Strange close calls

[PITBULL]

After reading a thread on here and thinking about my own close calls....Im sure we have all had them. I got to thinking about some of the strange ones.

One time while on my '83 I was motoring along at about 45-50 mph and a friggin' bird flew between me and the windshield.

Another time while living up in the mountains on my way home at about 11pm a deer ran out from the side of the road and just past me. He was so close that I could hear his hooves hitting the pavement behind me...over the sound of the motor and the Judas Priest blaring from the radio. That was kinda spooky.

And just yesterday while out exploring some of the back roads a truck in front of me appearantly hit a 2x4 that bounced up from under the truck, slammed back down to the road then proceded to explode like a granade, sending bits of wooden "shrapnel" everywhere. Thank goodness for my windshield. I got a few others that I might share later. LOL like a wasp stinging me in the armpit in rush hour LOL that was kinda different!

 

What you got?

[Condor]

LOL like a wasp stinging me in the armpit in rush hour LOL that was kinda different! What you got?

 

Gotta love those wasps... Had one get in my helmet because of a raised shield and proceed to sting the crap out my lower lip. Keeping the scoot under control while trying to scrape it out from underneath the chin guard was an experience. The last time I got stung by a bee while picking plums off the tree in the back yard my hand started to swell and the pain started to run up my arm. With the wasp sting I wasn't sure if I was gonna die or not. Luckly my lower lip stayed numb for about a half hour and everything returned to normal. I now keep the shield almost closed.

[86er]

I've had a few bee/wasp incidents, the worst being: Riding at highway speed in a 3/4 helmet and a pair of glasses....I got hit right between the eyes by a bumble bee! It didn't sting me but all the guts and/or whatever quickly seeped into both eyes! That really burned and I, too, was lucky to maintain control while I got the bike to the side of the road and stopped because I was almost blind!

 

I've wondered how a wasp/bee can sting you when you hit it going fast? How can they react that fast? And I think I figured it out, maybe they are flying the same direction you are riding and you just fly into the stinger!

 

While riding Saturday, Blackjack had been honking at a dog on the side of the road

for a quarter mile and it still ran across right in front of him! He almost tagged it!

 

[Bvinson]

Coming home from Daytona Bike week back in 83 when a wild turkey (The winged kind & not the bottled breed) came flying across from my right. It passed behind my back just missing me. Well my partner riding behind me and to my left wasn't so lucky. It caught him in the face and pulled him off the bike like he had been clothes lined.

 

To make it short he spent a couple of days in the hospital and required a few stiches and a cast on a broken arm. His Harley went to the big chrome shop in the sky.

[Yammer Dan]

Came around a sharp turn and three deer in the road couple years ago. Went between them. No time for anything else. Hit the one on the right hard enough to bruise my leg didn't leave a mark on the bike! Had to stop til I quit shaking.

[Eck]

I had a wasp fly in between my helmet and my right ear, and the it landed in my ear.

Then I could feel him moving around and he bagan to enter my ear canal..

I hit the brakes to stop as fast as I could, peeled off the helmet, and tried to grab him by whatever I could grab to pull him out, and I must hav eticked him off because he stung the livinin B-Jesus out of my ear..inside the canal.....yea man...ouch..

[lonestarmedic]

Remember rush hour traffic and no way to pull over. The bee went between my helmet and my right cheek. Yanked the helmet off and chucked it into the median. Went to turn around and get it at the next exit. I guess a Fulmer vs. a Kenworth isn't a real contest.

 

JB

[KiteSquid]

Ridding along about 70 MPH and hit a dragon fly.

 

it hit my right hand on the knuckles...

 

the next thing I knew, my hand was up by my ear, and it felt like I slugged a steel pipe!!!!

 

 

YOW that hurt!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

Another time I was crusing on the highway about 5 seconds behind a 2 ton stake sided truck...... a piece of sheet steel bout 1 foot square, came off the truck. All I could do is hug the tank and pray!!!!!!

