This morning I decided to take the bike to work.
I live in East London and work in West London. I usually get the London Underground to work and it takes about an hour and a half door to door. I can sleep on the train and it's usually nice and cosy.
But this afternoon I'm going to a biker friend's funeral. He didn't die on the bike, he died of natural causes, but a group of us are gonna ride in procession with the funeral parade on our bikes. I've got half the day off but i would have to leave the office really early to go home, get the bike sorted and head to the funeral home, so i figured I'd come into work on the bike and head straight there from the office.
Well, the weatherman predicted fog and although it was a little foggy it wasn't too bad, but there was a slight frosting on the road.
I live at the top of a not-so-steep hill, so i was being very cautious when i came down it as the road was shimmering in places. I felt my back wheel slip a little so i slowed down even more to about 5mph...
Our road leads onto quite a busy main road. I knew ice wouldn't be an issue on that road as it gets lots of traffic and it wasn't cold enough for the ice to last long.
As i came to the last bend in my road (it's such a gradual bend it doesn't even qualify as a bend really, just a kink in the road), i didn't touch the brakes, didn't touch the throttle, i just leant her ever so slightly just like i always to do guide me around the bend and the next thing i know i'm on my right side and the bike's on top of me!!
The right peg bent up on it's spring like it's supposed to. The right mirror had folded in slightly, but the engine guard was doing it's job nicely. Keeping the bike off me and off the road. I easilly slide out from under it and felt how slippy the road was underfoot. Picking the bike up was so much easier than i ever imagined even with the icy road, it just lifted up nicely (must be all my gym sessions paying off!)
I brushed myself off, got back on and carried on with my journey into work.
It took about 10 minutes less to come in by bike, but i don't think i'll be making a regular thing of it. Traffic was a pain and i was filtering through it all for the majority of the journey.
When i got to the office i noticed a nice long scrape down the lower pipe, adding to the scrapes i collect when leaning over at roundabouts... and part of the metal bracket under the right footpeg had ground down a little. That's it. No other damage whatsoever. No scrapes on the engine bars, no nothing.
I think i'll get a slight bruise on my knee when the hypercharger hit it as i hit the deck, but that's about it.
Moral of the story. Don't ride in ice... and if you have to, only go in a straight line.
