Another half ass attempt on my life. LOL

[sedelen]

Earl,
You need to mount a rocket on your back, hopefully one with a parachute also.
I don't know why, but more and more it seems someone does something stupid and ruins my ride. Last week I had a guy just about pull out in front of me before he saw me at the last minute and slammed on the brakes, my brakes were full on also and the guy behind me slammed on his as he was just feet behind me. For a moment I thought I was going to get sandwiched between the car pulling out and the car behind me.

[earlfor]

Earl,
You need to mount a rocket on your back, hopefully one with a parachute also.
I don't know why, but more and more it seems someone does something stupid and ruins my ride. Last week I had a guy just about pull out in front of me before he saw me at the last minute and slammed on the brakes, my brakes were full on also and the guy behind me slammed on his as he was just feet behind me. For a moment I thought I was going to get sandwiched between the car pulling out and the car behind me.

I'm beginning to think a bike accessory we need is a ejection seat with a parachute. When you're sandwiched between two cars like that, there is certainly no "I didn't see em" excuse for the cagers.

[hakuin]

Man, idiot cagers sure do make riding more of an extreme-sport...they provide risk well beyond that of rider error/mechanical/animal issues. Wish USDOT allowed for ECM pulse-disruptors for cutting power to the on-coming 4 wheel, but at best, they could still ROLL into you. Ordinance (rockets, etc) would probably be too hard on the pavement to be authorized.

[earlfor]

Man, idiot cagers sure do make riding more of an extreme-sport...they provide risk well beyond that of rider error/mechanical/animal issues.

Yep, by far the main risk on the road is due to blind people driving cars.

[oldgsfan]

Gotta add my two cents - I went on a long ride yesterday through Southeast Washington and, yup, had a few cars act stupid around me, but I've come to expect that.

What really me woke up was when a guy on a Kawasaki Concours riding two up in the lane of opposing traffic suddenly darted out of a long line of vehicles, on a curve, into my lane!

I moved as far right as I could to give him plenty of room to get back into his lane. Then he waves at me. Seriously? Who rides that way, especially with a passenger?

[sedelen]

I went for a short ride on my 1000 last night, been too long since I drove it, mostly riding the 1100. Friday nights Orlando Florida not a good time to ride. The traffic was crazy. Everyone in a hurry to go somewhere it seemed. In the first 10 minutes I had one guy pull out in front of me and another cut me off. Then I got caught in the rain, so......... I decided to cut my losses and just head home.

[Allie]

Wish USDOT allowed for ECM pulse-disruptors for cutting power to the on-coming 4 wheel

Well they don't expressly forbid them, do they? Do they??

[1_v8_merc]

Almost got sandwiched by an 18-wheeler over the weekend. No joke.

I'm riding behind him, and notice he is slowing down to make a right-hand turn.
We are doing about 65mph.

No big deal...I swing over to the left lane to pass, and as I'm doing so, he Immediately Swings into MY lane.

There is a concrete divider to my Left, and He is on my right.
I'm blasting right up the middle, thinking "holy ****, this can't be happening"

I quickly realize that I have Two Options......Gun it, or Slam on the brakes and Pray that I don't fly over the bars.
There is no one behind me, so I duck down into the seat and mash the brakes at 65mph, and the front tire squeals like a pig.
The 18-wheeler heard it, and he stopped coming into my lane and practically stopped in the middle of the highway.
I popped it in a lower gear and re-accelerated by him.

------

It's weird, because everything happened SO fast, I barely had time to think. But if anyone has seen that movie "The Matrix Reloaded", you might recall that scene where the girl is riding the ducati 996, and she's blasting right between an 18-wheeler, and a concrete wall. The truck suddenly tries to crush her into the wall. She hits the brakes and locks the wheels up, and barely gets out of the way in time. That's basically what happened to me, in a nutshell.

Not very glamorous when you almost **** your pants.

[sedelen]

Almost got sandwiched by an 18-wheeler over the weekend. No joke.

I'm riding behind him, and notice he is slowing down to make a right-hand turn.
We are doing about 65mph.

No big deal...I swing over to the left lane to pass, and as I'm doing so, he Immediately Swings into MY lane.

There is a concrete divider to my Left, and He is on my right.
I'm blasting right up the middle, thinking "holy ****, this can't be happening"

I quickly realize that I have Two Options......Gun it, or Slam on the brakes and Pray that I don't fly over the bars.
There is no one behind me, so I duck down into the seat and mash the brakes at 65mph, and the front tire squeals like a pig.
The 18-wheeler heard it, and he stopped coming into my lane and practically stopped in the middle of the highway.
I popped it in a lower gear and re-accelerated by him.

------

It's weird, because everything happened SO fast, I barely had time to think. But if anyone has seen that movie "The Matrix Reloaded", you might recall that scene where the girl is riding the ducati 996, and she's blasting right between an 18-wheeler, and a concrete wall. The truck suddenly tries to crush her into the wall. She hits the brakes and locks the wheels up, and barely gets out of the way in time. That's basically what happened to me, in a nutshell.

