Don't Hit It, Unless You Can Eat It All....

.

Well, that's an odd title for a posting. 

I am not suggesting that you eat anything you hit when out riding the scooter. 

Nor am I advocating that you try to hit anything that happens to be on the road.  I'm afraid that PETA or some other bleeding heart group would come after me if I did. 

I'll explain further in a bit. 

What brought this strange topic to mind was a trip I took the other day, where a stray dog was standing on the road.  Confused as he could be, he was not sure where to turn. 

Here he is:

After slowing way down and blowing the horn at him a lot, he ran off. 

A closer look:

He is not long for this world, I'm afraid, if he stays around here. 


That got me to thinking.  What if I had hit him?  He is probably an 80 or 90 pound animal.  My bike, with me on it, weighs about 620 pounds.  He would make quite an impact if I hit him.  I am sure I would fall if I did, and I'll bet the bike would be heavily damaged both by the impact with the animal and with the road. 

...and that doesn't count what might happen to Bucky. 

So, what size isn't too big to cause major trouble if we collided? 

Let's go down the list and see if we can figure this out. 

I once ran across this horse wandering on the road, along with a pretty big dog. 

See: Stuff in the Road

Both are too big to survive tangling with on two wheels. 

This deer is also too big, even though she is a small one as deer go in this area:

See: Oh, Deer

What about this group?:

See: Got My Goat

Too big, and there being several of them together would make them hard to miss. 

Do you see the cow on the right there? 

It looks as though he is getting ready to sprint out into the street.  (Actually, he is a yard ornament in the city of Brevard, NC. ) 

Nevertheless, he is too big.  

How about this rabbit?:

You might be able to stay up if you hit him.  ...but it would be best of it were not while leaning into a curve. 

Same with this guy:

I can't tell you how many of these I have run over in the car because of their indecisiveness.  They seem to change their minds right when they have escaped being crushed. 

Yea, that's about right, I'd say.  I wish they would take decision-making classes or something. You'd think the indecisive ones would already be wiped out.  Maybe they are all that way. 

This is a slippery one:

See: Stuff in the Road

A tortoise (not a turtle).  Stay away. 

This?:

See: Pavement Surfaces and Other Things to Watch Out For

Possibly. 

So what is the decision point?  How big is too big? 

One rule of thumb I have heard,
but not tested,
is that if it is too big to eat in one sitting,
avoid hitting it.  

Your results may vary.  ...and it depends on your lean angle, your machine, your tires, your speed, and whether you manage to hit whatever it is squarely or a glancing blow. 

Lots of "depends ons". 

That rule of thumb might work for all but the tortoise.  I believe I could eat one of those in one sitting, but it sure would be quite a lump to run over.  I think I will avoid it. 


Best not to hit any of these varmints, actually. 


Instead, learn to brake heavily and swerve smartly (but not both at the same time, please).  ...and practice those moves frequently. 


There are a few other live road hazards I have experience with. 

One like this got me about four years ago: 

See: Big Bird

I avoided several of his associates who were dining on some road kill, but this one flew right into my face shield as he flew away.  Good thing I has wearing that protective gear.  (I always do, by the way.) 

What about these varmints?:

See: Stuff in the Road

...or this one?:

Especially if he is running in the middle of the road, or not facing traffic.

Some of them seem to willfully make it hard to avoid them.  ...and they have lawyers, I'm told. 

I've seen a lot of these, too:

See: Smooth

Coming and going at high speeds, some more careful than others, and some easier to avoid than others. 

They're too big, and can cause you lots of other trouble. 


So let's run down the list, and whether it is likely to be OK if you hit one:

• Rabbit - OK
• Squirrel - OK
• Bird - OK (if small enough to eat in one sitting)
• Snake - OK
  .
• Dog - not OK
• Goat - not OK
• Deer - not OK
• Horse - not OK
• Cow - not OK 
• Tortoise - not OK (usually small enough, but hard and slippery)
• Man - not OK
• Bicyclists - not OK
• Motorcyclists - not OK

Well, it looks as though the list is pretty long of things that you should avoid hitting.  That's a good policy. 


What about you?  What animals have you encountered on the road...and what was the result? 

.
.

.

I Don't Understand How...

.

I went out for a ride a couple of weekends ago.  That is not unusual, but it occurred not long after our snow and ice storms that paralyzed us for a few days.  As you might expect here and abouts, the only retail establishments that did well then were the grocery stores, which, as usual, sold out of milk and bread just before the tumult.  

Odd, that.  Don't people have enough stock of this stuff to last a couple of days?  Ah, well.  Mine is not to question why. 

Anyway, I headed up US-76 from Westminster, SC to find a waterfall that I had read about.  This one. 

I obviously found it, and will advise you, kind reader, in a few days about its location and picturesque attributes, but first, I have an observation and a question. 

You see, I had occasion to travel back towards home on SC-28, also euphemistically known as Moonshiner 28.  Specifically the stretch shown here:

View Larger Map

(By the way, if you travel the other way on Moonshiner 28, toward the northwest, you can go all the way to the infamous Tail of the Dragon via. twisty roads almost all the way.  Some say 28 is the better road.)  

Along the part of 28 I rode, there are some nice sweeping curves, but some tight ones in a few places.  I was tooling along and two guys on BMWs passed me at a good clip in a straight section.  

I opened the throttle a little to keep up with them, and was doing well for a couple of curves when, alas, I noticed a change in the road surface. 

There was a considerable amount of sand in places.  I hadn’t seen much of that so far, but here it had been spread liberally to improve traction during the cold weather.  Its remains can be very slippery for two wheelers when it has dried out, and sometimes a light dusting is difficult to detect, but slick as ball bearings on banana peels. 

In particular, there is a pair of sweepers near the Stumphouse Ranger Station (named after the nearby and long unfinished Stumphouse railroad tunnel).  

View Larger Map

The curves are not very tight, but there was a lot of sand there.  True, it was not in the driving lanes, but some of it certainly could have been, especially lurking out of sight around the curve. 

See it there on the left side of the turn lane?  

At that point, I slowed down and never saw the two guys again.  I was bummed out a bit, as I had wanted to have a spirited ride too.  

Oh, well, the better part of valor is discretion, in the which better part I have sav'd my life.

Here is what I don’t understand:

The BMW guys appeared to be good riders, probably not exceeding their capabilities on this road.

Except for one thing they could not count on. 

How/why were they trusting the road surface so much so soon after the white stuff mostly melted?  A sprinkling of sand could have brought them dire consequences. 

This puzzled me.  Had they scouted the road before this run, making mental notes of hazards? 

Unlikely as it seems, were they oblivious to the risk the sand might present?  Were they simply ignoring the possible risk so as to have a spirited ride for the day? 

I like to think it was the first situation -- that they had scouted beforehand -- but who knows? 

I am certainly more cautious than most riders.  I have never dragged a hard part on a road in a curve (other than the toe of my out-of-place boot).  My chicken strips are pretty wide. 

But I cannot trust the road surface enough to do it any other way, particularly when it is very likely that there is debris on the surface like there was that day.  

What do you think?  

.

.