road hazard

[ContraMoto]

Most recent dangers I've had are squids riding race-replica bikes on the wrong side of the road. Was out on a local curvey ridge road on Sunday, making a right-hand bend. I was in the middle of the lane, not wanting to come up on a bicyclist on a blind curve. A ninja-bike went screaming by me from ahead...to my right. He was not only over the yellow line, he was hugging the corner on a blind left turn!

I knew where he was going to stop and BS with his buddies, so I turned around and rode back down that way. I caught up to a guy on a metric cruiser and followed him to the little turnout where the squids hang. Cruiser guy parked his bike, walked calmly over to the little ninja bike that almost killed me. He put his foot up on the seat and kicked it over! Squid-boy came running over screaming, and cruiser guy just stared at him until the kid ran out of steam and went and picked his bike up. I high-fived cruiser guy and we both rode out of there.

[Catchina]

Never thought I would see this road hazard...I turned into a local park this afternoon, the road passes by a pond, and there was a turtle crossing the road. The shell was maybe 7 inches in diameter. Hope it made it across before a car flattened it.

[ka5ysy]

Ahhh yes... bees. Actually, the small yellow jacket wasps. Those things actually can get into the vent holes of some helmets. One of my students came by the range area one weekend and related how he was riding along with the face shield closed and the thing got inside the helmet and stung him a number of times on the face before he could get the bike stopped and the helmet flung off !. He now sports some plastic screen material glued over the intake port of his helmet !

Turtles, forgot about those things. If you roll over them, it is not too bad if you do the throttle blip thing just as the front tire hits it. The problem occurs if the front brake is applied when you roll up onto the shell. It traps under the wheel just like crushed cans and plastic bottles, and will cause an instant fall. If you happen to have hit one of our large snapping turtles, it is probably a really good idea to leave the area around it quickly because it will be thoroughly pissed off if still alive (likely since they are heavily armored in a thick shell), and their jaws can easily remove fingers, or chunks of other body parts it can bite. They have a very bad attitude to say the least.

Also forgot to mention our Cottonmouth water moccasins that love to lounge on the warm asphalt around bayous. Another bad-attitude creature you definitely do no want to mess with. Very aggressive and highly dangerous bites.


For those reading this and cannot figure out why we have all these things around, check out "Swamp People" on History Channel. All those areas are within 30-45 minute rides from my house.

[Caroanbill]

Bill, on my first big run with the R12R i came upon cattle being moved from a property to the next on Bylong Valley rd, cows cows & more cows criss crossing me front & back, i was riding at walking pace but it was such a sureal moment.

Funnily enough, my sheep moment wasn't so far from there - out by Hargreaves on the back (dirt) road from Hill End to Mudgee. A long way chronologically - try 1984 (my Ducati 900SS was near-new!) Character building on Pirelli Phantoms (not known for dirt caopability)!

I've also met a few cows on Bylong Valley Way, especially as they were sealing the last few km .. but since I grew up punching poll herefords, I'm kind used to winding a bike through cows ... I'm riding that road a lot coz I can seethe new seal is falling apart very fast (the locals tell me the bitumen contractor insisted on spraying the road before the sub-based was ready).

Caroanbill... I thought I lived in the country... seems like the city though crowded might the only place to ride.. so how do you cook a wombat???

You're leading into the stopry, aren't you?
OK, one wombat (road kill is best), large pot (for the whole wombat) potatoes, onions, carrot, celery, crushed tomotoes. I bottle cheap red wine and mixed herbs and seasoning ... plus one flat, round rock that will just fit into the pot.
Slow fire: brown the wombat and take it out, then sweat the onions / carrots / celery as for slow cook, then add tomatoes and reduce, remove and set aside
Deglaze the pot with a large splash of the wine, and put the flat stone in (clean!) to warm.
When the stone is warm, add back everything, the rest of the wine and herb / seasoning
Stir occasionally an simmer until the stone is soft
Toss the womabt and eat the stone ... it's softer!!

(recipe also goes for dingle - substitute white wine for red!)

[redwing]

Caroanbill... I thought I lived in the country... seems like the city though crowded might the only place to ride.. so how do you cook a wombat???

