I'm a pretty safe motorcyclist. I got my license through the program up in Oregon where you take the class, take the certificate to the DMV, and they give you your endorsement. I think starting out that way made me a bit more safety-conscious. Granted, there are moments when I ride a bit "sportier" than usual, but hey - it's a motorcycle, sometimes it has to be ridden like one. This morning, though, I was riding my usual conservative commute to work. Going south in the right lane of the freeway (US395), I passed the last street before my exit (Moana) and glanced right to see if anyone was entering the freeway, to see if I had to worry about a merger. There was no one there, so I focused back ahead on the line of cars heading toward my exit, a quarter mile away. As I came even with the end of the on-ramp to my right, I felt a huge shadow looming up on me - my stomach clenched, and adrenaline surged. I had just checked down there, and there was nobody there! It turned out that it was a really tall truck passing in the lane to the left of me, and with the low-angle morning light, it threw a shadow all the way over me and into the lane to the right of me. Kind of a weird motorcycle moment - scary but safe...
Awesome by Jack Pendarvis
