
It was dark, and it was minutes after the rain has stopped. As I rode along a small stretch of road, I came up to a long sweeping bend. That’s what it looked like, anyway. And it was bigger than the tiny sharp ones I’d been encountering a while back. I realize now that the speed I took the corner at was too fast. I was at roughly 40kmph and increasing. Due to the speed I was traveling at, I had to take position near the inside of the white line in the middle of the road.
Then there was a lorry. In a split second, I was given a load of information at once; the lorry was over the white line and on my side of the road. The corner had suddenly dipped down and banked away sharply to the right. It wasn’t the long sweeping bend I thought it was. I had to straighten up, I had to avoid the lorry that I was going to ram into any second.
I threw the bike upwards from its leaning position, fingers tugging almost cautiously on the front disc brake. Even in this panic, I felt the front wheel skid under my harsh braking and I let go of the brake. I knew, even in these brief moments and amongst the faint panic, that there was no point in braking. I couldn’t stop. I was going to hit the wall on the left side of the road. The corner had narrowed immensely at the heart of the bend. So I didn’t brake. I didn’t want to lock up the front wheel and go sliding. I was moments away from the point of no return. I touched the back brakes with my shoes, I felt it slowing the speed and getting grip. I don’t remember shifting my position. A second later, I was leaning the opposite way (bike was still in the same posture) and all I could see was blinding headlights of something big right behind me. I felt boxed in, and all of a sudden the light disappeared. I only heard my right mirror hit something big and heavy on my right. Read the rest of this entry »













