Well now I know how it feels when you're about to die. The "all your life flashes before you" split seconds before impact is true. On Saturday morning I was riding towards a BBQ at a park where my family and friends were already waiting for me, I decided to ride in the morning and would drop there around noon. On Weston rd in Toronto just south of Finch ave W the road is wide and downhill so I opened the throttle to leave the cars behind me further behind. I estimate I accelerated to at least 80 km/h. This car was coming opposite to me and decided to do a U-Turn in front of me. He was about 80 ft away. I swerved to the right and he moved further to the right blocking my escape route, now he was even closer. I clenched both brakes tightly and I remember that my back wheel (at least) was locked tight and I started to slide sideways (while upright). I let go of the brakes and clinched them again and now it was sliding sideways the other way. I could swear both wheels were probably locked. I was only 5ft away from impact at 50 km/h.
I could see the guy's face of terror but this guy was a smart cookie. I think he saved my life. When he saw that I was going to T-bone his vehicle he quickly floored the gas on his vehicle and got out of the way climbing into the sidewalk, my loose pants (at the right knee) literally grazed his back fender. If he would had moved 5 inches too short I would have f*ck my knee for life, or would have amputated my leg at the knee. But in the midst of all this it crossed my mind twice that if I T-boned him that right before impact I was going to jump off my motorcycle and fly clean over his roof, to save myself. But then I thought I could save my bike by swerving to the right but that's the direction he moved, no now I struggled to swerve to the left but I was too close to clear impact. But that's when he floored the gas pedal to move away.
In the midst of all this I just thought about my wife and my kids and strangely I swear I even pictured them at my funeral, or at least that image flashed in my mind, so I got a moment of anger and said to myself "Really? This is the way you are going to die?" This prompted me to keep fighting to stay alive by maneuvering my bike. There's more things that flashed through my mind, one of them was "I regret having ridden today, why didn't I go with them in the car?". Remember that all of this thinking and flashes took place in maybe 2 or 3 seconds flat, but to me it lasted like a 2-hour movie.
This incident tops my other near-death experience where I was riding in a county road up north and 2 pick-up trucks were racing the opposite way with each blocking the 2 lanes leaving me in the middle yellow lane and both brushing my shoulders with their mirrors. There were no flashes or life movie reels in that incident. I wasn't even shaking as I was on Saturday. I wasn't even angry at the guy, I was glad to have made it unscathed. Be careful speeding in congested Toronto streets with a million driveways and a million morons driving cars.
I could see the guy's face of terror but this guy was a smart cookie. I think he saved my life. When he saw that I was going to T-bone his vehicle he quickly floored the gas on his vehicle and got out of the way climbing into the sidewalk, my loose pants (at the right knee) literally grazed his back fender. If he would had moved 5 inches too short I would have f*ck my knee for life, or would have amputated my leg at the knee. But in the midst of all this it crossed my mind twice that if I T-boned him that right before impact I was going to jump off my motorcycle and fly clean over his roof, to save myself. But then I thought I could save my bike by swerving to the right but that's the direction he moved, no now I struggled to swerve to the left but I was too close to clear impact. But that's when he floored the gas pedal to move away.
In the midst of all this I just thought about my wife and my kids and strangely I swear I even pictured them at my funeral, or at least that image flashed in my mind, so I got a moment of anger and said to myself "Really? This is the way you are going to die?" This prompted me to keep fighting to stay alive by maneuvering my bike. There's more things that flashed through my mind, one of them was "I regret having ridden today, why didn't I go with them in the car?". Remember that all of this thinking and flashes took place in maybe 2 or 3 seconds flat, but to me it lasted like a 2-hour movie.
This incident tops my other near-death experience where I was riding in a county road up north and 2 pick-up trucks were racing the opposite way with each blocking the 2 lanes leaving me in the middle yellow lane and both brushing my shoulders with their mirrors. There were no flashes or life movie reels in that incident. I wasn't even shaking as I was on Saturday. I wasn't even angry at the guy, I was glad to have made it unscathed. Be careful speeding in congested Toronto streets with a million driveways and a million morons driving cars.
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