I **literally** avoided death by a fraction of an inch a few days ago......
Ill start out by saying that if I was in a car instead of on my bike, Id be dead right now instead of only very sore-- it would have been a non-avoidable head-on collision.
This occurred last Friday so I've had a few days in the saddle since then to really analyze what happened.
I was on Day 1 of a 35-day Denver-Seattle-British Columbia-Alaska-Yukon and return trip programmed for 35 days, riding a 2015 GS. The bike was loaded with side cases, a top case and three (lightweight) dry bags as I'll be camping the majority of the time I'm on the trip.
The bike was in excellent mechanical condition, but was obviously heavy. I was also riding on new (~300 miles) Dunlop Trailmax Mission's instead of my previous Michelin Street 6's.
My wife followed me from Denver to Steamboat Springs in her Miata. We had lunch at Salt & Lime (highly recommended) and then I continued solo westbound on the two-lane US Route 40 from Steamboat Springs to Dinosaur National Monument while she went to the hot springs and spent the night.
Just past where Hwy 14 intersects at Elk Springs (about 1+40 from Steamboat, 30 minutes from my campsite), I was approaching a gentle ascending, left banking, late-apex turn. I was in the right half of my lane with the cruise control set at 70. Guardrail on the right, posted speed limit of 65. The turn was one of those late-apex ones where you cant really see anyone in the other lane until youre cresting and committed to the turn.
Just as I was coming up on the top of the curve, a very, VERY large Super-Duty pickup (think: GMC or Dodge Ram) came around the corner towing a VERY large, VERY long full-size RV trailer. The truck had (and this is key) large extended mirrors- the ones that come out 2-3x farther than a normal mirror.
My best guess on closure rate (me at 70, him at 75) was about 145mph. That would make for both vehicles moving together at about 200-210 feet per second.
When I first saw him come up and over the crest (and I remember this very distinctly), his front grill was just about halfway over the double-yellow line and moving into me as he continued around the corner. I'm guessing that he was moving at least 10 over the speed limit, took the corner too fast and all of that mass pushed him to his left as he crested the apex..... right into my lane.
Even though I was in the right half of my lane, it wasn't enough. I was leaning left and about to have a head-on collision with 3-4 tons of metal.
What surprised me later was how FAST things happened-- there were only a couple seconds before impact and honestly, there really wasn't TIME to think/analyze-- my reactions were pretty much instinctual in an "I don't want to die" way. It was a perfect storm of how to be killed on your bike when you're doing everything right. Huge truck and trailer coming over a blind corner, right at the apex, well into my lane, and with a guardrail to my right.
I was already established in the left lean going around the corner and it took a second for my brain to understand what I was seeing-- that the center his grill was (by now) over the double yellow line and sliding further into me. The prehistoric ballistic computer installed in my brain did some quick math and came up with "You're about to die". I braked hard and started to reverse the lean from my left to the right. I'm pretty sure I instinctively ducked a little to the right-- all I could see of the truck and trailer was a HUGE mass in front of me as we came together.
What happened next was (and continues to be) a bit of a blur.
My left mirror literally **VAPORIZED**, showering me with glass and plastic (although I didn't notice until after I'd stopped). At the same time, I felt an *unbelievably* hard hit on my left shoulder (and yeah, THAT hurt- it felt like I'd just been hit by a sledgehammer). There was a blur of brown and white as I slid past the RV trailer and it took about a half-second for me to realize that I was still in the game and the bike hadn't gone down.
I somehow avoided the guard rail (which ended right after the turn) and managed to bring the bike to a stop on the right shoulder. I was able to pull in the clutch and kill the engine, although at this point I thought that at a minimum, I'd broken my clavicle. Then, it took a few seconds for me to figure out that I was still alive and start to analyze what had just happened.
My best guess is that I reacted *just* fast enough to turn my vector away from him, turning a head-on into a sideswipe. In doing so, the bike started to roll right, bringing the left mirror up, impacting his extended-length side-view mirror and turning mine into glass and plastic confetti. Since I had European aspheric glass installed over the normal mirror glass, there was twice as much fragmentation than you'd expect-- I even found glass in my tent the next morning.
From there, my left shoulder hit his mirror and I continued past the RV trailer and point of impact.
What saved my shoulder is that I was wearing an armored Klim Induction jacket and the impact point was (very luckily) *just* where the armor was. That took some of the impact force and kept me from breaking any bones.
As it was, the impact slightly tore the kevlar over the armor. I also had a nice, dusty outline of the truck's mirror on the jacket surface.
And now the best part:
THE RAT-BASTARD IN HIS SUPER-DUTY **NEVER** CAME BACK TO CHECK ON ME.
I stayed off the bike for at least 45 minutes to let the adrenaline rush (and shakes) die down and get to a place mentally where I would be able to ride the final 30 minutes to my campsite.
The driver NEVER came back to check on me. He sure as hell knew there'd been an impact, but as far as I'm concerned, it was a full-on hit and run. I really wish I'd had a camera installed so I could have had a record of what happened and been able to see his license plate.
With any luck, I ripped the mirror off of his door, or at least shattered it.
But, I survived. A lot of bruising and pain, but nothing broken. The jacket has a small tear in it from the force of the impact (YAY, Klim-- their jacket and armor saved my shoulder!), and my European aspheric mirror is now literally shards of glass and plastic.
Pain is managed by OTC medication as I continue the ride (although the bruising/hemotoma at this point is kind of spectacular, and I apparently hit a rib as well). Jacket will be be repaired when I get back home next month. I had my buddy raid my Spares Box in my basem*nt and he FedEx'd a new set of OEM mirrors to my dad's house (I'm going to install them today). New aspheric glass was ordered from Hoenig and I'll install that when I get back home.
Lessons learned?
It happened when I least expected it. I was well in the right half of my lane just riding along with cruise control engaged, on a two-lane road with light traffic and good weather.
I went from enjoying the ride to almost losing my life in literally 2-3 seconds. Five seconds earlier or later and this wouldn't have happened.
ATGATT saved me. Klim stuff is expensive, but SO worth it. I think that if I didn't have the magic D30 armor (and the luck to get hit *exactly* where it was), I would have broken my clavicle at a minimum and probably would have lost control of the bike, which would not have ended well.
I'm still boggled that the driver didn't come back to see if I was hurt or killed. What kind of asshat *does* that? He sure as hell can't claim that he never knew he hit me-- that impact was HARD.
R.
