socalrob
03-01-2006, 12:00 AM
Monday in LA we got a few inches of rain. I drove in to work, the first day not riding in quite awhile. I draw the line at not riding in to work if its actually raining. Today (Tues) was cold & grey, but no rain, and since I didn't get the bike out this weekend, & I have no battery charger, I rode. The freeways were mostly dry. I had a morning meeting down at USC, which is on the other side of downtown LA from me. Riding down the 2 freeway I had my first lucky break of the day.
As I am coming up to stopped/slow traffic, about 600 ft. ahead of me I all of a sudden see a car careening sideways through traffic and hit the center divider, I see another car slip/slide'n down the road. The first car bounces off the divider & careens back to the shoulder. I look in my mirrors & am in the clear, & slide neatly up between 2 stopped cars. Veteran commuters all take it in stride, everyone slowed down nicely, a Highway Patrol car was backing up to the scene, & I cruise right on by. I have no idea how a cager going down a straight level relatively dry, grooved, freeway can manage to spin out. These were newer cars that should have ABS. Seems like they must really work at it to screw up control by that much. Hate to think what would have happened if I had been up ahead with them, getting Tboned by a car going 30 mph accross a freeway. I figure it would have been bad news to have left about 15 seconds earlier this morning, so my lucky day.
I had my meeting at USC, unfortunately on a cold day like this the coeds were pretty bundeld up. On my way back to the office, I get on the Harbor Freeway, & am quickly changing lanes over to the fast lane. Heavy & fast traffic, I do a quick check over the shoulder before each lane change. Just as I'm changing into a lane, I look back, then look forward, & right in the lane next to me is a friggin drive shaft & a cage part or two. That drive shaft, not quite parallel with my path of travel, would have been a bitch to hit, & if it had been in my lane, good chance with that look over the shoulder I wouldn't have seen it in time. It just appeared out from under a car. I did not notice any cars giving any indication of the debris (no brake lights, no swerving). Hitting something that round at speed not sure if the front wheel would have washed out or if I could have launched over it, so my lucky day again.
Both incidents moderately freaked me out in that not much I could have done if circumstances were just slightly different. With the driveshaft the lesson might be to enter the freeway, study the traffic for a bit, & then work on the lane changes. I got on the freeway & pretty much started the lane changes. I'd like to think a study of the traffic up ahead would have alerted me to something the size of a driveshaft in the road. But today, for me, it was better lucky than good.
As I am coming up to stopped/slow traffic, about 600 ft. ahead of me I all of a sudden see a car careening sideways through traffic and hit the center divider, I see another car slip/slide'n down the road. The first car bounces off the divider & careens back to the shoulder. I look in my mirrors & am in the clear, & slide neatly up between 2 stopped cars. Veteran commuters all take it in stride, everyone slowed down nicely, a Highway Patrol car was backing up to the scene, & I cruise right on by. I have no idea how a cager going down a straight level relatively dry, grooved, freeway can manage to spin out. These were newer cars that should have ABS. Seems like they must really work at it to screw up control by that much. Hate to think what would have happened if I had been up ahead with them, getting Tboned by a car going 30 mph accross a freeway. I figure it would have been bad news to have left about 15 seconds earlier this morning, so my lucky day.
I had my meeting at USC, unfortunately on a cold day like this the coeds were pretty bundeld up. On my way back to the office, I get on the Harbor Freeway, & am quickly changing lanes over to the fast lane. Heavy & fast traffic, I do a quick check over the shoulder before each lane change. Just as I'm changing into a lane, I look back, then look forward, & right in the lane next to me is a friggin drive shaft & a cage part or two. That drive shaft, not quite parallel with my path of travel, would have been a bitch to hit, & if it had been in my lane, good chance with that look over the shoulder I wouldn't have seen it in time. It just appeared out from under a car. I did not notice any cars giving any indication of the debris (no brake lights, no swerving). Hitting something that round at speed not sure if the front wheel would have washed out or if I could have launched over it, so my lucky day again.
Both incidents moderately freaked me out in that not much I could have done if circumstances were just slightly different. With the driveshaft the lesson might be to enter the freeway, study the traffic for a bit, & then work on the lane changes. I got on the freeway & pretty much started the lane changes. I'd like to think a study of the traffic up ahead would have alerted me to something the size of a driveshaft in the road. But today, for me, it was better lucky than good.