[Parker]

Heard a knock on my door - opened the peep-door and saw my next door neighbor standing out there with her arm in a sling.

Turns out she was motorcycle riding with some friends the other day, doing almost 60mph in a 35mph zone as she tried to catch up to them. She hit some gravel on a curve and broke, which stood the bike up - she lost control, her bike hit head-on into a pole and she went flying through the air, landing on her left side and breaking her collarbone.

She was wearing a full-face helmet and denim so other than the collar bone, there was minimal damage to her body but the bike was totaled. She is not sure she wants to get another motorcycle.

Needless to say, she will not be riding in Pride.


It is sometimes scary to think about, but so many bike accidents that I hear or read about - or watch on youtube lol - are due to loss of control because of speed and power. My neighbor admitted that her bike is really powerful and it was so easy to speed and not realize how fast she was going at times.

I know that we are supposed to go just a bit faster than all of the cars around us so that we are more visible, but I am more of a "Sunday driver" - I am out there to cruise along and enjoy the experience of what I imagine is the closest I will ever come to flying. I give the people around me a wide berth and keep my head on a swivel - which, once you've been surrounded by helicopters and jets, is kinda second nature. lol

I feel bad for her - she is pretty shell-shocked. I remember when I was a 21yo baby dyke on my first bike and I was riding, lost, in San Diego in the middle of the night right after it rained. I saw a car out of the corner of my eye braking and when I looked up, I saw a yellow light. Instead of just running the yellow light, I panicked, hit my front brakes, and my bike and I were one with the pavement for about half a block, sliding into home plate in the middle of an intersection.

I remember getting up after that, getting back on my bike, and driving for a few blocks before pulling over so I could stop shaking. I can understand her feeling of not wanting another bike but I kinda hope she is able to overcome that and get another one some day.

My friend Michele might be coming here for Pride from SE Washington - she rides a trike, so I am going to ask her if my neighbor could ride with her. If they both agree, at least my neighbor can have the feeling of riding with the Dykes on Bikes and maybe that will help her decide if she wants to ride again ....