Hay bales bouncing on the Interstate!

[wncbmw]

So there I am, heading back from Virginia on I-40, doing my usual slab-type ride, you know faster than most of the cars to protect my 'space' but not fast enough to draw attention from the men with the blue lights. Close to 80 or so. (70 mph limit)

Anyway, up ahead is a truck with a very overloaded trailer hauling hay bales. As I come near, I prepare accelerate a little extra to minimize my time next to him (like I do trucks) when I notice a bulge on the left side of his load. At that moment, he hit a bump and . . . . WOW, two or three hay bales are ejected right into my lane, right in front of me!

OH CRAP! (I actually said something different in my helmet!). A mirror check moments before had assured me I had no one close behind, so I grabbed the brakes - with no hope of stopping in time - to give me a split second to judge which way the bales were bounding. When it looked like they were staying in the lane, a quick push on the left bar to get to the apron (and near the guardrail!) then a quick push on the right and I am clear.

As I flashed past the truck, I caught a quick glimpse of his horrorified face looking in the the mirror. Which probably matched my own!

Ya'll be careful out there, even on the Superslab! Things happen quickly at 80!

[GypsyRR]

Close one Vann. I'm glad you are safe. I always liked the look of hay bales on a truck (photographically speaking) - the symmetry, the colors, the time of year it represents... I'll quit admiring them now and start watching for loose bales!

[cworley5150]

Wow! That sounds like it was a close one. Good on ya for a quick response and keeping the bike rubber side down. Things do happen very fast at 80 mph. It is nice to grab a handfull of brake on the R1150R and feel your eyeballs bulge out of their sockets though, isn't it.

[Hawk]

Lots of hay being hauled where I live; the commercial trucks are tied down well but still things can happen.

Be especially careful for stacked loads in pickups and on trailers; many are not loaded properly or tied down at all, and hay is very slippery.

Hitting a 100 pound bale at 80 could definitely ruin your day!

Also I've had to dodge wheelbarrows and ladders that bounced out of construction trucks

[wncbmw]

On the way up Saturday, I saw the aftermath of one of those giant round bales of hay being cleaned up in the opposite lane. One of those would have been more difficult to dodge!

The drought has resulted in a lot of hay on the interstates!

[BoiseBeemer]

Four years ago while vacationing in the ol' Chrysler minivan I found myself following a farm truck pulling a flat-bed trailer. Something flew off the trailer and smacked the van--hard. I stopped immediately, but couldn't find any damage, so, in that way we all have of ignoring the obvious when the obvious is no fun to contemplate, I assumed the loud whacking sound I'd heard was probably my imagination and drove on. A few miles later the oil-pressure light caused me to drive into a strip-mall and buy a can of oil. As I was adding it in the parking lot, my wife ran over to stop me because the oil I was adding was simply running through to the ground. Crawling UNDER the car this time, I could easily see that whatever had flown off the farm trailer had knocked a hole 2" in diameter through the oil pan. If it had hit the windshield... or a motorcyclist...

I can't begin to remember how many projectiles I've dodged (and occasionally not dodged) that have been launched from professional vehicles carrying improperly secured cargo. Ten years ago, right after I moved to Boise, a man was killed in town (at 30 mph speeds) when a landscape rock bounced off a truck in front of him and smashed through his car's windshield. His 12-year-old son was sitting next to him.

I won't follow ANY vehicle carrying a load if I can help it, and observing the speed limit isn't even remotely a consideration if I need max acceleration to get around in the available passing zone. I got a ticket two years ago for passing a badly loaded pickup at 64 in a 45 mph zone while cruising through a river canyon with few passing opportunities. Yes, I paid $90+ for the fine; I might also have saved my life.

It's a battle zone out there. Protect yourself.

[Arbreacames]

Vann,
I'm glad you "baled out" of that one! I can picture how you did it too: smooth and quick like nobody else can. You're good!

[iowabeakster]

Holy soiled undies.

It is great to hear that it was only a close call! Awesome job in avoiding the crash. Thank you for the saftey reminder.

[wncbmw]

BoiseBeemer said:

I won't follow ANY vehicle carrying a load if I can help it

Excellent advice and exactly what I practice. There is hardly a week goes by here that a trailer doesn't lose a load of something. Imagine being next to it on the bike!

Some years ago, a motorcycle writer was killed in this area while covering a Honda Hoot or something. A folding awning on an RV came unattached and fell on him while passing it on I-40!

I tell you, drive like they are all out to get you!

Arbreacames - Carlos, I call BS!

And iowabeakster

Holy soiled undies.

I'll never tell!

[telliott]

I've also had to dodge a few things on the road. As crazy as these two incidents sound they are true. I spend a lot of time on the highway. I'm a safety engineer/consultant and travel 3k to 4k a month and have for the last 30 yrs. Sometimes I get to ride too, so I've had lots of exposure.

