little offski...

[chutz]

Just got back after having a lovely off this morning. As a commuting biker I watch the weather every night and they said it would drop below zero here so one would presume the council may also know that and grit accordingly. Riding to work this morning I came to what is always a treacherous bend so I was doing around 20-25 mph. I noticed an overturned car on the right and a stopped car on the left 50 metres ahead. That instand back wheel went everywhere. I hung onto it for 20 metres or so until the inevitable front end lowside and ended up skidding down the road backwards on my face. This would've been almost enjoyable were it not for the car behind me skidding along merrily towards me! Fortunately he stopped before hitting my head. Got up, picked up bike, slipped on ice and dropped it again. The ice went on for at least 50 metres so my 20 metre struggle was never gonna save me. In the next 5 minutes 3 more cars crashed, one ended up completely upside down. All were doing less than 30 mph and it was none of their faults. Police turned up and it took over 3 hours to get us all out of our various ditches. Luckily nobody was seriously hurt (one girl took a nasty lump on her head and my right shoulder and back are a little sore) but this could have very easily been very nasty. The cause, East Sussex council decided to save money and not treat the road. Gonna write to tehm in a minute to try and claim for my crash helmet, broken front brakes, exhaust and possibly knackered engine. Luckily I was on the ntv so I didn't have to sob over my lovely R1. Be carefull out there guys and gals.

http://www.yzf1000-r1.co.uk/phpBB3/images/smilies/y_fu.gif http://www.yzf1000-r1.co.uk/phpBB3/images/smilies/y_wink.gif

[Filipe M.]

Glad you escaped without too many injuries, could have been nasty :(

[madness]

Glad you're ok. The roads seemed extra slippy today.

[keithd]

oof! bad luck old bean. hope the aches and pains dont last too long

[Jabba]

Sheet of ice outside my house this morning too :-(

Glad you're okay though, and sorry about the bike.

[Tara]

glad your OK Chutz

[Spikenipple]

I suppose having regularly gritted roads is one of the *very* few benefits for me of living on a main road. The 2 mile unclassified road to where I work off of the main road is a completely different story however :(

Glad you're ok Chutz!

[tanis34]

could of been nasty the councils can be a bit lax with their gritting hope u can sort the bike out easily and your not to sore in the mornin

[BigFootIsBlurry]

Ouch, sounds like it could have been nasty. I reckon you will struggle to get them to pay for anything though as I'm pretty sure they're not obligated to grit all roads, just those they see fit too. Hope you do get some success though.

[Foxy]

You were extremely lucky. Hope your back and shoulder heal soon, glad to hear you are relatively okay apart from that. GWS.

[anna]

cricky!!! I hope you heal up fast.. let us know how you go with the response to your letter.

[kitkat]

hope your not too sore and bike damage is not too bad

[chutz]

had response from council. They are sending me a form to fill in to process compensation and will give a response to my question on how the decision was taken not to grit the road within 10 days. Who know, may even get somewhere

[arcdef]

im sure if all of the drivers complained they would be willing to do something about it!!! lucky man though!!