Two-wheeled Adventures Part Deux

Though the time frame between my posts has been great, my next adventure on my motorcycle happened not long after my trip down Skyline Drive.

On 14 November, I was a regular guy (ok, no I was still me), but I was on my way to work when I ran into a little speed bump. Alright, scratch that, a speed bump (read 2005 Nissan Altima) ran-the-fuck-into-me! Those of you familiar with Backlick Road in Springfield, and that awesome mixing bowl we have will be able to place this story best, but I'll try to explain as best I can. If you take the Backlick Road exit off of the Franconia-Springfield Parkway, and then take a left, you will pass through a strip mall type area, and then the road goes to the left, but there is a fork to the right. If you go right, the one lane turns into two, and then both lanes turn right and aim towards the on-ramps for 395, 495, 95, and God-knows what else. Now that the scene is set, the story can begin....

Well you see, what had happened was...I was in the left lane, and therefore the outside lane in a right hand turn, the NIQ (Nissan In Question), was in the right lane. Then, as it happened, we were both in the left lane, and he clipped my rear tire. This caused my bike to spin 90 degrees so it was perpendicular to the lane I was in, and it slid a good distance on its left side. I actually saw this coming, and this is where my inexperience came into play. I watched the car come over into my lane, and I honked my horn. It seems so insignificant and trivial now, I honked my horn. What I should have done was nail the throttle and gotten the hell out of the way. I didn't. I know why I didn't, because the road was wet from rain that morning that had stopped only an hour or so before, and I was going into a curve, so I didn't want to be going to fast.
I could have been very seriously injured in this event, but I wasn't. There are a few reasons for that. 1) I was wearing as much equipment as I had at the time. Helmet, gloves, jeans, motorcycle jacket with armor in it, and boots. 2) I got off and away from my bike as soon as I felt it start to go down. I hit the ground and tucked and rolled.
All in all, it could have gone a lot worse, I could have been run over by a car that was behind me (Thank You for stopping), I could have hit the ground at another angle and broken something, my bike could have landed on me and crushed my leg or other parts of me. But none of that happened.
We left my bike laying in the lane, which was very helpful for the police to determine cause in the accident, and they judged accordingly. The other driver, who turned out to be a huge asshole, aside from hitting me, was issued a summons for improper lane change or some such thing. Far more significant was that his being at fault made his insurance policy pay for the damage to my bike, which turned out to be totaled. They also replaced my jacket, and helmet. I ended up getting everything I spent on that bike back, and I found another one! I went from a 2000 Yamaha YZF-600r with 29K miles on it, to a 2002 Yamaha YZF-600R with 22K miles on it, and I paid less for the new one. There is not really a downside to that, except that I didn't have a bike for almost a month while I was looking for the new one.

I suppose thats all for now.