Not very glamorous when you almost **** your pants.

I had an 18 wheeler pass me on a two lane upward grade country road with a slow right turn. Why he tried to do it I don't know. I was going well over the speed limit. It was one of those days with the setting sun in a thickly wooded area, the sun clipping in and out from behind the trees as I drove played havoc with my eyes. As he made it about halfway around me a car appeared coming from the opposite direction. I was trapped. He moved over alongside me, I could easily touch the trailer and I had mere inches of asphalt at the edge of the road. I stayed there, when the car passed he pulled back out and finished passing, I slowed down to let him do so. I'll never forget that, he knew I was there which is why he didn't move all the way over. Double yellow line to boot. Do believe it to be around Paducah Kentucky, I-24, third day of my X-country trip.

[earlfor]

I had an 18 wheeler pass me on a two lane upward grade country road with a slow right turn. Why he tried to do it I don't know. I was going well over the speed limit. It was one of those days with the setting sun in a thickly wooded area, the sun clipping in and out from behind the trees as I drove played havoc with my eyes. As he made it about halfway around me a car appeared coming from the opposite direction. I was trapped. He moved over alongside me, I could easily touch the trailer and I had mere inches of asphalt at the edge of the road. I stayed there, when the car passed he pulled back out and finished passing, I slowed down to let him do so. I'll never forget that, he knew I was there which is why he didn't move all the way over. Double yellow line to boot. Do believe it to be around Paducah Kentucky, I-24, third day of my X-country trip.

18 wheelers have so many blind spots, I assume the drivers are never able to see a bike. I don't like passing one without a good, clean escape available and when I do pass them, I make my exposure time minimal.

[koolaid_kid]

18 wheelers have so many blind spots, I assume the drivers are never able to see a bike. I don't like passing one without a good, clean escape available and when I do pass them, I make my exposure time minimal.

I agree completely. I try to never ride along side an 18 wheeler. I will hang back until there is room to get ahead of him, take off and pass, then slow back down to a decent speed.

[sedelen]

18 wheelers have so many blind spots, I assume the drivers are never able to see a bike. I don't like passing one without a good, clean escape available and when I do pass them, I make my exposure time minimal.

I hear you loud and clear Earl. You won't have to tell me twice. I used to follow them, because they generally went faster than the prevailing traffic, especially in the wee hours, but large rocks they hold in the grooves of their tires are like missles released when they hit a bump at speed, the buffeting in the slip stream, and I dodged a recap once, I just stay clear of them altogether now.

[cowboyup3371]

Had two of my own today

So I guess Ohio is no different than any other state as I found out this morning.

I'm attending a Cisco telephony course at New Horizons and rode the bike in today after finally getting it running Sunday (rode Monday as well). Coming up on to the highway on ramp which becomes a third lane. I saw the line of cars next to me and I'm really glad I paid attention to the woman driving the SUV in the soon to be middle lane. Just as I get even with the post between the front and back doors I noticed she's starting to come over the white line and into my lane. Of course she wasn't looking at me (I had a full view of her head) so I grabbed a handful of throttle and got passed her very nicely. Of course, even after we came up to the light and I gave her the "use your eyes" signal, she still didn't bother to look or acknowledge me. Just kept both hands on the wheel and head and eyes straight ahead.

Then, about a mile down the road, another stop light changed to red so I started slowing down from my 70mph I was doing (speed limit was 55) when I saw a car behind me change lanes AT my rear tire. I swear I could have reached back and touched his hood. Of course, he braked hard at the light just a 100 feet in front of us.

Be careful out there. I made sure I called the house and spoke with our 14 year old as she's really starting to get that driving itch. Had to make sure she knew she needed to start paying attention now so it becomes second nature by the time she starts driving

[gsrick]

So I guess Ohio is no different than any other state as I found out this morning.

I'm attending a Cisco telephony course at New Horizons and rode the bike in today after finally getting it running Sunday (rode Monday as well). Coming up on to the highway on ramp which becomes a third lane. I saw the line of cars next to me and I'm really glad I paid attention to the woman driving the SUV in the soon to be middle lane. Just as I get even with the post between the front and back doors I noticed she's starting to come over the white line and into my lane. Of course she wasn't looking at me (I had a full view of her head) so I grabbed a handful of throttle and got passed her very nicely. Of course, even after we came up to the light and I gave her the "use your eyes" signal, she still didn't bother to look or acknowledge me. Just kept both hands on the wheel and head and eyes straight ahead.

Oh that's the, " If I don't acknowledge you, then it never really happend " trick. Helps them feel better about the negligence that could have caused a fatality. Good eyes
Cowboy. It's hard, but I try to expect every stupid thing they can do, to happen and give myself some type of out. What I can't cover myself, I trust in GOD to intervene.