One on the bike was a telephone pole swinging across the road! There was a P/UP pulling a heavy trailer in front of me. As we went around a turn the trailer ran off the road and hit a telephone pole cutting it off at the ground. It was still attached to the wires which due to the sharp curve in the road caused the pole to swing back and forth across both lanes of the two lane road. I had to time going past it with brake and then throttle while watching the truck and trailer flip upside down and slide across the road in front of me. So then I had to avoid the P/up and trailer that was now completely blocking the road.

Good thing I was on my R80G/S as there was no shoulder and the road was elevated a couple of feet above the adjacent yard. I jumped into the yard, then parked the bike. No time to start shaking, I ran to the truck and spent the next 15 - 20 minutes keeping the driver from bleeding to death while we waited for the rescue squad. Turned out to be one of my neighbors.

Another was in a car on the interstate at a junction where two interstates merged. Two lanes form each direction and 5 o'clock traffic. There was a pickup in front of me with extension ladders on a ladder rack. Notice I didn't say "tied" on the ladder rack! As we went around curving access ramp and just as we joined the 4 lane section of interstate one of the 20 ft. extension ladders came off the truck. It hit the road in front of me and started spinning. Guess what extension ladders do when they are spinning and slidding at 60+ mph? That's right they extend! So with every revolution it got longer and took up more of the road. As I was closest to the truck, I timed a full stomp on the gas and went around on the apron as the ladder rotated. Looking in the mirrow I saw a couple of cars hit it and then the pile up began. I never did find out how many cars got caught up in that one but no one got killed.

And then there is the one about the couch and chairs on the loop around Houston during rush hour. Well, I'll stop with these and not bore everyone with the bricks, wood and pallets. Just watch out for trucks or trailers hauling anything! Keep distance between you and what ever is in front of you so you can see ahead as far as possible.

[wncbmw]

telliott - you win the 'Dodging Death Sweepstakes'!!

[riceburner]

Have had to avoid a large step ladder that was across the middle lane of a 3 lane motorway before now - it had been hit a few times already!!

[telliott]

This is a good thread. Thanks Vann for starting it.

Sounds like there are a lot of "ALERT RIDERS" on this board. Probably one of the reasons we picked "R's" in the first place.

Safety is something that needs to be talked about often; to remind us to stay alert and RIDE thru dangerous situations. Unfortunately there are too many that get tunnel vision and then panic when something unusual happens. They show up on accident statistics instead of being able to share their exciting experiences.

I watched a "Harley Rider" cruising in the left lane on a 4 lane road with center turn lane going into a commercial area. No one with 200 ft of him in any direction. He was in front of me. Looking straight ahead, not scanning or even being resonably observant. A car who's driver was also out to lunch pulled out of a car lot on the opposite side of the road and drove right into the side of the Harley. Hurt him very badly. The car driver "didn't see the bike". Nothing new about that but the rider NEVER even saw the car coming! He had a lot of time to react and plenty of places to go or to even stop before he got smashed. He didn't even look to his left when he got hit, just flew off into the next lane and started bouncing and tumbling. I don't think he was going over 40.

Ride like your Invisible, you usually are!

[telliott]

OK, I guess I really do spend too much time on the road. Friday morning I observed a deer run into a car at 10:30 AM.

New highway, basically an Interstate 50yd. grass on both sides and about the same in the center. Nothing coming from the other direction 4 vehicles headed West and I was the last about 3-400yds to the rear.

A doe just ran from the left completely across the the East bound lane, across the median, across one of the West bound lanes and hit the lead car in the far right lane. It tried to jump it at the last instant and hit the rear door and window, flipped over the car and landed in the drainage ditch. Scrambled to her feet and ran into the woods!

The car and a following P/up pulled over and the driver got out to look at damage. The rear window was shattered and some body damage. Just a little sooner and it would have hit the driver's window. Or it could have been a Motorcycle.

Be safe, weird things do happen on the road.

[Boxerboy]

DJ and me do an annual ride over Mt. Hotham here in Victoria, Oz. The first one (DJ may not have been on that one) was memorable for the darting in all directions from our group of bikes. The car in front was trailering a couple of big heifers on it. I was front rider at this point.

I noticed one heifer seemed to spread it's legs a tad and thought uhoh! Sure enough, a nanosecond later a stream of cow urine exploded forth in the direction of us!!!! This was Niagara on wheels I'm tellin' ya now!:shock:

YIKES!! As I saw it coming I managed to dart around the trailer and avoided the shower. The guys behind weren't quite so lucky, but they did manage to avoid most of it.

Six years on it still manages the occasional mention.