While visiting Jasper N.P. back in '91, a herd of elk had traffic stopped and this idiot got out of her car to take a "close up" of a calf with its mother. The stupid woman was lucky she didn't get her head stomped.
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Unknowns When Riding Known Roads
- Thread starter Boog
- Start date
Moose are nasty on the road for sure. Had a very close call driving a car once. The most important question - did you make to Wawa in time for the girl?
Wawa is the home of the largest Canada Goose in the world.
I rode my 1985 Honda Shadow through there about 1986.
https://www.wawa.cc/en/things-to-do/experience-wawa.aspx?ID=31
Wawa is the home of the largest Canada Goose in the world.
I rode my 1985 Honda Shadow through there about 1986.
https://www.wawa.cc/en/things-to-do/experience-wawa.aspx?ID=31
Accidents really do come out of nowhere.
September 2013, riding a Victory Hammer along the B6357 from Newcastleton to Hawick. Beautiful late-Summer day. Enjoying the relaxed torque delivered by 106 cubic inches of pure V-twin muscle. Sun was out, quiet road, single-track, unfenced for miles where the road passes over open moorland. A few sheep, well away from the road. In fact, all was well with the world. Until a young sheep seemed to just ping up from nowhere and made a dash under my front wheel. Time goes into super-slow-mo as I slide along the road under a now horizontal Hammer. You want to turn back time, even just a couple of seconds. But you can't. When we stopped sliding, first thing I did after getting out from under the bike was haul it upright and push it off the road. Then I began to assess the damage - was the bike rideable? There was no sign of the young sheep - must have fled the scene even after a 300 kg bike plus rider had run over it - amazing what you can do in shock? Then I began to feel the pain from my right knee - could see through the hole in my jeans that the knee was rubbed down to the bone . . .
The couple of cars I had passed a few miles back arrived and they stopped to see if I was OK. One driver tried to call an ambulance but no signal in that remote area. One of the cars gave me a lift back home, Mrs gave me a lift to A&E, man with a trolley gave me a lift to the the operating theatre . . .
My brother-in-law quipped 'And people think you can't get your knee down riding a Victory Hammer!'
September 2013, riding a Victory Hammer along the B6357 from Newcastleton to Hawick. Beautiful late-Summer day. Enjoying the relaxed torque delivered by 106 cubic inches of pure V-twin muscle. Sun was out, quiet road, single-track, unfenced for miles where the road passes over open moorland. A few sheep, well away from the road. In fact, all was well with the world. Until a young sheep seemed to just ping up from nowhere and made a dash under my front wheel. Time goes into super-slow-mo as I slide along the road under a now horizontal Hammer. You want to turn back time, even just a couple of seconds. But you can't. When we stopped sliding, first thing I did after getting out from under the bike was haul it upright and push it off the road. Then I began to assess the damage - was the bike rideable? There was no sign of the young sheep - must have fled the scene even after a 300 kg bike plus rider had run over it - amazing what you can do in shock? Then I began to feel the pain from my right knee - could see through the hole in my jeans that the knee was rubbed down to the bone . . .
The couple of cars I had passed a few miles back arrived and they stopped to see if I was OK. One driver tried to call an ambulance but no signal in that remote area. One of the cars gave me a lift back home, Mrs gave me a lift to A&E, man with a trolley gave me a lift to the the operating theatre . . .
My brother-in-law quipped 'And people think you can't get your knee down riding a Victory Hammer!'
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Slightly off subject, What;s the difference between a Rolling Stone and a Scotsman? A Rolling Stone says "Hey, You, Get off of My Cloud" and a Scotsman says "Hey, McLeod, Get off of My Ewe"
I ran over a raccoon early in my riding career. On the XS650 I was outrunning my headlight. It was over before I could react, so I got away with it. Following that, working overtime meant riding home following a coworker in his car.
