O.T. watch out fer them thar motorhomes

[A.K. Boomer]

Just had to post this --- today doing a bike ride up highway 50, I always go as far over to the shoulder as I can (usually) and Im sure glad I was doing that today even though I had a broad area of my own of aprox. two and a half feet from the white line i was within the last right side foot when a motorhome came cruising past at speed, Very close to the line itself --- thing is Is this JACKASS still had his folding steel steps hanging out to the side and they were far over the white line, woulda probably been death --- Cant wait till spring gets over with and I can hit the trails --- cant now because its all muddy and I dont like replacing my drivetrain components every other month...

The day and age of trusting your fellow man is long gone, Im going to have to realy watch my ass from now on...

[hitnmiss]

For the 1st 25 years of my life I exercised very little. Then I lost 147 lbs riding bikes. I never crowded a cyclist before I rode but I used to think "Why does that jerk have to ride out on the highways and get in cars way?"

I had no idea you can ride a bike 22 miles at lunch (did today) or 52 miles like last Saturday. I also understand the danger pea gravel presents to a road cyclist and know that's why sometimes they wander into the car lane.

I never knew true hate until I'd been crowded on my bike. Had a few obviously intentional crowdings during my cycling... I remember everyone.

Something about a person in a 3000+lb vehicle crowding a guy on a 20lb bike that really pegs the irritation meter for me. Especially when being considerate takes all the effort of moving your hands to the left about 4 inches.

Having said that most folks are VERY considerate. But when 200 cars pass you the .5% of jerks tend to show up with frightening regularity.

[madman]

Lightweight commander a bike riders best friend. Just fire a kindly warning shot through the drivers head. Problem solved

[Dawai]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dRpAZci9m0
Electric drag bike.. wow..

Yeah.. ALL the wierdos like to bully bikes. Thier mommy would not allow them to have one as a teenager.

My bitch this week? yard sales.. I got to practise more my panic stops on last Saturday than ever in my life. Right after that? I ran up behind a HOUSE mover.. I was doing 65, he was doing 5.

It was that time of morning.

[A.K. Boomer]

Having said that most folks are VERY considerate. But when 200 cars pass you the .5% of jerks tend to show up with frightening regularity.


True story, on the average what you see is people giving you plenty of room --- but when it goes bad it goes bad, My bro had a bottle thrown at him, thank god it didnt connect, iv been hit in the back by a truck mirror, I had two oncoming harley riders cross the road (yes -- they went over the yellow line and all the way into my bike lane) and dive bomb me while screaming, You never really know what your made of till something like that happens, I didnt budge an inch and they had to make some last second corrections, they turned to look after they went by and i was already off my bike in a stance with both hands up in the air and two birds for them, At the moment i wanted desperatly for them to come back, now im glad they kept going --- they would have both been killed or seriously injured, I was at the bottom of a mountain side, they were both fat, I would have climbed about 20 feet and went balistic with rocks and im a good shot, plenty of boulders to hide behind if they had firepower, was gonna trash thier pigs too, they made a wise decision...:mad:

[x39]

The thing that really chaps my ass about RV'ers is the ones who can't grasp the concept of the truck lane when going uphill.

[Your Old Dog]

The thing that really chaps my ass about RV'ers is the ones who can't grasp the concept of the truck lane when going uphill.

Having put on about 300 miles on the road with my new 7000 pound travel trailer and a 7.3 litre power stroke diesel I can tell you why that is. Because if they pull over to let the cars go by, some clown won't hurry by you so that you can pull back in when the slow lane ends. Hit the brake and you spend the rest of the day trying to get up a hill. Not only is a mind a terrible thing to waste, so is momentum ! :D

I've got the air horns, just haven't had them installed yet but you can bet they will be soon!!

