I did something REALLY stupid while out on a ride yesterday. To make it worse, I did it with my bride on the back. I am embarrased to post this as I always consider myself the safest of safe scooter riders. But, I want to let everybody know if for no other reason but a reminder. It was a beautiful day here yesterday. We had been out for 3-4 hours. Stopped by the lake, had lunch, went downtown and enjoyed the people and festevities and were out just enjoying the ride. I came upon a line of cars that was backed up for at least 1/2 mile. All these cars were in the left lane trying to exit on I-35 south. I was west bound with 3 other lanes basically open. Like a idiot, I stayed in the lane right next to the traffic back up. My lane was completely open and I was driving 65 MPH when of course the obvious happened. A car decided to get out of the 5 MPH traffic and of course the "person" did not look, just pulled out in front of us. I was fortunate enough to be paying attenion and quickly hard to the right into the next lane. Luckliy no other cages there, at least not right there. Of course the "person" see's me and returns to her lane causing more caos. Bottom line is I had NO business being where I was under the circumstances. Any sensible rider would have been out of harms way, and 99% of the time I would have been. I was too busy enjoying the ride and became very stupid. It was almost predictable what happened. I feel very dumb but thank God it all turned out ok. I am way more upset at me than I am the cage. Bottom line is this, never let your gard down. I would have sworn I would not have been in that situation but I was. I have been reminded to stay smart, I hope you have been too. With my bride of 30 years too, what a dummy. :small3d023:
Stupid ... but lucky
- Thread starter walleye
- Start date
Slowrider
Active Member
Walleye I'm glad that you and your wife made it through that. It is easy to have those distracted moments while riding. It can be anything that takes our mind from the defensive driving we must do when we ride. I appreciate you sharing this as a reminder that no matter how safe we think we are we can have a moment that we are not prepared for. It sure does not hurt to practice an emergency manuever now and then to keep our skills sharp.
I'm glad you made it through that mess alright. I made a stupid mistake earlier this year too, same deal, just riding along not paying attention on 75N during rush hour, I knew traffic would come to a screeching halt at any given moment and I had to lock the brakes up. I was lucky that I got stopped, smoke was rolling and I had nowhere to go but I managed to maintain control and got out of traffic at the next exit.
I'm just really glad to be reading the stories with happy endings.
I'm just really glad to be reading the stories with happy endings.
Thanks for the well wishes. I posted to remind all of us to ride safe. If it makes just one of us think about the dangers and to ride safer then it turns out to be a good lesson for all. I know I am definetely going to be thinking about my surroundings a little closer. (like I should have been) Maybe this was a message to pay attention.... if it was, it worked....
Very good Walleye to remind us about keeping our minds sharp. Labor day weekend is really a time to watch this and be more vigilant...was out Saturday for a nice lunch in town, looked across at the freeway US HWY 101...heavy traffic northbound (towards SF Bay Area) and southbound (towards LA San Diego)...still laden with late weekend commuters.
With a down economy, more people are taking shorter trips and local vacations...so everything was busy here (we have a Factory Outlet Mall in Camarillo) the other big one is in Palm Springs. so we have a lot of international visitors as well. Be extra careful around these areas. Plenty of tour buses and rubber neckers too.
With a down economy, more people are taking shorter trips and local vacations...so everything was busy here (we have a Factory Outlet Mall in Camarillo) the other big one is in Palm Springs. so we have a lot of international visitors as well. Be extra careful around these areas. Plenty of tour buses and rubber neckers too.
I really like that quote. Thanks.
Scrappy
Active Member
glad for the happy ending. its easy to let your guard down, all it takes is a second. i enjoy these reminders. the ones one the road are too risky of reminders. few weeks back about 5 hours into a ride, just got done with a twisty 5-10 miles up and down some bluffs that i have never rode before. got out into the flat open and was kinda thinking back on the beauty of a ride i just had. and how demanding on the senses it was. came to a 'T' in the road looked left car stopped at a stop sign, looked right car coming. I assumed they had a stop as well... Nope! I started going and the car kept coming also, they slowed about the same time I realized what a fool i was. Was not even a close call, but had they been going 10 miles faster and not paying attention.. my ride would have had a major detour. I made the mistake, and the cage had his or her head up. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. even if it wasn't close was a serious wake up call. be safe all