 

Thankfully that is one thing that went over my head!!

[tmodel]

After reading some of these post my close calls seem pretty minor... especially the bee in the ear and flying sheetmetal!! YOWWWWW...

 

My wife and I were on the highway running about 55. Don't know if it was a bee or hornet but it hit me in the left knee (leaving a goose egg) bounced into my chin stinger side up! It felt like I had just caught a fist to the face.

 

Years ago was on the highway running 50 or so when a German Sheperd walked out in front of me. Thought I would miss him but the idiot dog stopped in the middle of the road to late for me to avoid him. I gunned it just before I hit him. He went down but I managed to ride over him and maintain control. Both me and the bike were ok. Can't say the same for the dog. He went to meet Jesus! Sorry about the dog but was glad I didn't swerve and go down!

[SaltyDawg]

Wow where to begin. Ok I got to start somewhere so here goes.

• Riding in heavy base traffic one morning traveling at 55-60Mph while in the right lane of a 4 lane highway with a grass median/ditch, bumper to bumper both lanes. I had a car back out of a fenced parking lot onto the highway right in front of me. Only enough room for a MC in the left lane and I was on a Honda 750 at the time, quickly changed lanes only to hear and feel a loud metallic bang while crossing the dividing line. The bike immediately started fishtailing left and right, I had no idea what was going on, but I knew I was in deep trouble, got the bike under control (Now remember this is rush hour traffic) and into the median/ditch looked down and saw oil everywhere under the bike, immediately gunned the bike out of the ditch and across the oncoming lanes (no traffic) and into a parking lot where I could look at the damage. Long story short when I followed the fishtailing oil trail that was about 100 ft long to it’s origin I found a 12 bolt in the road with a gouged head and oil on the other end. Evidently I hit it just perfect with the front tire and that set the head into the road, as the tire went over it and came off the head the bolt rose up and hit square in the middle of the oil pan knocking a hole the size of a half dollar. When my wife came to pick me up and saw the oil track I laid down, she said she would never question me about my abilities to ride a MC. I have to say all the stars were aligned that morning, because by all rights I should have been seriously injured or killed.
  
• Not once but twice this has happened to me while riding home from work. Living on the East Coast of NC there are a lot of boats on trailers going down the highway. Well for some reason people don’t seem the feel the need to secure their equipment. While riding behind a boat being pulled down the highway at 65Mph or so I had the pleasure of watching a boogie board launch itself out of the front of a boat, sail high into the air and come crashing down right behind me, both times all I could do was watch as that thing sailed over my head. Both times it hit so hard the thing busted into pieces.
  
• Riding to Myrtle Beach Bike Week last Spring traveling down HWY 17 around Wilmington and in a section where there were 3 lanes heading South. I was in the far right lane and a dump truck was in the far left lane. I watched rock about the size of a ping pong ball fall off the truck and bounce across three lanes of traffic and hit me square in the bottom of my “RIGHT” foot which was on my highway pegs. It hit so hard my foot was numb for about 30 min. You want to talk about messing up your week, try getting a stone bruise on the bottom of your foot on your way to bike week. I limped around for the entire time.
  
• This one is a tad long, so I will give the Readers Digest condensed version. While leaving work one Friday in August at 2 PM on a very hot day on my RSV, my friend and I were traveling down one of the base roads that go through the forest. Looking ahead I thought I saw a Humvee coming out of the woods upon further inspection I realized it wasn’t a Humvee, but a BIG BEAR, I mean REALLY BIG. It was apparent that we were on a collision course and it didn’t look as if he was planning on stopping, in fact I don’t think he even saw us, he waited for 3 cars to pass him from the opposite direction and started across the road in front of us. I hit the brakes and he saw me and stopped, when I came to a stop he was literally 1 foot from my left handlebar, I could have reached out and smacked him on the head if I were stupid enough. Still here so we know that didn’t happen. I jammed the gears and took off out of there, looked back passing 80 only to see my buddy still there with the bear and his headlight bouncing up and down. He forgot to down shift and tried to take off in 5th gear with the bear right in front of him. He was on a 96 RS with sampsons on it I think, anyway it was loud enough to scare the bear back off the road. We had a couple beers after that one and it was a LONG time before we went down that road again.