I try to drive over the the right as far as possible when I see folks behind me so they can see whats ahead of me and weigh their odds of being able to pass me. But, it is true, get close enough to the back of my RV and I don't even know you're there. Besides that, it's the weakest position to pass from. My dad always taught me to drop back and when you see what looks like an opening then make a run at it and then swing out and pass or spike the brake if conditions change at last minute. The advantage of course is you are only in harms way for a few seconds instead of a minute.

[QSIMDO]

Wiped a turkeys heinie with my helmet one morning.
Hoonin' about, knee down through a tight right...straight through a flock of 'em out for a Sunday saunter!
A Frog on a Duc nailin' a turkey. ;)

[wierdscience]

I hate-

Tailgaters(as if me running 70 in a 50 isn't fast enough)and-

People who sit through two left turn signals in a row while talking on the phone.

[Your Old Dog]

Wiped a turkeys heinie with my helmet one morning.
Hoonin' about, knee down through a tight right...straight through a flock of 'em out for a Sunday saunter!
A Frog on a Duc nailin' a turkey. ;)

Had a pheasant miss my open drivers window by inches at about 60! Sure does give that exhilarating feeling doesn't it. But in your case i thought that's what Bull Fairings were all about? :D

I hit a cow at 50mph on my Honda. Took him right behind the front left leg and there was cow crap packed in under my seat and all along my right leg from knee to hip! I blacked out on contact so I can't imagine what must have happened in the time alloted to cause all that crap! LOL

[ckelloug]

Several years back, I rode a loaded touring bicycle from Vancouver BC to Redding, CA over the cascade range stopping at Crater Lake. It was a thousand something mile journey over the course of a month on mostly on highway 1/101 in Washington, California and Oregon.

I must say that exactly two drivers were rude to me in that month and both of them were driving down the same road with their boat trailers on the road to this lake with a campground that was popular with fisherman and watersports fanatics in oregon. Truckers were extremely civilized as were motorcyclists. I seem to recall some motorhome drivers that were clueless but it was the two guys towing boats that made intentional moves towards me and yelled at me to get off the road that were my only unpleasant experience.

The number of people that helped me when I broke bike parts etc on that trip in the middle of nowhere greatly increased my faith in humanity.

--Cameron

[darryl]

I rode my bycycle to work for one week. Five miles one way, and a decently wide road for most of the way. During that week, I was clipped twice- mirror contact to my arm- and forced off the road a few times. I went back to taking the bus.
I recall my dad having a problem with a motorist who would alwais ride the white line, not letting anyone pass. Seems every sunday as they were heading back to camp, they'd run up behind this guy, and have to crawl the rest of the way. The solution- they rigged up a steel bar to stick out past the bumper of the truck, then sure enough on the way back to camp, they came up behind this slowpoke again. Somewhere they got along side him, and dragged the end of the bar down the side of his vehicle. Apparently that was the end of the problem. As a kid, I thought well, if that's what it takes, do it! But god help anyone on a bicycle if the driver forgot he had a bar sticking out there.

I've had a bottle thrown at me while riding, which missed me, and an apple core and an orange, neither of which missed. I think the classic 'accident' on my bicycle was when I was riding along pretty much as fast as I could get the balloon-tired, newspater basketed thing to go, when a woman swung a car door wide open right in my path. I sure surprised the crap outa her! I don't recall, but I might have lost a bit of my own pile as well.

Just the other day, someone swung a car door open into traffic. Had I not been looking right at the car, I'm sure the van would have taken her door off. Times like that I think that if I'd been driving the land cruiser, I might not have swerved to miss the door.

Talking on the phone- one woman was yakking away to her friend in the car (not even on the phone) when she forced a cyclist into a parked car (he was not hurt), and then creased the side of the car with the passenger side door handle. Her passenger was trying to tell her she'd just hit something, but I could see that she wasn't listening. Finally did stop about a block away.

Riding the motorcycle- all I'm gonna say is you sure learn to pay attention to drivers around you.

