I took a ride up to Vermont today with my folks, aunt and uncle, and some friends. Hit some twisties got bored cause they were slow and i had to keep waiting for them...

On our way home we split and my folks and I were going to hit some local twisties quick before heading home. Our town is small, theres one traffic light that marks a 35 to a 55 transition its in the middle of a hill and then it flattens out, very straight and you can see at least two miles in each direction. I needed to make a left turn in the 55 part to hit the twisties. I was leading my parents were 2-3 car lengths behind me and a car was back at the stop light, quite a ways away. I put on my directionals and down shifted and started slowing down my parents did the same. There was opposing traffic so I needed to stop completely, i was in second gear i believe and hadn't put my feet down yet, i glance back the car is about 12 car lengths back, my parents are getting closer, then I looked forward again, and I see my parents veer to the right towards the shoulder past me, I look back and see the car not slowing down and hear my mom scream my name at the same time. At this point it all goes to slow motion, I start to turn my head back, dump my clutch and romp on it as hard as i can and see my mom screaming obscenities at the guy, then i get myself facing foward again and upshift again and continue to take off, i see my parents keeping up. I stayed right on it going 75-80 at least, several miles till I turned right onto my road, my dad stopped at the end of the road and the car never came by. It was a silver caddy.

My mom was crying when we got back to the garage, she said the guy was 4-5 inches from my tire. It was some old dude, my dad said he was half over the yellow line then was right on the line when he came at me at 55-60, not even slowing down. Almost like he was going to pass us. It was too close for my liking. All I could think was "Thank you, Rich" I know he was looking out for me today.

EVERYONE WATCH BEHIND YOU NO MATTER WHAT!

Wow... I'm glad to hear you're ok. Upstate NY scares me a bit, not because the drivers aren't cautious, but because there are so many old people who really shouldn't be driving. Either they're going 20 in a 35 zone or flying and barely staying on the road.

Yikes, my heart is racing just from reading that. Good thing you had the speedy takeoff skills, how high were you revving it before upshifting?

umm i honestly have no idea cause i wasn't looking, when i stopped going faster i up shifted... it sure scared me..i was shaking when i got home..had to have a few 

glad to hear that you were able to pull out of that one.  that is really scary, probably one of the things i fear most.  be careful out there, esp after what i read in that thread you created that i think is now in the Farm.

That does sound very scary... and way too close for comfort! Thank God & Rich that you handled that the way you did. I'm sure Rich was watching over you for sure! That must have been very difficult for your parents to witness too.

People pulling out in front of you and people not stopping behind you when you're at lights or intersections are the two main things that I try to watch out for the most when I'm out riding. They just don't pay attention enough.

Great job keeping aware of your surroundings & we're all greatful you're here today to tell us about it!

If I had been there the old dudes caddy would have been missing mirrors and windows.

Glad ur ok babe.

Wow dude, glad to hear you are ok.

Find that caddy and work it over. f%$king old bastards deserve it.

Dude I'll mail you my baseball bat to do it with if you need it.

Yeah if it had been me I probably would have hurt the guy really really bad. I don't care if he's old. If he's that old it's time to take his f%$king damned license away, I'd take it and tear it up by force. Damned old bastard.

Someone does that to me and they'll be lucky if they hit me hard enough to keep me down. If they don't they better hope I don't either get their plates or get up and pound them.


Sorry, I have to admit I'm still working on not having the "death grip" on the handlebars since my crash. But seriously in my current state I would have done something that would have at least made the local news.

Quote from: Onlypastrana199 on July 16, 2006, 08:18:24 PM
umm i honestly have no idea cause i wasn't looking, when i stopped going faster i up shifted... it sure scared me..i was shaking when i got home..had to have a few 

you did damn good. yes you were being watched over imho

Glad you're alright. I almost had an old guy in a caddy run me over yesterday. We were stopped at a light, I was behind him. Light turns green, he goes like 4mph in a 50mph zone... so I passed him. Not close, not excessively fast, not speeding. Just pulled to the right, passed him, got back in front of him. About 10 blocks from there, I start to slow, put my left blinker on, and get ready to turn onto my street. I do a headcheck, because I'm currently riding with no mirrors (one broke, and it looks dumb with just one on)... the old bastard passes within 8 inches of me, IN MY LANE, and I can see the f%$king grin on his face. Like he was paying me back for passing him. Looking back.. I wish I'd have pulled back on the main road, followed him, and kicked the shaZam! out of his caddy. As it was, I was so freaked out that I just yelled something inarticulate at him, and went home. Old fuckers.

My personal experience with old people is they drift accross the lanes and have no spacial awareness. I passed an old couple the other day doing about 35 in the 60 zone so i popped my indicator on pulled out and was just level with them when the old guy driving must have thought he was too close to the verge when he was actually dead centre in his lane and he nearly pulled into me - i had to swerve further to the opposite side of the road and throttle it to avoid him driving into me. I look behind and he swerves back to where he was.