Farm tractors don’t have turn signals. Farmers drive tractors on the road while talking on the cell phone. I witnessed a very near miss a few years ago. It was very careless to overtake the tractor on the motorcycle and stupid to just make a left turn with a tractor while completely unaware of your surroundings.
I great big box of ball bearings fell off a truck at an intersection. A friend of mine drove onto those bearings in the left turn lane on his airhead. He had no chance of keeping the bike upright. He did sustain injuries to himself and the motorcycle.
Mississippi roads are like Gary said. Farm stuff. Bugs. Elevation changes blocking view. Cows in the road.
Farm tractors don’t have turn signals. Farmers drive tractors on the road while talking on the cell phone. I witnessed a very near miss a few years ago. It was very careless to overtake the tractor on the motorcycle and stupid to just make a left turn with a tractor while completely unaware of your surroundings.
I great big box of ball bearings fell off a truck at an intersection. A friend of mine drove onto those bearings in the left turn lane on his airhead. He had no chance of keeping the bike upright. He did sustain injuries to himself and the motorcycle.
Mississippi roads are like Gary said. Farm stuff. Bugs. Elevation changes blocking view. Cows in the road.
Thankfully you made it through that accident Raymond. Despite the dark nature of this thread it is an excellent reminder to us all of the ever present dangers. Complacency is the enemy for sure, although I don't know what you could have done differently when a sheep appeared from nowhere.
A riding friend of mine hit a deer near Pennington BC last fall on his Yamaha WR250 at about 100 kph. Thankfully he survived but the bike didn't and he had several broken bones and would have been WAY worse if it wasn't for his proper clothing.
A riding friend of mine hit a deer near Pennington BC last fall on his Yamaha WR250 at about 100 kph. Thankfully he survived but the bike didn't and he had several broken bones and would have been WAY worse if it wasn't for his proper clothing.
On today's episode of morning commuting, I offer the old and sage reminder to always be mentally and physically alert when riding.
DISCLAMER: I do not intend to be doom and gloom and I realize I am preaching to the choir: safety is for us all.
One of two on the forum have chastised me either for my riding style or decision to ride all year. I appreciate all my brothers and sisters and take no offense to any criticisms. I try to learn something new in life everyday.
With that said, allow me to talk about Northern Virginia congested roads.
While merging onto north bound I-95 from Rt 234, I had to wait for a fast moving truck to clear the right most lane of the three lanes going north. I have approximately 1.5 miles to cross over to the left (passing) lane for my exit onto the express lanes. Traffic was roughly 60-65 mph at this point. I had just shifted into fifth gear on Buzzy and began merging left into the slow lane. Another fast moving pick-up passed me on my left and I merged into the middle lane while accelerating to around 60 mph. As I began merging into the fast lane, traffic in front of me stopped. Every vehicle ahead was emergency braking and changing lanes to avoid hitting a car ahead of them.
I felt the adrenalin dump and my mind shifted into fight mode. There was no time or space to escape too so I grabbed a hand full of brakes while merging from middle to left lane. I felt the force of physics taking over and adapted to the change in forward velocity as the front tire began to lock up and skid. The tire was in full lock as well with only a slight side movement to my right. I rode the bike to a full stop a few feet from a car that veered in front of me to avoid rear ending another vehicle.
A pick-up behind me was also merging from middle to left and was now parked directly next to me on my left.
I never want to lock the brakes up on a bike, but have done so many times in the past for practice to help understand what is at play. The experts say to ride the rear brake to a stop when locked up so as not to force a high-side dismount when the tire begin to rotate once more from a skid.
In the end, all was well and no one near me hit anyone else.
Be safe and aware folks...
DISCLAMER: I do not intend to be doom and gloom and I realize I am preaching to the choir: safety is for us all.
One of two on the forum have chastised me either for my riding style or decision to ride all year. I appreciate all my brothers and sisters and take no offense to any criticisms. I try to learn something new in life everyday.
With that said, allow me to talk about Northern Virginia congested roads.