Speaking of helpful motorists- I ran out of gas on the bike once on a highway in the middle of nowhere with my girlfriend. We were trying to stop someone to maybe get some gas. One guy screeched to a stop right on the highway beside us, causing traffic behind him to have to swerve around. We both dove for the ditch thinking that there's a pileup coming, but everyone made it by without incident. He gave us a siphon hose- it was hard to know what to say to him.

I had the bike out today, and while fun, it was almost a chore to be reviewing this self-preservation stuff again.

[Dawai]

AK: others..

Yeah, there is plenty of immature people riding all kinds of motorcycles. For a long time the Jap riders always wanted to prove thier Superiority on the road, they'd pull up next to you and give you the finger, then blast off and hope to race. I can remember in a alcoholic haze giving one a round kick to the behind as I paced speeds with him.

I can remember riding in a pack in SO Cal.. Some of the guys ran up on some guys they'd had problems in a bar earlier in the week.. they were kicking tanks and handlebars on the guys bikes. VERY disturbing for me in the rear of the pack, I had road rash from a previous incident that week and when the first bike went down it took two more. (innocents) I can remember hugging the left lane as far over as I could get. It only takes once or twice seeing friends with compound fractures to make you pay attention to idiots. (be them idiots your friends or ??)

Some people are immature, some never grow up. I guess in some ways I am one of them immature people, but, I do have respect for others till they disrespect me. For that reason I usually get along on the road and off the road with everyone.
I have had ball bearings bounced off me in NeW York State.. I am still mad. The old trick was carry them under a trimmed grip cap and let them roll out into your hand to throw at passing bikes, Mine was black, that made us a target. A 1/2" ball bearing moving at 120mph+ relative speed is painful I can attest to.

I don't understand that kind of thinking. I probably never will. Makes you want to carry a short automatic shotgun.

[Dawai]

Funny things? seeing a possum in the road, dart into my front disc on the bike and it putting on the meat brake.. possum meat on one side of the fork, possum skin on the other.. the bike went end over end.. not funny.

Seeing Mack hugging a tractor trailer recap that got flipped up and hit him in the chest taking him off the rear of his motorcycle.. he was still hugging the recap when stopped sliding..

Seeing Eddy, riding a stretched out Sl350 honda in a alcoholic stupor run off the side of the road, looking at me grinning ear to ear, while running down the ditch, he hit a dead cow, the bike went so high I can remember seeing that the bottom of the engine was oily, about 10 feet I think.. He landed the bike, it squirreled around some then straightened up, he was still looking at me grinning ear to ear.. then his smile faded and he looked forward.

Seeing blue lights and headlights coming up in the fog fast behind my XS650 yamaha, I got over in the grass shoulder, lost it, the police car zoomed by at 80-100mph tapping its break lights once.. I had to walk and call a truck. Now, it's funny.. Then it was not.. I had grass stains and no injuries.

Seeing two goobers, yep.. chasing each other down the road shooting bottle rockets at each other on harleys.. It was really funny till I remembered I had a gas leak and could not fill my tanks up all the way..

My buddy Mikie, there was this crippled guy with a leg that did not work right, he came to steal Mikies harley, As Mikie shot him in the ass with the 16ga shotgun with birdshot his leg miraculously was cured and he sprinted up the hill.. Later that week I got between the two of them as Mikie wound up his nikon camera strap on his hand and was fixing to beat the guy with it.. I stepped in, chest punching the guy so hard he hit his ass on the floor. I hit him, mike would have killed him.

Waking up on the porch with the M1 paratrooper carbine in my hands, I didn't have the harley locked, just a log chain ran through the wheels, what woke me up? BLOOOP BLOOP the chain links passing on the spokes.. Soon afterwards it was a fashion to put a cow bell under the harley.. when someone moved it, ding ding ding.. I ran them former friends to the fence shooting behind them. I could have killed them all, I am , or was a crack shot.. but I knew the idiots..

