[Monterey10]

Was riding to work, 70 mph, enjoying the wide open freeway. A few cars around, beautiful sun, rolling hills, when, a large 4" by 4" board tumbled out from under the "fantastic floors" mini bus in front of me. I tried
to dodge to the right, and as fate would have it, I nailed the tumbling board with my front tire.

I can't imagine why a board the size of my tire didn't upend me,
but the Burgy went right over it with a loud thump.

Aware that I was still upright, it dawned on me that the board
could be lodged in my radiator or worse, holed my engine.

A quick look behind me showed no sign of trailing mist.

A quick check of the instruments showed no flashing warnings.

I guess in retrospect, I can be gratefull for the low center of gravity
keeping me upright. It's the only explaination for the bikes ability
to ride up and over a board the thickness of my tire.
I remember this kind of handling on my old BMW R-75/5

I always think over dangerous encounters. I beleive the error
in my ways was allowing my self to creep up behind the mini
bus. The view of the road was blocked. If I had moved to an empty
lane, I would have seen the board easily.

 

[NormanB]

Scary!

Glad you are OK and the Burger handled it so well.

You are right to reflect - it increase the survival quotient!

Road debris is a problem here too, they do clear it fairly quickly, but road kill (hedgehogs, foxes, rabbits etc) and truck tyre carcasses are the most common items and can be unsettling particularly on bends. It is a real effort to think about target fixation, avoid looking at the hazard and concentrate on the escape aiming point!!

 

[Wasquid]

Congratulations on keeping the shiny parts up. Thanks for reminding us about following distances too.

 

[Randy]

A 4 x 4 ? The scooters gods were smiling on you .
It's a good lesson to learn, And you know your new name is Lucky, right. :lol:

 

[pauljo]

Yep. We've got lots of idiots here where I live that run around carrying stuff in their pickups that is not tied down or covered. Never know what you might find laying in the road!

My two most remarkable road debris incidents happened in Connecticut though.

Some years ago I was commuting to work on my Goldwing. I came up a freeway entrance ramp and was getting ready to merge into the travel lanes, I was probably doing about 70 mph. In my lane, I saw a huge sofa completely blocking the lane! Must have fallen off of a truck. I managed an evasive maneuver to get around it. I have always wondered what the phone call to my insurer would have been like... Ah yes.. I totalled my motorcycle by colliding with a sofa on the freeway...

A couple of years later, I was commuting to work on I-95 in my Jeep Wrangler when a lumber truck ahead of me dropped a huge bale of insulation. Cars on both sides of me, no where to go. I was going about 60 mph. I hit the bale square on, and went airborne. The Jeep landed perfectly, and sustained no damage. Wish I had that one on film.

 

[Randy]

While riding rt.83 south Texas just out side Laredo the p/u in front of me one lane over is pulling a boat (no motor), it slides off the the trailer and stays centered in it's lane as it slides along . I was hitting my brakes and it looked like I would stop in time. The p/u driver hits the brakes, the boat hits the trailer spins the boat into my lane. I was stopped and the boat hit me, well touched me, I never went down . So there I am stopped on the highway, mad as hell after almost being nailed by a boat.
So what do I do ?
I remembered the Texas motto "Drive Friendly " I helped him load the boat back on the trailer.

 

[NormanB]

While riding rt.83 south Texas just out side Laredo the p/u in front of me one lane over is pulling a boat (no motor), it slides off the the trailer and stays centered in it's lane as it slides along . I was hitting my brakes and it looked like I would stop in time. The p/u driver hits the brakes, the boat hits the trailer spins the boat into my lane. I was stopped and the boat hit me, well touched me, I never went down . So there I am stopped on the highway, mad as hell after almost being nailed by a boat.
So what do I do ?
I remembered the Texas motto "Drive Friendly " I helped him load the boat back on the trailer.

If it had a mooring rope on it - you could have popped the bike on the side stand, grabbed hold of the rope and claimed salvage rights!!

The vessel was unmanned and in distress!!! :twisted:

 

[Monterey10]

Other

My friend was riding down a twisty two lane road this spring and a
on coming Harley rider slid into his lane. The wing hit the
harley straight on. I imagine Bike Vs Bike is pretty rare.

My buddy spent the summer recovering.

 

[flintbobbi]

country road

My father, age 83, has macular degeneration in both eyes. Needless to say, he's almost legally blind, but of course, we've had great difficulty keeping him from driving (sound familiar to anyone else?). 99% of the time, he finds someone to drive him into town from the family ranch he lives on, by himself, in Montana. There is a 10 mile dirt road, fairly straight, on a flat, that goes to the ranch.

One pleasant afternoon this summer, he was driving along the road, at a typical 15 mph max, when he runs up a ramp onto the back of a flat-top trailer that was parked on the side of the road. He hits his brakes quickly.

So there he is, sitting on the top of a flat bed trailer on the side of the road, his big Mercury Marquis in fine shape. He quickly flips it in reverse and drives off of it. He hadn't seen the trailer at all. The backhoe driver came running over to see if he was fine.

My dad was mad as hell, and called the sheriff to "give this guy a ticket..." He felt he was parked too far out on the road.

The sheriff laughed and said he wasn't, and said he's lucky he didn't damage the trailer, or my Dad would be the one getting the ticket.

We all laughed. Only in Montana. This is the same guy (my father) who was trying to herd some huge black angus bulls into the corrals with a 4-wheeler when one turned on him and ran literally over the top of the 4-wheeler, breaking it nearly in half, and mauling (with his dull horns) my father half to death. My dad walked a mile home and then drove half way to town before he met the ambulance he had called on the phone.

He had multiple broken ribs, clavicle, and gashes, major concussion of course, although it was tough to tell...if you know what I mean.

He swore that a big glass of JD was all he needed, but they kept him in the ICU for a few days to make sure nothing "else" was damaged.

I'm writing a book...slowly, about life on a modern Montana ranch. Lots of wild experiences like these to tell.

 

[Randy]

flintbobbi wrote

I'm writing a book...slowly, about life on a modern Montana ranch. Lots of wild experiences like these to tell.

Let me know when it's done I want a copy :lol:

 

[NormanB]

flintbobbi wrote

I'm writing a book...slowly, about life on a modern Montana ranch. Lots of wild experiences like these to tell.

Let me know when it's done I want a copy :lol:

Hand mee!! I wil pruuf reed it fur yoo iff yu lik - I ham reel gud at that! :wink:

 

[abm]

flintbobbi wrote

I'm writing a book...slowly, about life on a modern Montana ranch. Lots of wild experiences like these to tell.

Let me know when it's done I want a copy :lol:

Hand mee!! I wil pruuf reed it fur yoo iff yu lik - I ham reel gud at that! :wink:

I no yoo are a gud spellar.