| Author | Message | ||
     Ulynut |
Was riding on I-95 yesterday in heavy traffic. Moving along at about 65 MPH, when all the sudden, A SHEET OF PLYWOOD was flipping through the air, heading straight for me and my beloved Uly! Nowhere to go, no time to avoid it. All I could do was ride into it. Didn't even have time to pucker. Somehow the plywood went from flipping to spinning like a Frisbee, aimed for my beloved neck, then took a dive to just nick my overpants and the tip of my steel-toe boot. Not my day to die. Just wanted to say keep your eyes open and ride safely. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
Whoa. Did you see somebody stop? Or they probably didn't even know they lost it. | ||
| Ulynut |
Traffic was so heavy, and I admit I was pretty freaked out by it, that it took me about a half mile to get pulled over to check out my bike and duct tape my pant leg closed. In that time, no one stopped, so I got on and went on my way. Never saw where it came from. | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
Glad you're ok, but that, my friend, is why I avoid interstates about 95% of the time. | ||
| Pwnzor |
It amazes me how people transport plywood, thinking it won't fly out or off of a truck bed. Several years ago, I was on the freeway and a sheet of plywood with metal on the corners came out of a trailer three vehicles ahead of me, flew over those three vehicles and right through the windshield of my car. If I hadn't been wearing my sunglasses I'd probably have lost an eye. I couldn't help thinking "man, I'm glad I wasn't on my bike." Glad you're ok. | ||
| Cataract2 |
Man, that requires a change of shorts. | ||
| Dalton_gang |
Yikes!! Reminds me of a bail of hay that I almost rode through a few years ago @ 65 mph. It was in the middle of the left lane of a local interstate. Lucky for me I saw it in time and missed it by about 4-5 feet | ||
| Birdy |
Glad you are OK. Seem a lot of folks with pickups think all they need to do is toss stuff in the back and by magic it'll stay there. You dodged a bullet this guy wasn't as lucky. http://www.news4jax.com/news/15192450/detail.html | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Same thing happened to me but it was a ladder. I don't like the interstate for the road debris and retreds. I do like the interstate for same direction traffic. You aren't going to have someone turn left in front of you. You can catch debris on two lane roads. I caught a rock the size of a golf ball that rolled off of a flat bed trailer towing a bulldozer. I helplessly had to watch it bounce down the road toward me. I didn't know which way to swerve, whether to duck, or what. Sounds like you with the plywood. Terrible feeling. | ||
| Cringblast |
2 months ago I had my first mattress flying out of the back of a truck episode. About 65mph in the blink of a eye, it flies out and lands right in front of me luckily I had time to swerve to the left onto the shoulder. WOW what a trip. C. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
My scariest road debris was a jagged sheet of plexiglass. I tucked in behind my flyscreen but luckily it spun off to the side before impact. It was at night too so I didn't even really understand what it was until it went past. | ||
| Swampy |
I swa a whole shipment of steel siding come off a semi before. I was sitting on the other side of the road at a gas station. It sounded like a car accident. More than 20 sheets came off oriented leangthwise, so when they hit the bottom stopped and the top sheets moved on leaving a 200' trail of green steel siding far right of the road shoulder right across a guys driveway into his garage. The trucker didn't even stop. I was thinking he was going to have a tough time explaining what happened to that shipment. | ||
| Oldog |
Wow Glad that you're all right! I have started avoiding the interstates for that and other reasons | ||
| Dynasport |
Glad you are OK. If you ride long enough I think something like this is bound to happen. A couple of years ago I was riding on a two lane highway. It had been raining, but had stopped. I was doing about 50-60mph and all of a sudden saw a large big screen TV size box in the middle of my lane. I don't know how I didn't see it until I was right on top of it, but when I saw it, it was too late to do anything. I ran right through it. Fortunately it was empty. And wet. So the bike cut through it like hot butter. I did have to clean dried cardboard off my bike the next day. | ||
| Thespive |
My wife and I were coming back a few months ago from a 17 hour drive home from Colorado. About 45-minutes from home we saw a biker on the overpass laying in the side of the road, his bike about 200 years further down the freeway on its side. Turns out a convertible top ripped off a car in front of him and took him off his bike at speed. He was in pretty rough shape and has some serious injuries, but it looked like he would be okay. We left after the ambulance arrived, but talk about scary. I never ride behind convertibles anymore (dump truck, pickups with loads, trash trucks, gravel trucks, etc.). --Sean | ||
| M2nc |
I'm glad your okay. Interstates are a challenge. I usually try to find an open spot in traffic. I'm sometimes a little insistent on that but it leaves room to see obstacles in time. Of course I can do that because I no longer live in a big city. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
things happen fast on the interstate, but i have to refer back to my instructor at truck driving school in regards to limited access vs non limited access roads. "every intersection quadruples your chances of an accident." | ||
| Brumbear |