And Sandy, my dancer in 1978, she got onto the back of my panhead rigid, sat on the fender since there was no p-pad.. going down the road about seventy, she started pounding me with her fists.. I thought it was I was going too fast, so I rolled the throttle back.. THE Fender strut had broken, and her weight put the fender on the tire.. the custom paint was blistered along with several important parts of hers. She was not amused. Lucky I was just going to the restruant close by.

[A.K. Boomer]

DC and Darryl, Wow you guys have seen and done your share, I got drunk and belligerent at a pub one night and was surounded by harley riders who wanted to kick my ass --- I Had my F1 600 honda outside and they didnt like that and started giving me crap --- it was when i worked at the cycle shop -- I knew all the specs and started telling them how things worked in the real world and that all it would take is a few minutes to find out and they didnt like that either, Still, Dispite my bike being almost half the CC's I held my ground and was actually surprised that I got to leave intact with a bike that hadnt been vandalized, That was the stupidist thing iv ever done because had they excepted the challenge I would have ridden hard drunk --- i did however go looking for harleys all the time on the twisty windie river road (sober) and would never ever flip them off or anything, but I was out to make a statement, I would show up at there sides, look over at them, get down in a tuck and make them dissapear in my side views, sometimes hear the futile efforts when they would attempt to give chase and sometimes not --- it didnt matter, the race was going on inside my head, Im glad I sold my bike, I just turned 47 last week and im still too irresponsible to own one, maybe the testosterone will cool down and I can handle one when i get into my 60's, for now I have to put the energy into the bike pedels, I think I can do that and still stay alive...

Something that Darryl brought up made me think worth mentioning when he was talking about that pipe hanging off the side of a vehicle --- I own a car dolly and the nature of that piece of equipment means its wider than the width of a typical vehicle --- so much so that you really dont have any room for error, one dolly wheel is just inside the yellow and the other just inside the white ------------------ so easy to forget esp. when towing on the way to pick up a car, A car dolly could take out a cyclist in a second if the driver forgets its back there, Iv done allot of towing over the years and seem to go into my "tow mode" to where I automatically adjust, but it also takes lots of foresight in case your in a narrow section and an extra wide is coming the other way --- with a cyclist off to the side --- just a thought...

[Dawai]

That current commercial on tele... the harley riders wearing the depends.. I don't care much for the image it portrays.. HA HA.. with my full grey beard parting in the wind..

[A.K. Boomer]

Sounds like a good one --- im going to have to watch out for that one, some commercials can be better than most entire shows ---- I remember in the show "northern exposure" when Ruth threw caution to the wind and started running with a middle age harley pack because she decided she was going to "turn it loose" So she ends up "infilterating" the gang and getting excepted only to find out that all these guys ride to some greasy spoon every week and do nothing but talk about mutual funds, lower back pain and putting braces on thier kids teeth --- it was a hoot!

that was a damn good old show by the way --- one of my all time favorites.

[Dawai]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v85/ibewgypsie/Jessie_daddy.jpg
My daughter's first ride on the new bike. She kinda looks so tiny behind the old 50 year old juvenile. She was scared to death, I rode slow and easy to the post office and back.

I can no longer fit racing leathers, I wanted a set all my life, black and orange. My chest is the max 56", but my "laying" around sick stomach is 46"... unless somebody knows a cheap tailor.. My black ones from a few years back, I gave to a friend. They had two zippers, clothes under, over clothes.. I was on the outer zipper naked underneath. I am looking at the ventilated ones for a road trip.. There is two custom outfits on ebay that make oversized ones, expensive. More than the Burple paintjob cost me.

Pehaps I'll get chaps, sew some armor into my chaps and 30 year old leather jacket.

Seeing the "hump back" leathers the kids are wearing just pisses me off.. I never had anything like that. THE best in protection.

AK: it broke the dope smokers "hearts" to find out Tommy CHong is really a health nut.. That show was probably more true than anyone knows.

