It is with mixed emotions that I welcome my close personal friend Mr. Eh-Steve to a club that is exclusive to all but motorcycle riders, and exclusive to all but a select subset of that group. It is said that there are two types of riders: those who have gone down, and those who have not gone down yet. Steve is now among the downed. So… Welcome, buddy, and sorry you had to join up!

To make a long story short, Steve ran out of traction and road as he came upon a blind intersection this morning and he laid his beautiful Road King down, leaving it in several scuffed and bent pieces. Fortunately, the bell did its job — Steve walked away from his get-off with only a little road rage (Steve’s Freudian slip) and a sore hip. He’ll probably feel a lot worse tomorrow, but I’m sure he’ll remind himself between Vicodin tabs that he could have been feeling nothing at all, so it’s a good kind of pain. Any crash you can walk away from is a good one, so we’ll give him two thumbs-up on this one.

And the best part is that now he’s golden, statistically speaking. He’s gotten the crash out of the way and can now look forward to many miles of road rage free relaxation. What are the odds he’ll go down again? Slim and slim.

But I’ll still get him another bell. You know, just in case.