Summer of 1977 and I am 15.5 years old and legally allowed to ride my fathers commute bike. He commuted 8 miles in each direction to IBM in south san jose ca on a 1973 honda sl175 which was half a 350 4 and reved to 10,500 rpm. Dual carbs. It was the beginning of the gas crunch and it gave my dad an excuse to have a bike again. He had ridden an NSU across country from nyc to san diego as a 16 year old in 1951 living on saltines and peanut butter. Anyway he would ride to work in his coat and tie. No gloves, just a helmet. So he let me ride his bike to pick up some parts for our vw bus which he was outfitting with an elaborate folding out bed and tent contraption so we four kids would be in a tent and he and my mother would have this private bus mahal thing. We were going to take a two month tour around the country for the summer which we did. This was us literally in a vw bus with a big lounging bed in the center with a massive sunroof playing hearts and russian bank going 65 down the road day after day but I digress.
My first destination after legally and with parental permission setting out on this bike was to ride it to the local drive in theater which had just been expanded and had pristine asphalt in the new parts. my buddies and I had been skateboarding for weeks on it and you could ride right in which I did at 30 mph or so. As you know the bumps at the back or the theater are mild and increase in severity as you near the screen and this quickly caught me out as I very shortly was holding on for dear life and had no skills to attenuate my speed. Bad got to worse and by the time I got to the last row I was a mini evil kenievel and launched into the air 6 feet over the now flat ground between the last row and the screen headed directly for a 12 inch vertical I beam mounted in a 24 inch in diameter concrete footing 24 inches proud of the ground. I landed 10 feet from this obstacle and in that ten feet managed to get my body to the right of it by the time the front wheel hit it. I woke up 15 feet past the beam with the bike next to me with the front end bent up and still putt putting in gear. luckily I wss wearing a helmet which was scarred up but my izod polo shirt safety jacket totally failed and I had a laceration in the crock of my right elbow to the tendons from the throttle cable elbow.
After screaming for two minutes cursing an immense ignorance and stupidity I had to admit was a shock to my hitherto previous cavalier worldview based on mastery of skateboards, tennis rackets, snow skis and bicylcles, I proceeded to pound my head in frustrstion against the nearby chain link fence for 30 seconds or so. Then in total shame of the fact I had completely messed up what was a real dad out on a limb trust deal, I came up with a plan to soften the blow which ws sure to come. I picked up this bike and totally adrenalized I dragged it in gear for an 8th of a mile halfway out of this drive in before thinking to put it in neutral. It would turn left in its own length but could not turn right and every so often I would have to pick up the front and point it off to the right and it would slowly go left etc.
I finally got out to the industrial business road the theater entrance was on and dumped the bike in the road., I walked into the nearest business bleeding from numerous places and advised I had just been in a hit and run accident out front and can I use their phone to call my mother to take me to hospital. This was met with quite a bit of bafflement by the two machine shop owners but they let me use the phone while commenting that they had not heard anything like an accident out front. So my distraught mother picks me up completely confused by how I could look like I had been in a motorcycle accident yet calmly describe this hit and run accident like I had broken a racket string. She told me she knew it was stupid to let me ride the bike. She took me to the emergency room and called my dad at work.
The emergency room was a dude using a toothbrush to scub all the lacerations and abrasions. Super painful. I practiced my hit and run story but it was all for naught. My father came in after a while with a big smile and said, "what have you been up to then?" There was no way I could lie to this man I respected so much and had trusted in me and loved me. It all came pouring out. He had gone to secure the bike when he had confirmation of my condition and the machine shop guys had shown him where they found the rear wheel drag mark and followed it to the accident site. I think he knew how much I had already beat myself up.
I ended up using most of my own money to buy the two new fork tubes and other parts from the honda shop and rebuilt that bike. I was also allowed to ride it again as well as his honda 360t which I rode for two years to college and we rode two up to the tennis courts. It was california in the 70s and early 80s. The only time I rode a motorcycle in anything but a helmet and street clothes was winter when I wore gloves and a ski jacket. Never thought about it. I do now!
My first destination after legally and with parental permission setting out on this bike was to ride it to the local drive in theater which had just been expanded and had pristine asphalt in the new parts. my buddies and I had been skateboarding for weeks on it and you could ride right in which I did at 30 mph or so. As you know the bumps at the back or the theater are mild and increase in severity as you near the screen and this quickly caught me out as I very shortly was holding on for dear life and had no skills to attenuate my speed. Bad got to worse and by the time I got to the last row I was a mini evil kenievel and launched into the air 6 feet over the now flat ground between the last row and the screen headed directly for a 12 inch vertical I beam mounted in a 24 inch in diameter concrete footing 24 inches proud of the ground. I landed 10 feet from this obstacle and in that ten feet managed to get my body to the right of it by the time the front wheel hit it. I woke up 15 feet past the beam with the bike next to me with the front end bent up and still putt putting in gear. luckily I wss wearing a helmet which was scarred up but my izod polo shirt safety jacket totally failed and I had a laceration in the crock of my right elbow to the tendons from the throttle cable elbow.
After screaming for two minutes cursing an immense ignorance and stupidity I had to admit was a shock to my hitherto previous cavalier worldview based on mastery of skateboards, tennis rackets, snow skis and bicylcles, I proceeded to pound my head in frustrstion against the nearby chain link fence for 30 seconds or so. Then in total shame of the fact I had completely messed up what was a real dad out on a limb trust deal, I came up with a plan to soften the blow which ws sure to come. I picked up this bike and totally adrenalized I dragged it in gear for an 8th of a mile halfway out of this drive in before thinking to put it in neutral. It would turn left in its own length but could not turn right and every so often I would have to pick up the front and point it off to the right and it would slowly go left etc.
I finally got out to the industrial business road the theater entrance was on and dumped the bike in the road., I walked into the nearest business bleeding from numerous places and advised I had just been in a hit and run accident out front and can I use their phone to call my mother to take me to hospital. This was met with quite a bit of bafflement by the two machine shop owners but they let me use the phone while commenting that they had not heard anything like an accident out front. So my distraught mother picks me up completely confused by how I could look like I had been in a motorcycle accident yet calmly describe this hit and run accident like I had broken a racket string. She told me she knew it was stupid to let me ride the bike. She took me to the emergency room and called my dad at work.
The emergency room was a dude using a toothbrush to scub all the lacerations and abrasions. Super painful. I practiced my hit and run story but it was all for naught. My father came in after a while with a big smile and said, "what have you been up to then?" There was no way I could lie to this man I respected so much and had trusted in me and loved me. It all came pouring out. He had gone to secure the bike when he had confirmation of my condition and the machine shop guys had shown him where they found the rear wheel drag mark and followed it to the accident site. I think he knew how much I had already beat myself up.
I ended up using most of my own money to buy the two new fork tubes and other parts from the honda shop and rebuilt that bike. I was also allowed to ride it again as well as his honda 360t which I rode for two years to college and we rode two up to the tennis courts. It was california in the 70s and early 80s. The only time I rode a motorcycle in anything but a helmet and street clothes was winter when I wore gloves and a ski jacket. Never thought about it. I do now!
Glad you made it unscathed. When your aggravated, those little horns do seem to lack feeling. I can yell louder than that! 
