[ethan]

Downtown NY is probably not the place to learn to ride.

I'm getting a motorcycle one of these days, but it's going to have to wait until I leave LA. I was sort of wavering on that one - thinking about maybe picking up a bike because I just got a job that's going to require 25K miles per year of commute. Then, about a week ago a friend of mine was riding on the 10 downtown and got run over. Traffic was going about 35mph, a truck clipped him and knocked him in front of an 84-year-old man, who was driving an age-appropriate car (Oldsmobile or some such. Not much ground clearance.) He stopped the car with my friend doubled-over and pinned beneath it. He was stuck there for 5-10 seconds before people got the driver to pull forward. A semi had blocked 3 lanes of traffic behind the accident so no more cars could get through. His injuries were:

1) small scrape on his right wrist where his glove and jacket met
2) ribs were sore for a day or two
3) ass was a little sore where he'd landed on the pavement.

After being _run over_.

I figure he used up all the luck of every single motorcyclist in the state for awhile, so I'm not going to tempt fate.