[jkilroy]

I used to cover about 100 to 150 miles a week on a road bike. I've had full beer cans thrown at me, all sorts of soft drink cups. Once I had three drunks take a car down an enbankment to chase me, middle of the day on Sunday no less.

My favorite is a guy from the local power company flipped me the bird, yelled some foul language and then turned into a subdivision that had no other exit. I followed, at some distance, and got the truck number, his address, etc. I called the HR department of the power company (Entergy) the next day, got transferred all the way up to a VP. The guy driving the truck lost his job that day.

Here in Mississippi you carry a lot of water in the summer. I like to carry three bottles at least. Anyway I always freeze two of them so that by the time my first bottle is empty I have nice cool water. Let me tell you, a frozen water bottle is a formidable weapon and *will* dent sheetmetal.

[Orrin]

Something about a person in a 3000+lb vehicle crowding a guy on a 20lb bike that really pegs the irritation meter for me. Especially when being considerate takes all the effort of moving your hands to the left about 4 inches.

In 1962 I bicycled from Rapid City to the Seattle World's Fair, round trip. Most of the route consisted of two-lane highways. For those of you who were too young to remember, very little Interstate had yet been constructed. Except for Seattle and the suburbs, the only four-lane highway was a short stretch near Spokane, Washington.

I swear, the Greyhound bus drivers got their kicks by seeing how close they could get without splattering me like a fat bug. For sure, they pegged my irritation meter every time.

The next on the list of a-holes were the young bucks with hot cars who'd yell at me as they drove by, "Get off the road."

If I live to be a hundred I'll never understand why fat-bellied gas-guzzlers think they have more rights and privileges than a bicycler.

It wasn't all a matter of sour grapes. On that trip I was the beneficiary of more generosity and hospitality than I ever experienced before or since. That was back in the days before bicycle touring became popular.

Orrin

[Rex]

I hate-

Tailgaters(as if me running 70 in a 50 isn't fast enough)and-


Isn't that what the windshield washers are for?
Especially effective when heading into the sun.

[kendall]

Isn't that what the windshield washers are for?
Especially effective when heading into the sun.

My explorer has rear washers on it, but since it's used as a work truck, and I always pile stuff on the roof, I broke the nozzle off, so now when you spray the rear window it shoots a stream of cleaner about 10ft behind the truck, used it a couple times on obnoxious twits.

Two weeks ago my son in law got hit on his bike with his son in the trailer by some girl, she had her right turn sig on, in the right turn lane, he went to her left and she changed her mind and went left. No one hurt, DJ put a big dent in the fender and Brendon (5 yr old grandson) jumps out and starts yelling about 'stupid chevy drivers'

I got hit last fall at full speed (racing DJ) by some dip**** pulling out of a lot, and checking the light a block away, I was sore for a week, only consolation is that I dented the crap out of his car, and my keys (always clipped on right belt loop) left a real nice gouge all the way accross his hood.

Back in the 70's and early 80's I used to keep a pouch on my handlebars filled with old sparkplugs, rusty bolts etc, emptied it on a guys car once, riding up accross the golden gate bridge, just riding no destination, started into a nice long curve to the right, and some dip passed the guy behind me, and started right back into the lane I was in, I dove for the right lane, Gil and my brother headed for the inside to give me room, but he still clipped my highway bar with his bumper which swung over enough that it was hitting the engine on the right and the fender on the left, which pretty much locked me into going straight ahead or to the left, not good on a right curve. Slowing down, kicking on that bar, and getting closer and closer to traffic on the left, finally got it moved enough that I could actualy turn right, and took of after the guy that hit me, we let him have it with everything we had.

I think if it hadn't have been a single downtube frame that let the bar swing, I would have gone down as soon as he hit it, without the bar I think he might have missed me entirely. Used to put highway bars on all my bikes, great for cruising, put your feet up and enjoy the ride, but that's the LAST bike I ever owned with highway bars on it.

ken.