GOTeamYosh
Sun Sep 23rd, 2007, 01:00 AM
Riding always presents new situations to the constant 'what if' games I try to play when I ride to stay out of trouble and keep from wadding up my bike.
What if that driver can't see me as they talk on the phone? What if that bed flies off that car and stands up in front of me? Today I ran across a new one to watch for-
We had finished up a rally/rest stop at the guest center below Mt. Evens and I needed to get back to town to catch up with family after a short ride with the group. I left the stop in the lead position with another rider to head down to I-70/Idaho Springs.
We had traveled a couple of miles getting slowed by a couple of cars along the way and passing where it was safe when I came up behind a VW Toureg. I was looking for a safe passing point and watching traffic in the oncoming lanes when we went around a 180 blind curve (mountain on right). The straight after the curve was looking good for the pass when a Jeep Cherokee that had no business on inside of the mountain pulled out in front of the VW (no pull-off zone or stopping area that I noticed and way to close to blind corner). There appeared to be plenty of space between the VW and the Jeep as it tore out, but the VW hit his brakes anyway and may have been spooked from the Jeep's dust it threw up pulling out along with the Jeep's general bad location. I was prepping to pass the VW so I had to pull up hard on the brakes and prepared my bail out to the open oncoming lane of traffic if he stayed on the brakes. Fortunately the VW quickly got off the brakes and I only had to move to the center line in preperation for the worst. We passed both of them shortly there after.
I am wery of wild animals on the roadside jumping out or motorists pulling out from hidden drives in front of me, but this hill was too steep to be concerned with wild animals or driveways. Of course man is the wildest animal out there and is always doing some crazy stuff.
Anyway, a new 'what if' scenario to add to my list of stuff to watch out for - Crazy motorists pulling out from blind corners where they should not be.
Cheers,
-J
PS- Shout out to the yahoo in the pickup that told us all we were number 1 during the ride up. :321: The bicyclists were also thicker than I can ever remember along 103 and sure wanted a big chunk of the road for themselves.:argue:
What if that driver can't see me as they talk on the phone? What if that bed flies off that car and stands up in front of me? Today I ran across a new one to watch for-
We had finished up a rally/rest stop at the guest center below Mt. Evens and I needed to get back to town to catch up with family after a short ride with the group. I left the stop in the lead position with another rider to head down to I-70/Idaho Springs.
We had traveled a couple of miles getting slowed by a couple of cars along the way and passing where it was safe when I came up behind a VW Toureg. I was looking for a safe passing point and watching traffic in the oncoming lanes when we went around a 180 blind curve (mountain on right). The straight after the curve was looking good for the pass when a Jeep Cherokee that had no business on inside of the mountain pulled out in front of the VW (no pull-off zone or stopping area that I noticed and way to close to blind corner). There appeared to be plenty of space between the VW and the Jeep as it tore out, but the VW hit his brakes anyway and may have been spooked from the Jeep's dust it threw up pulling out along with the Jeep's general bad location. I was prepping to pass the VW so I had to pull up hard on the brakes and prepared my bail out to the open oncoming lane of traffic if he stayed on the brakes. Fortunately the VW quickly got off the brakes and I only had to move to the center line in preperation for the worst. We passed both of them shortly there after.
I am wery of wild animals on the roadside jumping out or motorists pulling out from hidden drives in front of me, but this hill was too steep to be concerned with wild animals or driveways. Of course man is the wildest animal out there and is always doing some crazy stuff.
Anyway, a new 'what if' scenario to add to my list of stuff to watch out for - Crazy motorists pulling out from blind corners where they should not be.
Cheers,
-J
PS- Shout out to the yahoo in the pickup that told us all we were number 1 during the ride up. :321: The bicyclists were also thicker than I can ever remember along 103 and sure wanted a big chunk of the road for themselves.:argue: