Instead of the highway, or even the fast route up Route 57,
I decided to take a leisurely cruise up the back roads through Westfield, MA. As
I was sitting at a red light, preparing to turn left near a relative’s house, I’d
had a thought. My relative was injured at work a
couple of years ago, and has
had to endure a great deal of pain and discomfort, but had recently received a
settlement from the insurance company. I’d been thinking “man, it would be nice
to have a lump of money fall into my lap like that…” This was a thought I would
soon learn to regret.
I was a mere three, perhaps three and a half miles from home
when I turned left on to City View Road, a nice windy, though narrow road that
takes you out towards my house. I was cruising along behind a car at a
leisurely 30 miles per hour. As I crested the hill, shortly before City View
Blvd crosses City View Road, I saw a car in the opposite lane with her blinker
on to turn left across our lane. What I didn’t know was that car was about to
change my plans for the rest of that day…
The car ahead of me passed by the car waiting to turn, unfortunately,
the stopped car decided it would be a great time to make that turn she was
waiting to make. I had very little time to react. I quickly applied the brakes,
starting into a side skid. The back tire was coming out from under me. I
shifted my weight a little and the bike began to skid in the opposite
direction. It became clear to me that there wasn’t going to be enough time to
stop before hitting the SUV blocking my path and that there wasn’t sufficient
room to get around her. As I saw it, I had three options, lay the bike down,
hit the moving vehicle, or bail out and hit the pavement instead.