[sarges46]

I have had a bee in my ear that didnt sting...my friends thought it quit funny watching me trying to get my helmet off without undoing it!

 

Had a bee up my sleeve...somehow got past my gauntlet.

Hit by a very small bird that almost knocked me off the bike. These are years ago.

 

Last year..stung over eye at speed. Hit by a bird that flew from left to right and got my on the right foot...now how did it get by all the stuff in front I will never know!

 

 

The best was while riding without shield or visor and got hit by a June bug right twix the lookers! I watched that thing coming for miles it seemed. It was like getting hit by a rock and I could have sworn it flew off after bouncing off my head!

[ctraylor]

I was riding along and felt something hit me in the chest but didn't think nothing of it because I was used to being hit by bugs. I rode about another 5 miles and pulled into the gas station and put my feet down and leaned forward and a red wasp stung me through my pants on my twins and I dropped the bike and the ladies in the store was watching through the window and wondering why I was dancing around holding my privates. I guess this should be on the most embarrassing moments huh?

[cmiles3]

Weird experience I've had twice, but not on a bike- driving down the road, close to the river, but in the city, heard a buzz growing louder. Next moment, sounds like a rock slams into my windshield. It was a bullet, nearly spent from being fired at least half a mile away (across the river?) Left a small but nasty star on the windshield.

 

Had an identical experience years later, driving down the highway through a public hunting area. Loud buzz, followed by the sound of the bullet hitting the windshield. This one cracked the windshield but didn't leave a star. Just sold the Explorer last year.

 

Twice, almost struck by lightning. You don't hear the bullet that hits you, as the saying goes. I heard both of those.

 

Then there's the neighbor who thought it was a good idea for some target practice with his .357 in the back yard. The bullets were ricocheting off his dirt bullet trap, up into the trees in my back yard. The only sounds I heard from those bullets was the shot, followed by the bullets as they passed through the leaves over my head. I walked around the long way and discussed it with him, gently, as he was armed & drunk.

 

Seen a lot of things fly out of the back of pickups. Another problem is the spare tires under the bed, supported by a cable. After a few years of driving in bad weather the cable breaks, dropping the tire, which then bounces pretty high. A friend totaled his dad's car when one nearly struck his windshield on the expressway. I lost one years ago on a different expressway. Saw it bounce in the rear view mirror, fortunately onto the shoulder.

[Switch]

I am 68 yrs old. I have been walking with the Lord since 1971. Twice in that time, I have had him speak clearly to me. The second time was about 2 months ago.

I was on my RSTD and riding on the eastern bypass here in Montgomery in the center lane. I was approaching an intersection with a red light and there were two card stopped ahead of me. In my mind, I heard a voice that said "move to the right lane". I thought that was a good idea as there were no cars in that lane. I shifted lanes and traveled about 15 feet and heard a loud screeching behind me. So loud in fact that I involuntarily jerked the handlebars as I thought I had been had. I turned to look to my left and behind where the noise came from in time to see a car rear end the two that had been stopped for the light. Just a few seconds earlier I was in that lane.

I hereby publicly acknowledge my thanks to God for watching out for me. Some may say the idea to move was my own as the right lane was clear but I know what I heard and it wasn't my own thoughts. No one can convince me any different.

