# If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have none at all!



## Synthman (Dec 22, 2014)

I crashed my beloved scooter on one of the most dangerous roads in the south of England, the A34. By some stroke of luck, the road was empty when it happened, and the one car behind me was a good distance behind and alert. I was doing over 55mph, 11:15pm on a Saturday night. Back tyre failed instantly. I managed to drop speed but the thing was swerving too much and I went down. The one day I had all protective gear apart from trousers. Knee took a good battering, was bruised and grazed badly. I was stuck right between my starting point and destination. I picked the bike up, refused help from the car behind which stopped to see if I was ok, and pushed/tried to ride slowly on the footpath alongside nearly 2 miles it to the next exit and asked a passing car for help. I abandoned it in a village and got a lift home from them. I just wanted to get home to my rats as soon as possible. The scooter was already having engine issues and needed a big service. I didn't have enough money to sort it now I'm stuck with walking and using buses to get about. It needs 2 new tyres, engine and transmission oil changed, new spark plug, new drive belt and rollers, a new right mirror which broke a while ago, and the engine hesitation/stalling issue sorted. And the back wheel rim don't look too great either. I'm saving up for all the parts but the mechanic will have to come to me to collect it for service, which will be added expense. It has depressed me so much, public transport in my area is so erratic, overcrowded and expensive and I have autism and struggle with it all. At first I was scared of ever getting on a motorcycle again but a few weeks of relying on buses has changed my mind. I miss the freedom of riding so much, and on this bike and my old electric bike I have ridden over 15,000 miles with no prior accident. I knew the tyre was coming to the end of its life but I checked it 2 days before and there was uneven wear but no indication it was going to tear apart 30 miles later.  My knee healed but I must have fallen on the bike's handlebar at some point because the lever is bent and my left ribs still hurt now 33 days later.  Why couldn't I have taken the city centre route which was shorter and has lower speed limits? Why couldn't the tyre have failed when I was riding on slower roads before joining the A34 or when I was leaving it? Why did it fail at all? Why didn't I book it in for a service when I had money and got the tyre changed (it still had tread in it and not all the wear bars were showing)? So many questions but I've not had a great experience with life so far. If it ended that night nobody would have missed me apart from my rats.


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## Kate94 (Oct 31, 2015)

Sorry that happened to you, if I've learned anything in the last 6 years, it's that more people would miss you than you even realise. Try to keep your chin up, it's just another day in your life, there are plenty of better ones to be had


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## Synthman (Dec 22, 2014)

I am still scared to get the scooter repaired and ride it again. But I did take my old electric bike apart and get it working. And the bad luck hit again! As soon as I fixed it the headlight blew. And I usually travel after dark. It was a unique bulb, found just one place online that had one in the USA, the shipping was several times the price of the bulb itself. Then a few weeks ago the back tyre blew again, luckily I didn't crash but I had to go back to the buses which stressed me a lot. I fixed the wheel yesterday but I wonder what will go wrong next.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

In my experience things go wrong in seasons of sorts... one mishap just seems to precipitate the next and the next... Insurance companies have actually studied this phenomenon and call it the accident prone personality... Funny thing, it turns out that after about three to five years later the same accident prone people tend to be good risks again... That's why they jack your rates for about that long. But of course not all misfortune comes in the form of accidents...

Pretty much the best you can do is to ride it out and hunker down until the storm passes... once it's safe to pop your head up again you can start to put things back together... life eventually goes on and things do get better once you can take control of your situation again.

Hang in there.


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