Biker down

Saw a biker down today.

Coming home from work, at the stop sign for the San Fernando onramp to the 134, I look to my left and see a Suzuki crotch rocket on its side in the middle of the offramp, and the rider underneath. Holy shit. I (totally illegally) whip my car over to the side and park, and sprint across the street to him.

By the time I got there, he'd already gotten out from under the bike and was on his feet, cussing. At least he was sufficently dressed, full face helmet, good leather jacket, and he hadn't slid far enough to shred his jeans. The first obvious question, "Are you OK?" was yes ... nothing broken or abraded, the guy was just a little dinged up. The second obvious question, "What happened?" was this: downhill offramp, tight turn, oil spot in the middle of the lane = recipe for a go-down. I helped him stand the bike back up & push it out of traffic. It looked rideable & fired up just fine; the damage looked very minor, actually, ground-down pegs and levers on the right side, that was about it. He'd already phoned a nearby friend to come get him, so he elected to wait instead of trying to ride off. There was nothing else for me to do, so I shook his hand and said, "Be safe," and continued on home.

Lesson: stay out of the middle of the lane, especially before a stop sign. And be ready for any thing, any condition, any obstacle, at any time.