1. was riding my commuter bike back from class through Isla Vista (college community next to UCSB). Some chic backs out of a driveway at full speed without looking. I hit the side of her Jetta and end up on the hood.
DOWN: 1 toasted commuter bike
2. another time I was riding my VFR-750 up to Cold Springs Tavern for a weekend gathering, music, food & drinks, live band, etc. Was going through the twisties at 50-65% clip and came around a corner and guess what was in my path??? A flattened soda can!!! I ran over it while leaned over with my front tyre.. it slid...
DOWN: 1 VFR, broken brake-lever, side-fairing, clutch-cover
3. another time I was headed to work on the VFR. I was going down Glen Annie towards the freeway (2-mile straightaway between UCSB and freeway). Halfway down, some lady in a truck pulls out of a car-wash driveway without seeing me.. BAM!!! I hit the rear bed of the truck and flew over. The bike spun her truck around so it faced back into the driveway (I was going 45mph). Wish I had a video of her reaction from inside the truck...
DOWN: 1 VFR for good, cracked helmet, broken chin, broken wrist, twisted knees, minor road-rash
4. Was on a hillclimb ride with the cycling-team A-riders. We started at the bottom of Hwy-154 and was headed to the top, a 10-mile climb at around 5%. Small shoulder, but we can comfortably fit two riders side by side completely in the shoulder. So we're coming out of a long right-hander and we hear all this clackity coughing sounds behind us... then CRASH, CRUNCH, BANG, SCREAMS, YAHAAHHA!!! Some guy in a rickety van that was dying up the hill was driving in the shoulder at 10mph to let other cars go buy. He caught up to us going around the corner and saw us at the last minute and slammed on his brakes. Still managed to clip the last rider in our group and knocked him forward into our group, taking out another 3-4 guys.
DOWN: 5 guys, 3 nice bikes, 2 not-so-nice bikes, 4 wheels taco'ed
5. Another A-group ride with some guys from the S.B. Bike-Club & Echelon team. We had an early ride up to Refugio beach, climbed up Figueroa Mtn, waved to Reagan's security cameras and headed back on 101-S. About a minute after passing the El Capitan Beach on-ramp, we hear this sound of a car behind us. But it was getting way too loud! CRASH, SCREETCCHhhh... Some idiot drunk (on a Wed. morning at a 9am) had gotten on the freeway and was following the solid-white line since he could barely see. Ended up taking out half the group and kept on going!
DOWN: 4 nice bikes, 1 rider for good, 1 rider maimed (found Ken's leg stuck to the guys bumper after the car crashed a mile down the road).