[pegscraper]

I think I've posted this one on here before. Last summer, one cloudy, misty, very humid early morning, I pulled out onto a four lane highway from a smaller, lower speed road from my house. Oncoming traffic was a good ways away. I noticed that the next vehicle down was a garbage truck. It soon became apparent that at the highway speed, my helmet visor would not stay unfogged, and on the highway it won't stay up far enough to see under it. I couldn't see where I was going well enough. I pulled off at the next side road and removed the visor, put my helmet back on, and pulled back out. About four more miles or so up the road, I came across this garbage truck who had pulled over just past another side road. In the ditch was a crunched minivan. I'm supposing that the minivan driver did not pay attention to oncoming traffic and pulled out - in front of the garbage truck with which he lost. I'm guessing it was the truck driver standing on the side of the road. He appeared unhurt. But if I had still been in front of that garbage truck, I would have been the one who had lost. If the driver didn't see a garbage truck, he sure wouldn't have seen a bike.

 

I got stung on my leg by a wasp or something on the road last fall. I never saw what it was. I was going about 30 or so at the moment. I hollered "ouch" and rode on home just fine, about 20 minutes. I've been stung before in my life and never had any more reaction than that. But this time turned out different. By the time I got home I noticed I had a headache. I took some aspirin. Only a few more minutes went by and my head was really pounding, my heart was throbbing, and my chest was getting really tight. Lori drove me in. Within an hour of getting hit I was in the ER where they pumped me full of steroids to calm down the reaction. The pleasant, cool, evening ride had turned into a long night. I don't know why my reaction was so different this time. Maybe because I hit him at speed and got 100% of his dosage rammed into me all at once. I don't know how I'll react the next time I get hit either. It could be bad. I'll have to take better precautions to keeping insects from getting inside my clothes.

[DragonRider]

My close encounter came while I was leading our church m/c group on a ride to Deals Gap, we were on the Cherahola Skyway about 3/4 of the way across, I came around one of the sharp curves to the right and there running beside the lane I was in, right next to the white line was a black bear, I dont know who was scared more, me or the bear, I hit the brakes to slow down and he ran straight up the side of the hill, while I was coming to a stop the 2 bike behind me almost hit me, because they didnt hear me yell bear over the CB. Thats as close as I ever want to get to a black bear without some kind of barrier between me and him.

[oldandcrotchety]

I don't know if I've posted this before, or not. I'm at the age that I have a tendency to repeat myself. Anyway, my closest call ever happened in Germany about '72 or '73. I was going south on the main highway between Kaiserslautern and Pirmasens. (hwy 10, I think. Lutz?) I was riding close to the centerline and I saw a bus coming toward me in the other lane. Just before the bus reach even with me, a tractor-trailer rig swung out from behind it to pass. Now this truck must have been flying and gaining fast behind the bus because as soon as he swung out, he was along side the bus. I could tell that I could not clear to the right of the truck, nor to the left of the bus. We were all just too close and closing too fast. My only option was to split the two and hope for the best. I wasn't sure if I had enough room between them, but I really had no other hope. As i shot between them, I instinctively drew in my shoulders, even though I knew it would be the handle bars that would hit. I can still remember them flashing past me on either side with only a few inches to spare. There were chains swinging under the truck and in the bus I got a glimpse of a passenger staring at me with huge eyes and mouth open. Needless to say, I made it through, but for the next hour or so I looked like I had tourettes syndrome. I was shaking and stammering when I got home. Now I've had some other real close calls, but that one was the absolute closest. And to this day I tend to favor the outside of the lane so that I can at least have the option to go ditch surfing.............

[OutKast]

Its 1979. On my dads 1973 CB350. Stupid kid in cutoffs, sneakers, no shirt, open face with glasses. Crest a hill on open country ride at 60 mph. Smack into a swarm of locusts.

 

My entire chest and face was lightly bruised.

[Sailor]

Was heading out to Vesuvius just at dusk. Nice winding road. I had a full face helmet on (thank goodness). Just coming up to a 90 degree turn with a drop off on one side and a rock wall on the other. A moth the size of my thumb hit square in the middle of my face guard. I was instantly blind, all I could see was green goo. I desperately tried to picture the turn I was just entering. I made it and pulled over until I felt gravel then stopped.

