... will never go unnoticed again.  I landed in one on the interstate changing lanes at 85mph passing a semi-truck on the way home today.  During the time, the bars wobbled slightly, but in retrospect, I remember now feeling it "grab" at both tires telling me that I hit it just right to ride through it.  That would have been a nasty crash.  I made a choice comment inside my helmet as I throttled past the rig but it shook me a bit once I got into an open lane and slowed down.  Admittedly, I find myself still assessing it in my mind.

I'm at 2000 miles right now and I'm more comfortable than I've ever been on this bike but I have a feeling that I'm getting confident and cocky and something bad is going to happen if I don't knock it off.  Today, I failed to assess the road surface before executing a pass.  I have NO experience.  I have 2000 miles of luck and I know this.  The problem is that I'm letting these things slip my mind when I ride. 

I want to ride for decades to come.  I want to correct my thought-pattern so that it will stick.  Therefore, I said it here.  Whatever it takes to stay safe, yes? 

Thanks for reading. 

          Not trying to sound like your parents...( telling you what to do), but here are some viable options for inexperience......Please take an MSF course ( Money may be obective here).....Find out the nexttrack day at Talladega / Barbers and do it.....the street is no place to experiment or gain experience.( cagers have no regard for  you or your bike) We want you around for awhile. I will be glad to help you any way I can....I am not bragging but have raced in many  different events. When I became too confident in my control it cost me 2 broken ankles...... there went that dream. 

For those cracks in between the lanes when passing, remember to try to get more of an angle when you cross that center line. Some of those cracks can be wide enough to get you in trouble. Look at that center section as if you were going to jump up on a curb. If you go at it parallel to it you are going to slide along the curb and go down rather than going up on the curb. If you come straighter in to the curb you will be able to climb up it. This is just an exageration to show you what I mean by the angle. Glad you made it through safely.

I have hit a few areas of highway in AL that were life-threatening to say the least.  Other than your standard cracks, potholes, and debris, the worst I saw was on the way to Navarre Beach a couple of summers ago.  I was about an hour south of Greenville on I-65 and running about 80 in full road-trance mode when I hit this section about a 10th of a mile long where the surface had been ground off the road with a machine that left 2" grooves in the concrete subsurface parallel to the direction of travel- after about a 4" drop from the normal surface level.

All I could do was scream out words I had never put together before and ride it out w/o fighting it.  Front wheel was walking around like it was doing the robot.  I was seeing every house I ever lived in and every dog I ever had.   Once I got across I slowed down to about 50 and rode all trembly for a few miles.  Came across 2 more patches like that within a few miles but was ready for em.  What the hell are people thinking when they leave a surface like that w/o warning signs?  Not thinking at all, probably.

I hope nobody actually contracted the incurable groin leprosy I wished on them after that.

**Squank

 

Uhm... I pass 2k several thousand miles ago.  I don't know how many miles I have now - I've stopped keeping up with it.  This post can be deleted as far as I'm concerned.

... and... what's this "youtube"...