How I almost met my maker

imported post

It was a beautiful day October 6, 2009 and I was riding with six other bikes (4 wings, a Shadow and a BMW) on the small twisty Highway 66 just west of a little town called Sneedville Tennessee. I thought how nice the pavement was for a road out in the middle of no where. Fall had started and the trees were just starting to turn. The temperature was in the low 70s, a bit overcast but little wind and overall a nice day for a ride.

We were tooling right along at about 50. Not to fast for the conditions, but still at a good clip for a twisting road none of us had ever been on before. I was bike number 3 so I was in the left tract and enjoying not having to lead. Third position made it easy to see what the bikes ahead of me were doing and made the ride much easier. Still, you couldn’t see around the turns as they came, the road was just to narrow and twisty.

As we came to a left turn suddenly there was a white panel truck half way over the center line. He must have been going a bit to fast and took his turn to wide. This had him coming right at me. I made a quick defensive maneuver (not really a swerve) to the right and the truck flew past me, missing by inches.

Now it’s really amazing how fast your mind can work. Everything that followed probably took 5 seconds, but it seem like I had lots of time to think about, and do, what happened next.

I told myself “I’m off the road and on a very narrow gravel shoulder. Don’t hit the brakes because if I lock up the wheels I wouldn’t be able to steer and will go into an uncontrolled slide.” I looked straight ahead and there were trees about 50feet to my front and told myself “if I go that way I’m toast” (my exact words to myself). By now I had left the gravel and was in grass. Again thinking to myself, “you’ve ridden in grass before no big deal just don’t do anything sudden.” Looking at the trees I said “you will go where you look, so if you look at the trees you’re going to crash, look for the black top.” I turned my head to the left and drove out of the grass onto solid pavement. Looking down at my speedometer I was still doing 45mph. Recalling my training at the ERCs I’ve taken (thanks Dennis) and my more than a quarter million miles of experience, I’m sure this is what saved my bacon.

Shorty down the road we stopped in a small park with this great view of a lake. All of us, especially me, had to answer the call of nature. We talked about what happed, and after assuring everyone I was OK continued the last 100 miles or so of our ride. I started getting comments like “nice driving,” “anyone else would have gone down,” and “great trick riding.”

I’m here because I didn’t panic, but called on my experience and all the training I’ve had to save my butt. You will most certainly see me at future ERC and any other rider training I can get. I will continue wearing all the proper riding gear just in case things don’t work out so well next time.

Yours In Friendship
Burt Wagner