Let me just start at the beginning and take it from there. The day before my accident I had just gotten back from a two-day, seven hundred-mile bike trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway with my Dad. We had planned the trip a couple weeks in advance so we were eager to get on the road. Everything went smoothly on the entire trip, and we had a ball. We got back late Monday afternoon, exhausted I might add. I had no earthly idea that the next morning would be when my trouble would start.

Tuesday morning I had school but I decided to go in late because I had to go get my weekly allergy shot. I got up around 8:30 and decided to ride my bike to the doctor's office. So I pulled it out of the garage and started it up. I got to the end of my drive where I saw a white van coming. I probably could have made it onto the roadway, but I stopped and let him go by.

Ironically, trying to be cautious was my first mistake. After the van had passed, I pulled out in the road and started to pick up a little speed. I had just shifted into fifth gear and was coming around a curve when I saw the van. All of a sudden the driver slammed on brakes and stopped in the middle of the road. So I hit the back brake kind of hard and the wheel locked up. When this happened the front end went into a bad wobble. I'm here to tell you that was not a good feeling.

I decided to lay the bike down before I hit the van and really messed something up. The bike fell on its right side and so did I. At first I was in a state of shock. I couldn't believe what had happened. The sorry fool who was driving the van jumped out and came to make sure I was all right. He asked me if I saw the dog cross in front of him. He was lying through his teeth because there was no dog. He basically said that to cover his tail.

I picked my bike up and rolled it off to the side of the road. I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off because I didn't know what to do first. I decided to run up the road about fifty feet and use a friend's phone to call my Dad. My friend cleaned up my arm where the road had taken all the skin off. I got in touch with my Dad, and he said he would be right over and for me to just wait with the bike.

Well, I went back outside, and do you know that the sorry bastard driving the van had left and I haven't seen him to this day. It's probably best I guess because if I ever see him again I'm going to let him know of what I think of him. Finally Dad got there and he wanted to know what had happened. I told him, and then we cranked the bike to make sure it would run. It did, so I rode it home and he followed me. It was only a quarter mile so it wasn't too bad. Now came the bad part -- going over the bike and seeing what was broken and what could be fixed, and finding out what couldn't be fixed. But first we called the police.

They said that since the other guy left the scene and we came home that there was nothing that they could do. So we called our insurance company and talked to them. If we had gotten them to pay for repairs, it would have cost us dearly next year. The rate I was paying was already through the roof, and putting a wreck on it would have made it unrealistic. So I decided not to file a claim and to just pay for the damages myself. Fixing the bike myself and paying for the repairs is an ongoing project.

Next I went to the doctor's office because I had a pain in my chest and I wanted him to look at my arm. They took x-rays and everything was okay. As for my arm, they put some kind of ointment on it and wrapped it up. They told me that it would just take time to heal. You hear stories about bike wrecks where people get all sorts of broken bones and even those disasters where people don't walk away. These stories make me realize how lucky I was.

There were several big items damaged by the wreck. Probably the biggest was my gas tank. It had several big dents in it. The front and back fenders were also really dented up and bent into weird shapes. The road ripped the sissy bar cushion too. The exhaust pipes, shocks, and foot pegs were all scuffed from the pavement. My turn signals and my right mirror were all broken beyond repair. There was one good side of all of this. The bike still ran fine. I was lucky when all the damage was cosmetic because motor repairs are really expensive.

After we saw what was messed up, we began stripping the bike down. Those turn signals came off along with the mirror. To be legal you only have to run a left mirror, so I was all right. My speedometer and tachometer bracket was bent up pretty badly, so we just took it off. I didn't run a speedometer for a couple of months because I didn't have a bracket. I finally got a bracket for my birthday from my girlfriend. It was a beautiful, shiny chrome piece that looks great. A friend of mine had a set of handlebars that he sold me, so I put them on instead of the original ones. They look real good and were simple to change.

As for the gas tank, I took all my graduation money and bought one and a set of drag pipes. I put the pipes on when I got them, but I still haven't put the tank on yet. I haven't fully decided what I want to paint on the tank. For right now, as long as the one on it holds gas, it will be fine with me. I don't care what it looks like now as long as I can ride it. We took a hammer and straightened out my fenders so that they wouldn't rub. I have purchased a front fender for it already. It is a fiber glass fender designed by the master bike builder Arlen Ness.

When we took the turn signals off, we took the wires out also to make it have a cleaner look. I only put two indicator lights back on it. One was for neutral and the other was an oil pressure light. I bought a bracket for above the headlight that holds the two lights so it is a really neat looking piece. For my birthday I got a new solo seat because I wanted a different look, and since then that's all I've gotten for it.

My Dads' boss is going to paint my bike when I get ready. He is a very talented man who basically knows how to do anything. He told my Dad that when it leaves his garage it will be perfect. Another good thing is that my girlfriends' brother runs a body shop, so I might be able to get my paint for free. So that will work out great. I'm kind of leaning toward solid black and finding some kind of cool decal to put on the side. This would probably look pretty good.

As for my future plans for my bike, I think I would like to get forward controls for it. My legs are too long and I'm sick of being bunched up while changing gears. I also want to put an S&S carburetor on it. That would really help the bad boy get on down the road. I would love to put a set of chrome wheels on it one day but it isn't any time soon. At least that gives me something to work for. I have already poured a ton of money into my bike and haven't regretted a single penny. As long as it makes me happy it's worth it.