Sometimes it pays to not ride.

CRMH Eagle · Jun 13, 2009

Last Wed I decided to not concern myself with the extra time to don ATGATT and the backpack and instead jumped in the 4Runner and headed to work. When leaving work I had regretted not riding the bike. I joined I-270 to go home. About 1/8 of a mile from exiting onto the highway there was a 5 foot piece of metal about 2-4 inches thick, with a hollow interior, in the middle of both lanes.

I was in the right hand lane. When I first noticed it the car ahead of me in the left lane ran over the metal and it's rear tire gave it momentum to become airborn. It did somersaults until it caught my front left tire. Because of the extra-height underneath my 4Runner the metal managed to get sucked underneath and the skid plates kept it in check.

What would have happenned if I was on my bike? Would the metal had been lodged in my spokes? Would it have stabbed me in the neck or busted thru the visor on my helmet? Would it have knocked me off the bike?

Anyone else have a similiar experience?

DailyCommuter · Jun 13, 2009

same thing happened to me last summer, but with a partially crushed up fibreglass stepladder , 6 or 8 footer, the blue and yellow brand.

jesse · Jun 13, 2009

Just riding in a car behind a girl who just pulled over with her windshield shattered because a blown tire went airborn and landed right on her car. My first thought was, "what if that was me on my bike instead of her windshield?" You just never know........................so, always be looking and avoiding other vehicles when at all possible.........................

Toecutter · Jun 13, 2009

jesse said:
...so, always be looking and avoiding other vehicles when at all possible...

and make sure you can see the pavement far enough ahead to avoid anything that might be there, either by being in front or looking around the car(s) in front, and keep a safe distance ahead of traffic behind, in case you go down, so they have a chance to get stopped before they run you over.

The real catch is, at least for me, you have to move faster than the flow of traffic to be the safest, which also makes you easy prey for the Imperial Forces who don't understand how to survive long-term on two wheels and will issue a financial beat-down if you don't see them first.

Riding is, to me, like the ultimate stakes video game. Any mistake can be instantly debilitating or fatal, and there are no extra lives to cash in. IMHO, if it's not like that for you, you're riding on borrowed time and should seriously consider staying in the cage, where the world can't blow your house down....

You really have to be "In the moment" to stay alive for the moment.

To paraphrase Carver, "It's not who rides safest in a day, but in every moment."

FJRBluesman · Jun 13, 2009

I have had similar thoughts, scary stuff. I have also encountered these types of situations on the bike, even more scary. :dribble:

All good info. I especially like this below.

Toecutter said:
You really have to be "In the moment" to stay alive for the moment.To paraphrase Carver, "It's not who rides safest in a day, but in every moment."

RAVENRIDER · Jun 13, 2009

I got spooked a little the other day when I passed by a shovel in the middle of my lane on the highway. It was lying lengthwise/parallel to my direction of travel. The car in front of me passed right over it, I had plenty of cushion to see it coming, and I was in the left-hand part of my lane.

Here's how you don't handle a situation like that ...

A few days later, I was on the highway behind 3 Harley guys, all sharing the same lane in nice tight formation, and tailgating the car in front of them at speed.

All I could think was if a shovel shows up now, these guys are probably gonna go down like dominoes.

C&C · Jun 13, 2009

Had you ridden the bike, a whole different convergence of events would have transpired (so you can't assume that anything that happened in the 4-Runner would have translated to the bike. Rerunning events, over and over with different scenarios, is just a mental exercise.

mcatrophy · Jun 13, 2009

Two incidents that might be relevant.

The first: many years ago, I was driving my car, following a trolly bus. In case you are unfamiliar with these, they are double decker busses with electric motors. They pick up their power from overhead lines, using two arms pressing up onto the overhead cables, using what looks like a pulley wheel contacting the wire. For whatever reason, I moved in the next lane. The car that was behind me took station behind the bus. A few seconds later, one of the bus' pick-up wheels and its holder came off the end of the arm. The piece, about 10 inches long, perhaps 2.5 inches diameter, obviously heavy metal, crashed through the windscreen of the following car, landing between the driver and passenger. Luckily no injuries, but a very close call.

The second was just before Christmas last year. I was on the FJR in the fast lane of a motorway, when I came across what I took to be a vehicle loading ramp in my lane. I had allowed myself to be distracted by police on the hard shoulder, and only just avoided hitting this end on. Full story here.

Just be careful out there.

TILAM · Jun 13, 2009

Toecutter said:
jesse said:

...so, always be looking and avoiding other vehicles when at all possible...

Click to expand...

and make sure you can see the pavement far enough ahead to avoid anything that might be there, either by being in front or looking around the car(s) in front, and keep a safe distance ahead of traffic behind, in case you go down, so they have a chance to get stopped before they run you over.

