got caught in a wicked storm

had to take a certification test for my side job, passed by a point. So I can still make a few thousand extra a year for 3 more years. Took my shovel there, when I came out the lightning was dancing along the sky. one kick, no shit, one kick and the bike was running, about 2 minutes later I had the feeling of pins going through my face as I chugged along at about 60 mph. about 20 minutes into my ride I looked down to check on the bike, found my stock kickstand in the almost down position! WHAT THE FUCK. now one of my cousins took a local turn on is chopper with his kickstand down and ate a pole, he died then and there, his old lady survived on surgery and pain pills for a few weeks before offing herself. tough story. I was less than a mile away from the turn, I'm the same age, my shovel the same 74 inches, etc. I was very close to 2 tight left hand sweeps that would have gobbled me up. I pulled over and used a shoelace from my right foot. hard to tie a knot when your soaking wet, trying to hold up a running shovel with an open belt drive and thinking about dead people. moral of the story? SHOVELS RULE