It was on a rainy day just so happened on Thanksgiving. I was heading across town wearing full raingear head to toe with my little headphones stuffed into my helmet to listen to tunes.
I was merging onto Interstate five a quarter mile before it wound up onto a local bridge crossing the Willamette here in Portland.
I glanced over my left shoulder noting my position selection in the traffic, when I looked up I came upon a fist sized rock directly in my line a mere twenty feet ahead at sixty or so.
The big Suzuki rode both tires over it WHAP WHAP!!!. The first thought racing thru my brain was Hmm... no damage everythings OK!. No sooner than the thought was complete POOF....The front was flat.
The sensation that most stands out was the nature of the vibration. An oscillation side to side perhaps eight inches at a frequency of one turn of the tire, and at sixty it was rather violent.
I stayed cool realizing I was still upright so I did'nt change a thing I just closed the throttle. In top gear it could have taken some time but I knew I was heading uphill but I was also going to have to negotiate a slow left turn followed by a right.
My first instinct on the left at about thirty five or forty was to put my feet down keeping the machine bolt upright. It worked !! All OK , still upright bleeding off speed until I chugged to a stop stalling the motor halfway thru the righthander on the bottom deck of the Marquam bridge.
I did'nt realize just how banked the turn was until I was stopped.. odd prespective!, could'nt budge the thing with the flat especially with the wet and banking . After some BSing with the cops & overseeing the tow truck driver slinging it up, I arrived at my parents house for some turkey & stuffing non the worse for wear.
Rick........
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