mieff
10-08-2006, 05:19 PM
I had a really close call today when coming home from palomar. I was cruising at about 55 through the orange grove section of the 76 just west of palomar when I came around a semi-blind turn and traffic was completely stopped in both directions! :holymoly: It seemed that they were letting some pea****s or some other type of bird cross the street. Luckily, on my side of the street there was only one car in my way. So, I came around the turn and saw this and of course rapidly tried to slow myself down but I wasn't going to be able to stop in time to keep from rearending the car in front of me. I was hard on the front brake and downshifting to try and get some engine braking too but my back end was braking loose and chattering. Left with nothing else to do I had to go for the lane split at about 35. The road looked clear but I was hoping that no one made any sudden turns or that something wouldn't come out from behind the car that I couldn't see. I made it through, but damn.....that was really close. Luckily, I was only going as fast as I was or I would've really been screwed. I'm not posting this story because I want some sort of validation on my ability to be able to react to the situation. I'm more posting this to re-emphasize that you never know what's around that next corner when riding on the street. I know that I've gone much faster through that area before, so I am certainly no saint when it comes to speeding in the canyons. :squid: Today was a sobering reminder of how uncertain you can be of the riding conditions on public roads. They are constantly changing because they are not controlled environments. Be carefull out there.