Crashing

Had an interesting time on friday. Was coming into work along Holborn Viaduct, had just passed a police officer (now stationed, post 7/7, in his little box overlooking who's coming into the City) and so naturally was watching my speed and was heading upto the lights to turn right down Old Bailey. Next to me was a taxi, which with no effort to look to his right U turned...

Now, i've been riding round London for about 5 years on scooters to start with and now proper bikes, in that time i've learnt not to watch the indicators but where the driver is turning his head, the movements of his hands and the direction of the front wheels, this might seem obvious but it requires being both relaxed on the bike and concentration at the same time. On this particular occasion I learnt what it really means when there is nothing you can do. I saw the taxi drivers hand slide round the wheel catching the indicator on the way round and at the same time turn the wheel leaving me absolutely no time to avoid the crash. i was doing 20-25 mph and was 'turned' by the taxi into the oncoming traffic lane, obviously he wouldn't U-turn into traffic but it did force me to the other side of the road. Remarkably i held the bike upright managing to break, turn and slide along the taxi at the same time.

Having stopped on the other side i took stock. I was bloody lucky. If i'd been a couple of seconds earlier i'd have T-boned his cab, a few seconds later and he'd have T-Boned me, in effect, as it was going to happen, i was in the best place, right along side.

I suffered heavy brusing to my hand, a broken indicator and scratches down the left hand side of my beautiful Honda VFR800. I took the bike to my garage which i've posted on earlier, Dyno was excellent, he's ordered a new indicator and using nothing more than a pot of dubbing and some elbow grease has removed all the scratches making it look better than new!

Has the experience made me think twice about riding... er, NO. Is it still my passion, YES. All i know is that it is a risk i take every time i get on it but, like the London Bombing, there's only so much you can do before events take on a life of their own and i'm not going to be cowed into submission for fear of lazy, non concentrating, ignorant-to-motorbikers taxi drivers.