yeah but not with flying plywood or hitting a truck gator at 70 mph or a piece of exhaust or mudflap however I have heard of cars runing into a bike at intersection and I have been smacked in a toll booth I think Ulynut put it best not his turn to go Glad your ok and Gods grace to everyone this upcoming season | ||
| Nevrenuf |
glad to hear your alright there too. i used to be one of those people who thought that anything would stay in a pickup truck but leaned early on that it doesn't happen. allthough i don't play carpenter anymore, i always have straps of all kinds with me. it doesn't matter how far or how fast, in can come out. | ||
| Igneroid |
We have moose to dodge up here. Them suckers are about as smart as a sack of hammers, have no comprehension of things that can move faster than them...and the big bulls have their testicles hanging about the same height as your head while riding your favorite Buell. A trucking buddy told me the best way to avoid a moose is to head straight for them as the dumb bastards are gonna move into your path no matter what you do. Then there is the Eagles. Im sorry to diss a bird that our American neighbours have as an icon. They are beautiful......but thats about it. Bald Eagle = blonde. They hang around the roadside eating what ever dumb animal got killed by a motorist and when you come up on them, they think " Id better get outta the way, Ill just fly right in the middle of this wide spot...the friggin road. When I was 20 and riding my 1974 Z1, I came up on an eagle eating road kill that flew in front of me, I had the front brake locked up as I kissed this 50 lb birds ass. Thank god he was goin the same direction as me and only about 5 mph slower when I made contact. I had a full faced helmet on with a visor.....that did have some sort of material on it after contact......then there was my underwear.....Im glad we dont have interstates up here as plywood is prolly nastier than an Eagle...a moose, I dunno.... | ||
| Lost_in_ohio |
The way I commute to work in the morning. I end up getting mixed up with the mexicans and their overload, siding and carpet trucks. There is nothing more frightening than a quarter ton pickup with ladder rack loaded with two tons of scaffold, siding and 6 guys. They sway back under the strain. I can see myself doin the coyote splat under that mess. My plan is always to get by them in a very quick manner, preferably with a full lane as a cushion. After last summers hail storms I have followed a couple of those towable dumpsters full of shingles and nails.....Ya that's fun when the nails are flying out and bouncing down the road. I exited promptly. I guess there is probably two morals to the story. 1. When it is your time, It is your time. 2. Always bring your A game when riding. Uly.....I am glad today was not your day. Keep them eyes open. Johnny....You are safer on a highway than a surface street. (Message edited by Lost_in_Ohio on February 03, 2008) | ||
| Thumper74 |
Lost, since we both live on the same side of town, I definately sympathize with you. The trucks are so overloaded they're riding on the spring bumpers. I usually get as far away as possible considering that if you were to live from a run in, they mostly don't have insurance... | ||
| Nevrenuf |
had a chain tiedown pop off a tractor trailer right in front of me while i was in my car and there's nothing worse than a tractor trailer when it blows right in front of ya when your on a bike(my 83 and no windshield or face shield) now i also get around trailers as soon as possible. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
now i also get around trailers as soon as possible as a truck driver i can tell you that that's what we all want. weather you are in your car or on your bike, DON'T make passing a truck an afternoon project. get in the left lane, make the pass and keep going. you're not gonna hurt a truckers feelings by passing us fast. we get just as nervous as you do when you hang out along side us for any amount of time. this is the end of my public service announcement. | ||
| Nevrenuf |
it's good to hear that at least some of you feel that way, i really hate it when you got a truck trying to pass another truck and it takes him 3 miles on a flat surface to do it on a (2x2) highway. 85 coming up through south carolina needs to be 3 lane all the way through. | ||
| Buellboiler |
I have my CDL and I am regularly amazed by the lack of professionalism of today's truckers. They drive down the highway with a tire slapping the road, minutes from blowing the tread, yet they don't stop to change it until it blows. Then there is no way to remove the rubber from the highway due to the traffic that is now swerving to avoid it. Caught a chunk with my Mustang convertible and water to stop and confront the trucker on the side of the road but didn't because I just might have taken it out of his hyde. I do agree with the passing comment. Get off of the cruise and hit the damn throttle. Then make sure there is a 2 second buffer before you cross in front of the truck. Unlike your Xbox a semi doesn't stop like a Z06. | ||
| Iamike |
Dan, I read your message yesterday morning and then on my way home from the Minneapolis IMS I caught up to a pickup full of plywood. I was about 200' back when 3-4 sheets decided to take a hike. Luckily I was driving my car and they all settled down as I drove by them. I've always wondered if it would be worth to call the police and try to get them ticketed for having an unsecured load. | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
Lost in Ohio said, "Johnny....You are safer on a highway than a surface street." You're probably 100% correct, although all my near-plasterings occurred on interstates. I'm a bit biased I guess. | ||
| Cochise |
Nah, you're one assed. | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
ever seen a four-assed monkey? |
