What'd you get?
Paul Thompson
have any close encounters with anything else? (Oh boy, we can collect stats!)
Here's my story:
I was on one of the straight sections of Highway 9 (that narrows it down more
than you'd think) doing about 80, when I saw a rooster at the far edge of the
road, looking my way. Being a city boy, I don't have much experience with
such animals, but I figured that anything that wakes up early in the morning
without having to go to work can't be too smart. So I get on the brakes as I
begin to approach said object. Sure enough, it picked just that moment to
decide to cross the road. (Please no jokes about why it crossed the road!)
Well, things would have been fine except that the presence of a large
vehicle slowly began to register in its brain, and it made a final lunge just
I reached it. I was actually expecting no less of the bird, as I had noticed
a similar lack of originality (trouble? go straight!) in other fowl. I had
already slowed to about 30, and as the rooster lept in front of me (wings
flailing for effect) I braked as hard as I could, causing me to come to nearly
a complete stop while brushing the bird's feathers with the Metzler.
And you thought there wouldn't be a happy ending!
Paul Thompson
Dan Carter
>So far we've heard of encounters with cats, dogs, deer, and opposum's. Anyone
>have any close encounters with anything else?
I've nailed 2 birds in the last 10 years. The first was on a big sweeping
freeway onramp in Costa Mesa. I was riding at about 60mph and turned my head
to check the traffic before changing lanes. Just as I turned my head back, I
saw a pigeon directly in front of me, and milliseconds later it hit me square
in the chest. It felt kind of like a hard ground ball that took a bad hop.
Didn't hurt, but scared the shit out of me. I think I was lucky that I didn't
see it sooner; I didn't have time to do anything stupid.
The second was on a particularly nice road in central CA. I was returning from
Laguna Seca, riding with a friend. We startled a flock of birds that was
hanging out alongside the road, and they took off just as we rode by. There
were lots of them, and, at the time, I marvelled that they managed to avoid us.
A few miles down the road, we were re-entering civilization and slowed down
considerably. I smelled something real unusual, so we pulled over. Wedged
between between a frame tube and exhaust pipe was this unfortunate bird, just
about well-done by now. Damn! And me without any barbecue sauce.
Dan Carter
Walnut Creek, CA
J.A. MacDonald
>So far we've heard of encounters with cats, dogs, deer, and opposum's. Anyone
>have any close encounters with anything else? (Oh boy, we can collect stats!)
I think most of us who have ridden for several years have had
encounters of one sort or another. My first was still the most
interesting. I was working in the Canadian Rockies, doing exploration
geology, and our field vehicle was this Kawasaki K100 enduro. This was
in '82, and the bike was old then. Anyways, I had just learned to ride
motorcycles on this bike several days earlier (and was hooked from the
start) when I was doubling my partner in crime for the day (looking for
gypsum) along a logging road. We were not going too fast, kind of
wobbling in fact, when a Columbian squirrel darted past in front of us
by about one metre. As I looked ahead I saw about four more waiting to
do the same. It was like they were playing a game with each other; who
could pass the closest to the monster or something. Well, the third one
was not so lucky. I though he was going to make it right under the bike
(between the wheels), but nope, his head hit the back end of the front
wheel and it bounced up into the air. Believe me, I had tried to avoid
the damn thing, but the combination of inexperience and a small bike with
large load made it difficult. We kept on riding, did the days work, then
on the way back there it was, in the middle of the road. I was so sad.
So I picked it up, put it in my pocket and drove back to camp. Not being
one to waste things, I skinned it, made squirrel stew and tanned the
hide as a souvenir (which later got eaten by rats in a log cabin I built
with several friends in Vancouver).
JaM
Real BMWs have two wheels
=================================================================
ja...@unrvax.unr.edu | I lit out from Reno
j...@chaos.unr.edu | I was trailed by twenty hounds...
===============================================================
R. Leonard Brown
>have any close encounters with anything else? (Oh boy, we can collect stats!)
>Here's my story:
>
Southeast Australia on a rented Honda CX500 I heard all sorts of war
stories from the local touring riders I met at the various scenic
overlooks. Most involved emus and kangaroos, which migrate from their
feeding areas toward their nesting areas around sundown and aren't
known for using the pedestrian crossings. Those cute "Kangaroos, next
37 kilometers" signs are for real; both the signs and the 'roos all
over the place.
The worst incident I had involved a very annoyed ram who broke through
his fence and decided not to let me pass on the "wide, paved road" I
was taking as a shortcut through the Murray River country. I finally
just ran the bike right at him and he got out of the way. Beware, in
Australia "paved" means fine gravel, "sealed" means what we call paved
in the U.S. Also, "wide" means one car can keep both right and left
sets of tires on the road at the same time.