The real catch is, at least for me, you have to move faster than the flow of traffic to be the safest, which also makes you easy prey for the Imperial Forces who don't understand how to survive long-term on two wheels and will issue a financial beat-down if you don't see them first.

Riding is, to me, like the ultimate stakes video game. Any mistake can be instantly debilitating or fatal, and there are no extra lives to cash in. IMHO, if it's not like that for you, you're riding on borrowed time and should seriously consider staying in the cage, where the world can't blow your house down....

You really have to be "In the moment" to stay alive for the moment.

To paraphrase Carver, "It's not who rides safest in a day, but in every moment."

Something to remember is to never follow a large truck too closely. Cars might swerve around stuff but big trucks can't and just run over it. Consequently it often becomes airborne and difficult to avoid.

I experienced it a number of years ago before returning to riding. A piece of truck tire thrown up took out the grill and a head light of my pickup.

Leave space and look as far ahead as possible. Never fololow too closely.

dbx · Jun 13, 2009

In my car, I ran over an 18" Craftsman pry bar quite a few years ago. The pointy end poked itself into the floorboards on the passenger side while the flat end dragged along the road surface, making a hell of a noise. The car is long gone, but I still have that pry bar. More recently, this time in a 4x4 pickup, I was in heavy rush hour traffic so there wasn't much spacing between vehicles. The car ahead of me swerved to avoid something that turned out to be one of those extra thick mattresses. I went right up and over it, sending it about 6 feet in the air behind me.

In both cases, I was glad to be on 4 wheels instead of 2.

ShinyPartsUp · Jun 13, 2009

Last July coming down I-5 from the Olympic peninsula two trucks riding one behind the other in the right lane and me coming up behind. The lead truck was a dually converted with lots of equipment in the back looking loose. I get over, gun it up a nothch to get by before something flew off and then the most gawdaweful BANG!. I see something fly 3 feet to my right fly by.

I and the two trucks pull over. No damage. The dually blew a retread. The guys appologized and said their boss was trying to save some money. They asked if I wanted insurance information in case I found damage; I declined but asked in return for destroying one of my nine lives, they tell their boss he almost killed a guy for a few bucks, and please don't do that. They said they would, but wonder if they bothered.

I go faster passing rigs now.

black cherry · Jun 13, 2009

I'm with toecutter, When I put on the gear I absolutly am preparing for "someone is trying to kill me mode". I strive to stay there until off the bike.

I used to race circle track and the mind-set and enhanced awareness is the same as when I'm on the bike.

Some that I ride with think I'm a little cooo cooo, but that's OK. I've been riding for 22 years and it's woked so far.

Cars "see" you and still pull out in front of you, and yes, hidden objects in the road are a HUGE concern for us, never follow too closly, get away from "them" ( cars & trucks that obstruct your view of the road ) ASAP!

Everybody be safe, I want to see all of you at Christmas dinner!

reddog · Jun 14, 2009

Ah the memories, 1980 riding to california on a Honda CL360 rolling outta Flagstaff coming up behind a Semi with a trailer, seeing the outer rear tire on that trailer throw off its tread and rembering how glad I was that that three or four foot chunk of rubber flew up and over me. I to do not ride next to Semi"s

either. I was seventeen then and although I have never had it happen again it did leave a Big impression on my then young mind.

Reddog

Wee Willy · Jun 14, 2009

I agree with C&C...had you been on the bike, you'd have been somewhere else and wouldn't have gone near the metal. You would have encountered the pig darting across lanes a few miles up the road instead.

Had 2 close calls like this on bikes myself. First one was about 3 days after I brought the FJR home. Riding in heavy LA traffic on the freeway at speed as it was getting dark, I fortunately noticed cars in my lane quickly dodging to the L & R out of the lane. Tensed up & quickly assessed the locations I could dart to and when the car in front of me swerved L, I noticed a dark shape in lane and not moving. It was a big Caddy with no lights stopped dead in traffic. All this happened in about 2-3 seconds. Had I been daydreaming, I would have been a rather messy trunk ornament on that car. As it was, probably cleared it by at least a foot.

The other event occurred some years ago as I was traveling at about 75 on the freeway behind a contractor's flatbed truck. He had cinder blocks thrown up on the bed and one fell off into the lane directly in front of me. Didn't have enough time to miss this moving target and when I hit it, felt like the bike came 3 feet into the air. With a death grip on the handlebars, the impact with the back wheel threw my legs up and forward until it felt like I was doing a partial handstand and hung there for a sick moment. Finally came back down into the saddle and pulled over to the emergency lane with both wheels ruined. I was smoking in those days and sat there for about 15 minutes chaining several Marlboros with a trembling hand.

Sometimes it's just not your day so ride like they're all out to get you.

Cheers,

W2

CRMH Eagle · Jun 14, 2009

Wee Willy said:
I agree with C&C...had you been on the bike, you'd have been somewhere else and wouldn't have gone near the metal.
W2

I think it's fascinating that others here know my route, work routine, traffic details, and the road layout. <_< Maybe you are right. Most likely you are wrong. Spend some time with me traveling this route before ascertaining...