You're leading into the stopry, aren't you?
OK, one wombat (road kill is best), large pot (for the whole wombat) potatoes, onions, carrot, celery, crushed tomotoes. I bottle cheap red wine and mixed herbs and seasoning ... plus one flat, round rock that will just fit into the pot.
Slow fire: brown the wombat and take it out, then sweat the onions / carrots / celery as for slow cook, then add tomatoes and reduce, remove and set aside
Deglaze the pot with a large splash of the wine, and put the flat stone in (clean!) to warm.
When the stone is warm, add back everything, the rest of the wine and herb / seasoning
Stir occasionally an simmer until the stone is soft
Toss the womabt and eat the stone ... it's softer!!

Hey Caroanbill... rereading the post I may have sounded flippant and I need to correct that.
In Louisiana almost everything is eaten. There is an assortment of recipes for cooking everything found in the forests and water ways. And 99% of the foods here are known in the states for being very tasty. Garfish, alligator, frogs legs ..... and the list goes on. However I've never eaten stone.... but I'll give it a try.

Good roads and cool weather
Robert

[Caroanbill]

Hey Caroanbill... rereading the post I may have sounded flippant and I need to correct that.
In Louisiana almost everything is eaten. There is an assortment of recipes for cooking everything found in the forests and water ways. And 99% of the foods here are known in the states for being very tasty. Garfish, alligator, frogs legs ..... and the list goes on. However I've never eaten stone.... but I'll give it a try.

Good roads and cool weather
Robert

No, no - flippancy is aposite: this is twist on an old Aussie joke, originally for c*ckatoos ... wombats are very solid indeed, reputedly all gristle, and apparently weren't eaten by the indigenous people because they are just too tough! Hence their ability to allow a predator to climb on their back - their hindquarters are too tough to feel claws and teeth through!! Bikers don't want to hit wombats, not so much coz they're funny little chaps (and famously grumpy) but coz they are so very solid .. literally like hittng a furry rock! So a stone would be better eating.

Now kangaroos are lasty - a very lean, deep red, gamey meat (and they fart less than cows so less greenhouse gas emissions ) .. I chargrilled some (marinated in native pepperberry, sage and star anise) with a red wine sauce only last week! And goannas (snakes too) have lots of fat, so were much prized by the original Australians - called "soft tucker" and shared especially with the elders. Emu is also quite tasty (emu and 'roo are culled under licence so their meat is in most gourmet butchers).

[redwing]

Besides diesel spills from trucks.... I found a RH recently and remember reading about the hazard in (I think) Hough's book on motorcycling.
Differences in the pavement or a slight rise from a cracked road, a lip... maybe an inch or less high is a hazard.
Yesterday riding in traffic I was coming to a stop and had taken my foot from the foot peg hanging it above the pavement when my toe clipped this crack or lip in the pavement. The jolt pushed my foot back and caused a weave but not a fall. It happened quickly.
Hough mentioned dragging a foot can be hazardous and he is right.

Robert

[brico]

IT IS SO SIMPLE ANSWER. CAGERS ON THE STREETS OF VANCOUVER, CANADA. SOCCER MOMS IN THE MORNING, TIRED CONTRACTORS IN THEIR WHITE (NO WINDOWS) CARGO VANS IN THE EVENING RUSHING TO GO HOME AFTER A DAYS WORK. THEY HAVE NO MERCY AT ALL EVEN IF THEY SEE YOU. AND THOSE SHORT TINY CREATURES WITH FLAT HEADS, SQUINTY EYES, WHITE KNUCKLES DRIVING TOYOTA COROLAS WITH NO FEELING OF SPACE BEYOND THEIR WINSHIELD......... BUT THEY REALLY DO NOT SEE YOU........

[bluebeemerII]

Had an interesting encounter with a large swan after a Sunday breakfast ride on my old R1150R. Saw him ahead on the right side of the road so I slowed down in case he wanted to cross, he did so I came to a complete stop. He walks up to the bike and proceeds to beat up on the front tire and fender with his neck and beak. Meanwhile everyone in the cars that also stopped are having a good laugh at what is happening.

John L.