Leonard Brown: br...@aerospace.aero.org
br...@aero.UUCP
{decvax,ucbvax,hplabs}!trwrb!aero!brown
74756...@compuserve.com
Mark Holbrook
June bug committed suicide on the end of my nose (open-faced helmet,
don't ya know). Felt just like someone had socked me. Got a bloody
nose out of it (nothing broken), but the worst thing about it was the
goo running back into my ears. I wear a full-coverage helmet now.
Does this count?
Mark
Scott Perman
A fiend of mine was riding down the road when a locust hit his full face
helmet rite in the vent. It kind of worked as a strainer. I am told
that cricket juice is not very tasty.
Filling
space
to
please
the
computer
gods
--
--
Scott Perman Georgia Institute of Technology gt5...@prism.gatech.EDU
Disclaimer? Disclaimer? We don't need no stinkin' disclaimer.
Jennet Kirschenbaum
the eyeglasses. Couldn't see a fu*king thing. I tried
to get my buddy I was riding with to stop, but he kept
going so I had to go even faster without being able to
see properly.
Those things are full of some really nasty goop!
Lou Montgomery
Goop?? Ack, phiittt!!! |-)
No June bugs, but a YellowJacket (Wasp) once hit me, or I hit it.
The really fun part of the collision is that my shirt was open at the
time. The wind at appx. 50 mph. held the scudder against my bare chest.
This seemed to piss the thing off or something. It was going all
non-linear trying to get away from me and, in the process, stinging
me several times. But, I was a tough guy of fifteen years old, and
after an application of black mud, I was motoring on down the road.
Does the blackbird that shit between my fingers fit into this thread?
Timothy Lyle Smith
Hmmmm.. this talk of hitting bugs reminds me of how I decided that
gloves are a must. I was riding down I94 with my uncle last summer, sans
gloves, when I felt something hit my hand. After pulling off the road,
mild discomfort at this time, I determined from the various pieces of bug
parts scattered over my arm and clutch lever that I had hit a bee. During
this examination I also found this tiny little piece of bee stuck to my
thumb. It was at this time that I found out how not to remove a bee stinger
from one's thumb.
--
Tim Smith North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105
UUCP: ...!uunet!plains!tsmith | 90% of the people on this planet
BITNET: tsm...@plains.bitnet | are crazy and the rest of us are
INTERNET: tsm...@plains.NoDak.edu | in grave danger of contamination
Jeremy G Harris
[ in Australia ]
> Also, "wide" means one car can keep both right and left
>sets of tires on the road at the same time.
Plenty wide enough for a bike, then?
Some of the roads in Scotland were like that. Best riding I had all last
year. Ahh, memories.
Jeremy
--
Jeremy Harris j...@root.co.uk
Dana Myers
>the eyeglasses. Couldn't see a fu*king thing. I tried
>to get my buddy I was riding with to stop, but he kept
>going so I had to go even faster without being able to
>see properly.
You HAD to go EVEN FASTER without being able to see properly?
Oh, yeah, and I have to get throwing up drunk if someone else at the
party is throwing up drunk. Sure.
I have, on at least a few occasions, stopped because I could not
safely operate my motorcycle even though I was riding with someone.
Usually, my riding partner would stop also. You don't need permission to
do the right thing.
Dana H. Myers
Locus Computing Corp.
Former WERA/ARRA/AFM #286
Jennet Kirschenbaum
I was using a figure of speech, which I would have
thought someone with your apparent intelligence would have realized.
The one thing about the net that really pisses me off is the
number of bossy and sarcastic people who post.
Of course there are many reasonable persons as well.
I think I'm old enough to figure out what the ``right'' thing is
and do it.
If I was really worried about handling my bike, I certainly would
have stopped NO MATTER WHAT in a safe spot.
thanks for your input.
Lou Montgomery
>In article <29...@brunix.UUCP> j...@cs.brown.edu (Jennet Kirschenbaum) writes:
>>Re June Bugs: I had one hit me right smack dab in
>>the eyeglasses. Couldn't see a fu*king thing. I tried
>>to get my buddy I was riding with to stop, but he kept
>>going so I had to go even faster without being able to
>>see properly.
>
> You HAD to go EVEN FASTER without being able to see properly?
>Oh, yeah, and I have to get throwing up drunk if someone else at the
>party is throwing up drunk. Sure.
>
Dana Myers
I do owe you something of a public apology. I realized the intensity of
my reply may not have been suitable shortly after submitting it.
The strength of my reaction comes from the fact I have seen many people
actually so something just like this. Back in my Rock Store daze (I was there
something like 45 weekends out of 60 during 1985 to 1987) I often saw
riders needlessly posing a danger to OTHER RIDERS for the same reason.
I guess the message struck a nerve in me. Please accept my apology for
publicly flaming you.
(BTW - I'm a Mr. Myers since birth)
Dana | "Aww, ignore him. He's just sore 'coz
Locus Computing Corp. | his wife made him stop racing"
Inglewood, CA | -- Anonymous