12-23-2019, 03:32 AM
It's funny, but in 1969 I was riding my CL77 305 Scrambler home and a lady in a green 54 Dodge turned left in front of me. I hit her in the front passenger door, totaling my bike and leaving me with a concussion (unconscious for 45 mins on the road), broken nose, 7 broken teeth, broken right hand, broken right foot, and a ton of serious bruises. I was recovering at my mom & dad's house. I remember it hurt, a lot, all over. I also remember telling my mom, I thought I was going to quit riding. I had been riding for 4 years, and she knew how much I loved riding. She said to me, "if you do, you will regret it the rest of your life". Not exactly the thing you'd expect a mother taking care of her broken kid to say, but she was right (Thanks Mom). I'd have missed an awful lot of great adventures had I quit riding after that wreck. So when I recovered I bought a new green/white 69 CB 350 Honda and have joyously ridden nearly every day since. I think the difference between then and now for me would be the age thing. At 19 you still have a lot of living and experiencing to do and you bounce back from injury pretty well. If that happened to me today, at a soon to be 70, I'm sure I would be done. With a wife, 2 kids, and 5 grand kids, it's not just me anymore. There are more people to think about, so I understand what a tough decision this must be for VLJ. Plus who wants to be hurt again?