Wee Willy said:
Sometimes it's just not your day so ride like they're all out to get you.W2

However I do agree with you on the above statement.

After watching Mythbusters demonstrate how a blown tire from a semi can be deadly I make it a point to never be behind a semi and always pass quickly.

Regardless of the road, traffic, and weather conditions if I'm not 100% mentally prepped to ride then I don't.

Gumby · Jun 14, 2009

CRMH Eagle said:
Last Wed I decided to not concern myself with the extra time to don ATGATT and the backpack and instead jumped in the 4Runner and headed to work. When leaving work I had regretted not riding the bike. I joined I-270 to go home. About 1/8 of a mile from exiting onto the highway there was a 5 foot piece of metal about 2-4 inches thick, with a hollow interior, in the middle of both lanes.
I was in the right hand lane. When I first noticed it the car ahead of me in the left lane ran over the metal and it's rear tire gave it momentum to become airborn. It did somersaults until it caught my front left tire. Because of the extra-height underneath my 4Runner the metal managed to get sucked underneath and the skid plates kept it in check.

What would have happenned if I was on my bike? Would the metal had been lodged in my spokes? Would it have stabbed me in the neck or busted thru the visor on my helmet? Would it have knocked me off the bike?

Anyone else have a similiar experience?

I left for work one morning on my old V-Strom; turned around at the end of the driveway and got in my truck since I was going to get groceries at the end of the day. Five minutes later less than 2 miles from my house I was on the side of the road looking at the deer I just had hit!!

kolonial72 · Jun 14, 2009

I made the mistake of riding to work tired one night. Was even more tired on the way home the next morning. That was bike #1, and it is no longer with us. If not for my HJC, neither would I.

Since then there have been several beautiful riding days that I have left the Feej sitting in the garage not just because how I felt in the moment, but because I thought I might be worn out at the end of the day. I'm still a little paranoid from the first low side, and I don't want another.

Here's a parallel thought for those who started riding in the past few years: Do you notice your driving is diffferent now that you ride a MC? I realize some of you crusty ol' bikers might not remember the difference anymore.

canucklehead-biker · Jun 14, 2009

Agree with Toe and others, you stay alive by being as sharp mentally as you can be, and drive in an aggressively defensive manner.

Last summer during my month-long ride from west to east and back again, I dodged a hunk of retread that flew by me at head height in my lane when the semi up ahead shredded a tire. I drive EXPECTING the semi's to throw off chunks of stuff, and I think it keeps me alive.

Scariest incident was on 101 near Thousand Oaks when I was living in SoCal in the late 90's. Rush hour, lanes full of folks trying to kill me. The pickup ahead of me had a fridge or some other large household appliance in a box in the back... and for some reason, my Spidey Sense said back off, which I did... and the box came out of the truck and was spinning down the highway in my lane. I managed to do the famous MSF emergency swerve and get around it without going out of my lane - car behind me wasn't so lucky, and hit it head on.

I pushed and pulled so hard with my hands and feet that I bent one of the pegs on that old Nighthawk. Grazed the outside of my right knee as I went past the box, and limped around for a week with a big bruise and a pulled groin... but I was alive.

The odd thing is that when I ride, I feel safer than when I drive the car, because the environment forces me to constantly be "in the moment", and in tune with everything going on around me. When I was in the air force they called it situational awareness, and you just don't have that in the average cage.

One of my instructors when I was getting back on a bike after a long absence said it best: "ride like you're invisible, but if they could see you, they'd try to kill you".

Stay safe.

Griff

DELETE-PLEASE · Jun 14, 2009

When I'm on the bike, i avoid high traffic areas as much as I can. That doesn't mean I don't take it to the movie theaters or mall, but I take the side roads there and back instead of the highway leading to the main entrance.

Also, I leave PLENTY of space between the car in front of me and myself. Not really related to them kicking anything up with their tires (although a few pings with rocks on my helmet faceshield did back me off the first week of having a motorcycle license), but I found out the hard way that drivers in four wheeled vehicles CAN (and often DO, as I do it as well) straddle things in the road with their tires. So imagine my surprise when I was following a line of cars on a backroad (a truck in the front was holding back traffic going slightly slower than the speed limit), and the truck in front of me seems to be going straight, no lights, no brakes, no swerves, but from underneath, between it's wheels, appears whole mess of what was once a deer. Had to swerve around a deer carcass that I didn't expect.

This is ALSO why whenever I travel behind cars/trucks, I keep my tires in line with their right or left tires (depending on what lane, visibility, etc. etc.) Cause if they don't want to run over it, they'll make sure their tires are NOT lined up with it.

Alexi

Sometimes it pays to not ride.

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