[Sailor]

I rode into work one day, parked the bike and went on board and up to the cafeteria where the crew had coffee before starting the shift. Suddenly a wasp started stinging me on my waist. I tore off my leather jacket and it moved to my thigh inside my chaps. I frantically tore them off to get at the wasp. By now the girls were all applauding and shouting "take it off". It livened up everyones day.

[KiteSquid]

My Father related a story where he and his brother rode on an Indian Chief from Denver to Cheyenne in a hail storm.

 

Two walking bruises...

[kenw]

was going down the road at about 50 when an elderly couple in a great big old cadillac tank pulled out from a side street in font of me, saw me and stopped dead in the street. I didn't know you could smoke the back tire of a rsv, but it is possible. Was able to get around them on the wrong side of the road. I always slow way down atthat intersection from now on. I'd like to complain but my parents are in their 90's so God bless!!!

Kenw:322:

[GeorgeS]

OK, two years ago, going from SusanVille, Ca. headed West to I-5. Stoped for coffee + gas, left, was takeing it slow, abot 45 winding road thru heavy Forest. Came around corner, and saw about 12 Deer just Standing on the Road, waiting for Sucker !!. I Stopped, and waited about 10 Min for them to Leave. Honest, it took them that long.

 

Back in 69, on my New Honda 450, new bike, no windshield as yet. Going West in SanDiego freeway from Van Nuys to LAX Airport. About 70 in far left lane, Just topped the Hill, and spotted ahead of me, closeing, a " Black Dot " abot 4 feet off the ground. I'm thinking, thats funny, then it was bigger, then it Hit me square in the center of my Chest. Completly Knocked the Wind out of me. Could not Breath. I made the Left Shoulder, full Panic Stop, dropped the bike, and Sat on the ground for about 10 min, regaining my ability to Breath.

There are some Bugs in the S.Western States, that " Fly " and are about 2 1/2 inches in Diameter. Don't know what they are, But it made a heck of a mess on front of my leather jacket. I would say this

Bug, was as large as the average English Sparrow.

 

Last year on the Busa, old lady Ran Red, turning right in front of me, crossed two lanes to get to a left turn lane. I locked up both wheels and was skidding toward her rear end. Got within about 12 inches when she accellerated away from me. I was still completly locked up at this point. I cam back later, and stopped, to check the skid marks.

I had left about 80 feet of rubber skid marks on the road. ( both wheels at full lock up ) Note: Your bike does Not flip end over end, if you lock up the front brake !!

As some folks seem to think.

[AKRefugee]

Doing a fall ride with about 10 other folks doing on a nice twisty with rocks on one side and lake on the other. Was wearing a 3/4 helmet with a shield. Came around the corner scraping pipes and a HUGE leaf came up under the shield and glued it self to the inside of the shield. Scared the dodo out of me. Went to the right until I felt I had gone far enough than back to the left then back to the right several times all while trying to get that damn leaf out of the shield. Friends thought it was funny cause all they could see was my going from side to side and pawing at my face like I had a squirrel up there or something. Keep it up and got it stopped but still to this day do not know how.

[tmodel]

Almost forgot this one...

 

I picked up my girlfriend (who is now my wife) for our 4th date on my VStar Cruiser back in 2005. We were heading out of Woodstock Ga. through Canton to go ride in the hills. I had already spent 23 years with UPS gaining driving experience in both delivery and tractor/trailer. The driver's training I received at UPS no doubt saved us from injury or more on this day.

 

While on the multi lane highway throught Canton I noticed an Explorer to my right that I was approaching, start to drift slightly towards the left line. My drivers training had me immediatly look at the driver's mirror on the Explorer to see if he was paying attention. He wasn't! As I released the throttle and was moving my brake foot to position this ... driver... whipped his vehicle across my lane, no signal and never checking his mirror, into the middle. I locked the back brake, locked the front brake and Cindi was thrown forward into me.

 

Fortunately I kept us up and stopped short of the Explorer by a few feet. But I had to pull off the rode and calm my girl down (or at least that was my excuse)!