, you get the idea…
Ah, I have a Vespa helmet just for style though. I only use it to do short errands in town. Not that the asphalt is softer in Westwood, NJ, but I take a calculated risk on these occassions only.
I think I rambled too long. By the way, I love the photos too.
So far the only thing that has flown off a truck into me on the Vespa has been a piece of wood the size of a pop can. And believe me it didn’t feel good hitting my gloved hand!
Safety is uppermost when choosing my motorcycle gear, but style is close behind. I won’t buy something if I don’t like how it looks on me, but I won’t compromise safety for something I’d love to have but doesn’t have all the armor or protection.
Lately some of the companies have been putting out some awesome looking jackets, but they are lacking or wimpy in the back armor. What’s with that?!?
So glad your okay and that the kamikaze bird didn’t win.
Close call; glad you’re ok.
I often wear a pair of $5 ANSI standard safetyglasses under my faceshield for extra protection. You only have one set of peepers 🙂
I never got the no gloves thing, though. Tan lines should always take a back seat to safety. A rock to the knuckle is not pleasant.
Stay safe everyone!
I have just arrived at your blog (via Colin Jago’s auspiciousdragon.net) and it is very interesting. I have come off motorbikes at very low speeds and it would have hurt a whole lot more without helmet, gloves and leathers. Even coming off my bicycle last year was a bit painful without a helmet: I heard my skull hitting the road and that was at around 1mph!