While merging onto north bound I-95 from Rt 234, I had to wait for a fast moving truck to clear the right most lane of the three lanes going north. I have approximately 1.5 miles to cross over to the left (passing) lane for my exit onto the express lanes. Traffic was roughly 60-65 mph at this point. I had just shifted into fifth gear on Buzzy and began merging left into the slow lane. Another fast moving pick-up passed me on my left and I merged into the middle lane while accelerating to around 60 mph. As I began merging into the fast lane, traffic in front of me stopped. Every vehicle ahead was emergency braking and changing lanes to avoid hitting a car ahead of them.
I felt the adrenalin dump and my mind shifted into fight mode. There was no time or space to escape too so I grabbed a hand full of brakes while merging from middle to left lane. I felt the force of physics taking over and adapted to the change in forward velocity as the front tire began to lock up and skid. The tire was in full lock as well with only a slight side movement to my right. I rode the bike to a full stop a few feet from a car that veered in front of me to avoid rear ending another vehicle.
A pick-up behind me was also merging from middle to left and was now parked directly next to me on my left.
I never want to lock the brakes up on a bike, but have done so many times in the past for practice to help understand what is at play. The experts say to ride the rear brake to a stop when locked up so as not to force a high-side dismount when the tire begin to rotate once more from a skid.
In the end, all was well and no one near me hit anyone else.
Be safe and aware folks...
Sucks being a mouse when the elephants are dancing! Glad that came out good for you.
Makes my little story seem trivial.
Tuesday rode the BMW to Madison. Started out on backroads to the freeway. HTG I had an ooky feeling about something, just felt edgy, know what I mean? Cloudy mid morning, deer were moving, saw a couple in the first few miles, then; deer in a field as I approached, turned away, good! Just caught in my side vision, one right next to the bike then gone, glanced in mirror, it was on it's knees, inches from bike, must have fallen trying to avoid running into me.
Ooky feeling gone, rest of ride enjoyable, well dancing with trucks on the freeway for 30 miles, meh.
Makes my little story seem trivial.
Tuesday rode the BMW to Madison. Started out on backroads to the freeway. HTG I had an ooky feeling about something, just felt edgy, know what I mean? Cloudy mid morning, deer were moving, saw a couple in the first few miles, then; deer in a field as I approached, turned away, good! Just caught in my side vision, one right next to the bike then gone, glanced in mirror, it was on it's knees, inches from bike, must have fallen trying to avoid running into me.
Ooky feeling gone, rest of ride enjoyable, well dancing with trucks on the freeway for 30 miles, meh.
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Scary story, glad you’re ok Boog!
Fortunately for me and other riders in this area, there are very few deer. When you get further into the country you may see the odd one. I just met a guy at a local coffee shop that had run into a deer at about 40mph. Over the bars he went and fortunately only had a scrape or two on one hand. Not so lucky for the bike or deer. The deer is no longer with us and the bike got beat up quite a bit although he was able to ride it home.Sucks being a mouse, when the elephants are dancing! Glad that came out good for you.
Makes my little story seem trivial.
Tuesday rode the BMW to Madison. Started out on backroads to the freeway. HTG I had an ooky feeling about something, just felt edgy, know what I mean? Cloudy mid morning, deer were moving, saw a couple in the first few miles, then; deer in a field as I approached, turned away, good! just caught in my side vision, one right next to the bike then gone, glanced in mirror, it was on it's knees inches from bike, must have fallen trying to avoid running into me.
Yesterday a friend told me he mostly uses his rear brake on his Vulcan. I tried to explain the importance of grabbing a whole handful of front brake (where it is safe) every time he rides so he is ready if needed.
You have to expect the unexpected. Your survival may depend upon it.
In Arizona, there are areas (at least there were when I was there in '04) where it's open range and there are signs everywhere warning you of it.
That being the case, cattle in the road should be expected. Arkansas now has signs warning for elk.
