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And I didn't lose!!
Cliffs notes: I'm ok (back is a little sore, hopefully it's not too bad), bike is fine (didn't fall down, was able to ride it home).
So I'm heading home from Jon's apartment. It's about 35 degrees and the usual after work Friday traffic is streaming out of downtown. I jump in the left lane hoping to get lucky and have a spot open so I can get on Spear St or wait and head up Dorset St. Traffic was fairly heavy, but there were some spots so I was looking over and weighing my options. I get to the top of the UVM hill (at the bus stop), and traffic stops fairly quickly, but certainly nothing new for that area. I hit the brakes and no more than 2 seconds after I stop I am jolted forward about two feet.
Somehow I kept the clutch and front brake in, so the bike doesn't rocket out from underneath me, it doesn't hit the car in front of me, and it doesn't fall over. The first thought that came to mind was "are you kidding me?". I'm not sure if the other driver heard or not, he was too busy freaking out asking if I was ok. I take off my backpack (which had a nice heavy laptop for added jarring), helmet, gloves, and face mask and realize that I am shaking like crazy. I assume that was the adrenaline, but the cold didn't help things. He again asks if I'm ok. Well I think I'm ok, I was walking and talking just fine. My back hurt a little, but it was nothing major. I was just trying to take in the whole situation.
By some act of serendipity an ambulance was driving by, so they stop and a crew of 4 get out to assist me. At this point I'm more embarrassed than anything, because now I'm blocking 2 out of 4 lanes of traffic (one each way) at a very busy time of day on one of the busiest streets in Burlington, and I have a whole ambulance crew checking me out when I feel fine (aside from the shaking). They give me a quick little test, check my vitals, and inform me my blood pressure and my pulse are high. Well duh, I'm a bit shaken up here. I decline the hospital trip because that would be a waste of everybody's time and money.
Then while all that is going on a firetruck shows up. Now I'm really embarrassed. They help me check out the bike, and it looks fine. No noticable marks in the tire and no noticable misalignment. He must have hit me square in the back tire because the helmet hanging off the left hand side was fine (I was picking up my spare from Jon), the exhaust looked fine, and the license plate was untouched. I tell them I'll ride it home and they agree that it should be fine.
Lastly the police show up to take down everybody's info and make a report (another jeep rear-ended the guy that rear-ended me), which I want just in case the bike or my back are damaged. I actually had trouble finding my registration (I looked at it and thought that since it expired in 2010 that it was my old one...oops). Everything comes back clean on everybody and he says he'll mail us a copy of the report.
The guy that hit me was extremely apologetic and offered to follow me home to make sure the bike was ok. I took him up on the offer. Everything seemed mostly ok except for some potential weirdness in a left hand turn that I felt, but again it was 35 degrees and the tires were cold, plus I was freezing from standing outside for 30 minutes, so I will check it out better tomorrow.
If my back hurts tomorrow can I still pin it on him? I told him that I've had some back spasms recently (they went away a week ago) so my back is easily tweaked. It feels pretty tight right now and I have a feeling I might be in some pain tomorrow. I also want to get the bike checked out ASAP, but will a normal shop like Cyclewise or Roadside be able to determine if the swing arm is tweaked? I'll probably try to bring it to Cyclewise since they are a Suzuki dealership (LandAir can eat shit).
That was my first real incident on a bike (I've still never been down *knocks on wood*) and it was scary as hell even though nothing really happened. I got so lucky.