When you ride/ most vunerable place ??

[mrzoom]

Ok we have a post on the scarest places and along the same lines but a little diff. is where do you feel the most vunerable?

The list will be long,blind curves, gravel etc but my worst place has to be gas stations.When I pull in for gas I start by scanning the lot surface. Holes, uneven pavement, gas fill covers and the humps by the tank fill covers too.

Then there is the area by the pumps. Spilled gas, oil, antifreeze all need to be spotted before my tires get into the goo.

The worst hazzard to me is the drivers in cages coming in.

I've almost bought the farm three times this year by them.

One young lady was on her cell and flat almost hit me while I was filling my tank. Another was on a mad dash to the store there and just cut me off as I pulled up to the store after filling up.Another AH almost took my mirror off. I was just started to pull out,checking behind,all clear.Just as I started to turn he zooms by me on the right so close I felt wind.

All of these are slow speed events which make it harder to do avoidance manuvers.

What bothers you the most??

[Francois_Dumas]

Gravel and sand....

[russell_bynum]

I feel pretty vulnerable when my world starts to look like this:

 

 

[PaulCrinson]

Roundabouts in the wet, who knows how much oil and/or diesel has been spilled on them

 

Paul

[deaks]

Is that you on the bike Russell? Did you manage to hang on? - I have to say with a little bit of cropping it would make a brilliant avatar!

 

Oh yeah, most vunerable - well, I live in the middle of nowhere surrounded by farm land, so there's often lots of luvverly mud on the roads where the tractors and cows have been.... I tend to get cautious when returning home after a long ride.

 

Cheers,

Scott

[motorman587]

Intersection. Number # 1 motorcycle killer, the car making the left turn.

[lawnchairboy]

http://www.hikingthecarolinas.com/wildlife/deer_munch.jpg

[Lynn]

High School parking lot.

 

If I meet my husband there to do something after he gets off of work, I am very careful. Because noone else there is. You take the normal issues of a parking lot (sand, debris, oil and drivers not paying attention), and add lots of pedestrians and motorists in a very small parking lot, inexperience, hormones and cell-phones, then mix in parents, teachers and bicyclists....and you have a mess.

 

I try very hard not to get there until the first rush of students/parents/teachers is out of the lot-it is just a zoo. I have been known to go to the deli across the street and get a soda and wait for him there, because I don't trus the folks in the school parking lot.

[Wayne M]

Statistically, I know the most deadly thing for a motorcyclist is a car making a left in front of you. I recognize this and try my best to always be alert to this potential. What makes me personally feel the most vulnerable is being stopped in traffic and having to depend upon the car/truck/bus etc execute a stop behind you and not on you. I got taken out while on my bike in a serious wreck from behind years ago, and I've not gotten completely over it yet.

[PaulCrinson]

http://www.hikingthecarolinas.com/wildlife/deer_munch.jpg

 

Oh yeah that one too. I was out for a late evening ride recently, which I don't do much, and while we don't get too many deer in the villages, occasionally there are little Muncjack (apologise for spelling of that) and some bigger deer bounding around and suddenly I felt quite vulnerable!

[Albert]

For me I think multi lane roads in crowded suburban environments (e.g. near a mall). You've got fast food joints, strip malls, gas stations and a complete gambit of drivers from teenagers to moms with screaming kids and businessmen closing deals on the cell phone. Add to the mix that people are jockeying for position and generally unclear on where/when to turn and change lanes and you on your bike become a mere distraction at best. Definitely have to be 360 degree aware here.

 

BTW this is not an environment I seek however there are times, typically when on a business trip, where hotels etc are located in just such areas. Add in your own unfamiliarity with the area and the radar needs to go up even higher.

[philbytx]

Russell,

All you would need is a sixgun or a rifle poking around the front of your bike....remember in the movies, seeing folks hanging off their horses firing their weapons?

[rrrich]

I'm with Albert on this one.

 

Add:

 

2: Outter half of on-ramp curves (thrown oil)

 

3: Waiting to turn left in an intersection.

 

[questrider]

Gravel and sand....

Since getting my GS, I actually look for gravel and sand to ride on! My wife says riding behind me now is funny because everytime we pass a gravel road or "path" running between fields my head whips around to see "where it goes" and sometimes I instantly grab a handful, trip the turn signal, and I'm off-pavement! Sometimes I agree with GelStra that it's "a two-wheeled Jeep," but mostly I think it's a two-wheeled tractor. I'm still waiting for the ultimate farkle: an after-market cutting-deck for mowing the lawn.

 

But back to the topic, as for feeling vulnerable, my worst time is at night. I just don't feel comfortable that I'm seen or, as other hazards have been pointed out above, that I can see oil, sand, gravel, etc. And then, yes, as lawnchairboy so eloquently illustrated: deer keep me constantly on edge at night. I either need to install some lights so bright they will vaporize anything that gets in my way (kind of like the tripods in WOTW), or, as I practice often, just simply not ride at night.

[Geezer]

Shopping mall parking lot. Folks pulling out of a parking space without looking, others cutting you off because they are racing you to the space, cars coming at you from all directions

 

Avoid at all costs.

[Bakaboy]

I feel pretty vulnerable when my world starts to look like this:

 

 

 

There are easier ways to check your blind spot!!!!!

[IanW]

Dodging these fellas:

 

 

 

moderator edit: I thought I'd put the picture in the text for you.

[Ben_Ricci]

For me I think multi lane roads in crowded suburban environments (e.g. near a mall). You've got fast food joints, strip malls, gas stations and a complete gambit of drivers from teenagers to moms with screaming kids and businessmen closing deals on the cell phone. Add to the mix that people are jockeying for position and generally unclear on where/when to turn and change lanes and you on your bike become a mere distraction at best. Definitely have to be 360 degree aware here.

 

Absolutely. Add anything like rain, late afternoon sun, special events, construction and this is the most trying environment to ride in my opinion.

[Timmer]

The last 4 miles of road, going into town from my house. Between the squids on bikes blowing the turns, and running into my lane, or the the cages who cross the double yellow lines in blind turns, it's not a very safe ride.

 

Late yesterday about a mile from our house, we had a motorcyclist blow a turn after a long straight stretch. He left a long straight skid mark, crossed the road, clipped a telephone pole, and crashed. They flew him to the local hospital, but he didn't survive.

[AdventurePoser]

All the above are scary places, but I think another is the last two miles to my house after a very long day ride. While nothing bad has happened here, I really have to force myself to be extra careful, and not let complacy/fatigue create a situation...

 

Cheers,

Steve in So Cal

[AviP]

I feel vulnerable riding:

- in oily/sandy parking lots (BTDT)

- in oily toll booth plazas

- on wet/slippery lane markings at stop intersections or lights (BTDT)

- on off-camber stop intersections or lights

- in other drivers' blindspots

- double the speed limit or more around blind turns

- lane splitting around PA truckers (those bastages)

- slower than the average traffic speed

- in winter and spring when the sand potential is high

- lane splitting when traffic is over 35 mph

- lane splitting at 30 mph over the traffic speed

 

P.S. I love gravel roads and rain, so those don't feature as my vulnerabilities.