"Huuzcowserluce?" Usually spoken while reaching for a wall phone. An expression not heard as often as it was in the past.
Apart from the unexpected - wild animals, farm animals grazing loose, and all the rest of it - a thing, certainly in this part of Britain, is much greater prevalence of perfectly legal road users, but ones that need greater anticipation, awareness and consideration than motor traffic.
Since the first COVID lockdown in 2020, a lot more people have taken to going for long walks. Also joggers. And in a rural area like this, there seems to be a lot more horse-riders than there used to be. And likewise, cyclists of different hues.
Before you crest a rise or go round the bend (ahem!) you have to expect that you will find individuals or groups of pedestrians, especially on roads within a few miles of towns, but anywhere really. They might hear you coming and leap onto the verge, but why should they have to?
Not only are you ever-more likely to encounter people on horses, but it seems that many of them are on very traffic-shy animals. You should always slow down but a couple of occasions in the past month, I've met horses so panicked by a motorbike that I've had to stop and shut the engine off to let them go past. Maybe you could say, if people want to ride on the public road then the horse should be traffic trained, but the immediate point is that you have to deal with ones that aren't.
Cyclists, you can't really generalise. Fast lycra-clad guys on sports bicycles, on their own or in groups - you have to take account of their speed and the road, it's not always possible to just blast past. Slower groups, often with children. The kids wobble, change direction, don't signal, don't always look, sometimes the grown-ups are like that too, buy hey - they have at least as much right to be on the roads as we do. And always expect the unexpected with young guys'n'gals on mountain bikes. They put on sudden spurts of speed, pedalling like crazy, which always seems to involve zigzagging all over their half of the road or more, or they spot the cross-country path they were looking for and head straight for it, or they emerge from a hidden path and charge straight across the road onto the path's continuation.
Since the first COVID lockdown in 2020, a lot more people have taken to going for long walks. Also joggers. And in a rural area like this, there seems to be a lot more horse-riders than there used to be. And likewise, cyclists of different hues.
Before you crest a rise or go round the bend (ahem!) you have to expect that you will find individuals or groups of pedestrians, especially on roads within a few miles of towns, but anywhere really. They might hear you coming and leap onto the verge, but why should they have to?
Not only are you ever-more likely to encounter people on horses, but it seems that many of them are on very traffic-shy animals. You should always slow down but a couple of occasions in the past month, I've met horses so panicked by a motorbike that I've had to stop and shut the engine off to let them go past. Maybe you could say, if people want to ride on the public road then the horse should be traffic trained, but the immediate point is that you have to deal with ones that aren't.
Cyclists, you can't really generalise. Fast lycra-clad guys on sports bicycles, on their own or in groups - you have to take account of their speed and the road, it's not always possible to just blast past. Slower groups, often with children. The kids wobble, change direction, don't signal, don't always look, sometimes the grown-ups are like that too, buy hey - they have at least as much right to be on the roads as we do. And always expect the unexpected with young guys'n'gals on mountain bikes. They put on sudden spurts of speed, pedalling like crazy, which always seems to involve zigzagging all over their half of the road or more, or they spot the cross-country path they were looking for and head straight for it, or they emerge from a hidden path and charge straight across the road onto the path's continuation.
I ALWAYS try and give equestrians, bicyclists and pedestrians as much room as possible for those very reasons you mentioned.
FLEA
XS650 Guru
open face helmet and no glasses , following a van and getting ready to overtake on h/way and see a paper large wrapper being shook out the window , had had fish and chips in it , instant blindness .. put both brakes hard on and tried to keep in a straight line from a 100kls to a stop , came to a stop right on the edge of the tar and luckily had a bottle of water with me to wash my eyes , once could see again 100 mph to catch up with him , found him parked next town and beat the shit out of him .. his excuse didnt see me and didnt want loose salt in the van , magistrate was kind and only gave me probation
Your fault. Case closed
