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So if I remember correctly, Tuesdays are statistically the best day for driving at night, late at night. Less drunks, less people on the road, etc. So, I decided to go for a ride, a long one. I was at Bennigan’s in Rockville, MD with a friend for dinner at about midnight and left from there, heading north solo. Clear semi-warm, night, great for riding. I head about 70-80 miles north on 355 – then 26, then 550, and finally ended up on 15, heading towards Gettysburg. So I get to Gettysburg, and stop to turn around and take the hwy back. I pull over under a streetlight, (scarce where I was) and give the bike a once over. All looks good, time to head home. It’s about 2 am at this point. I merge on the hwy, and all is going well. Cruising at about 70-75, I go and pass a truck on the left and there is a van in the left lane. I follow the van hoping that they are going to get over so that I don’t have to pass on the right. Well about 30 sec later, they still have not gotten over. So I signal, check the lane, speed up and proceed in to the right lane. Well, just as soon as the road lights up, there is a dear carcaas in the middle of the lane. There is NOTHING that I can do to avoid it.
First thought in my head, “OH F**K, this is going to hurt” I loosen up my grip on the throttle, don’t hit the brakes and aim as perpendicular as I can to it. BAM!!! Up in the air the bike goes, and while I am in the air, I am thinking…. “Ok, the bike wants to remain up and running in a straight line” so I hit the ground hard, and wobble a little, but as I thought, the bike wanted to stay up. Ahhhhh, it didn’t hurt as bad as I thought that it would, I am still rolling along the hwy in the middle of nowhere, and the bike feels fine. I signal and pull off on the side of the road, and check the tires to see that they are still inflated, and look for any visible damage on the bike. Nothing that I could easily see on the surface, I push on the tires, they are still holding pressure and I get back on ride to the next gas station. Stop there and check out the bike again, and there is nothing wrong with it. So I drive the remainder of the 60+ miles home and park it. I am going to look at it again in the AM when there is more light.
Anyway, that was my first close call on the street, and I think that took a huge chunk of my luck from my luck bag. I owe not panicking to “More Proficient Motoring, Mastering the Ride” By David L. Hough. I remembered that it takes about a second to swerve and I knew that I didn’t have a second to avoid it. So I kept on going… I think that had I swerved, I would have it it at an angle and ended up in the woods. Had I squeezed the life out of the brakes, I would have hit it with all the weight on the front wheel, and I would have gone over the handle bars.
Aside from the smart remarks of don’t hit it, does anyone have any other opinions on how I could have handled the deer carcass better? I didn’t crash, so I figured that I did the right thing, but I would like to know if anyone else has a better suggestion…..
First thought in my head, “OH F**K, this is going to hurt” I loosen up my grip on the throttle, don’t hit the brakes and aim as perpendicular as I can to it. BAM!!! Up in the air the bike goes, and while I am in the air, I am thinking…. “Ok, the bike wants to remain up and running in a straight line” so I hit the ground hard, and wobble a little, but as I thought, the bike wanted to stay up. Ahhhhh, it didn’t hurt as bad as I thought that it would, I am still rolling along the hwy in the middle of nowhere, and the bike feels fine. I signal and pull off on the side of the road, and check the tires to see that they are still inflated, and look for any visible damage on the bike. Nothing that I could easily see on the surface, I push on the tires, they are still holding pressure and I get back on ride to the next gas station. Stop there and check out the bike again, and there is nothing wrong with it. So I drive the remainder of the 60+ miles home and park it. I am going to look at it again in the AM when there is more light.
Anyway, that was my first close call on the street, and I think that took a huge chunk of my luck from my luck bag. I owe not panicking to “More Proficient Motoring, Mastering the Ride” By David L. Hough. I remembered that it takes about a second to swerve and I knew that I didn’t have a second to avoid it. So I kept on going… I think that had I swerved, I would have it it at an angle and ended up in the woods. Had I squeezed the life out of the brakes, I would have hit it with all the weight on the front wheel, and I would have gone over the handle bars.
Aside from the smart remarks of don’t hit it, does anyone have any other opinions on how I could have handled the deer carcass better? I didn’t crash, so I figured that I did the right thing, but I would like to know if anyone else has a better suggestion…..
nfloor and our instructors only talked a bout 2x4's. :dunno 
