What items have you dodged or hit on your commute?

[deilenberger]

Wasn't commuting - it was riding up to my friendly local BMW dealer.. Rt 440/I-287 just west of Perth Amboy. I entered the road on the on ramp from the Garden State Parkway to see a camper body sitting in the middle lane, with the pickup truck it used to be attached to backing up to it. Apparently the driver found a NJ pothole, and it bounced the camper right off the pick-me-up truck. Given the traffic in the area it must have just happened (no one had hit it yet and there wasn't a huge traffic jam..) If I'd had been one minute earlier..

Oh - others
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Cabot Trail - Bear - check. This summer.
Cabot Trail - Coywolf - check. This summer.
NJ - anywhere - deer - all the time. Including my own driveway.

[tonyfr]

Riding on the Southbound 405 Freeway, Los Angeles and had to dodge a 6' ladder spinning across the car pool lane.

[av8npa]

I was heading eastbound on I-40 just east of Asheville. I saw what looked like a piece of clear plastic that one would use to cover a porch fly out of an open trailer. The fist of God must have been about 20 feet in front of me as the thing literally split in two and went on either side of me. Somehow I didn't lose continence!

[175781]

Coke bottle (thrown over concrete center divider by oncoming traffic, face shield), couch, uhaul trailer (yesterday, evidently came uncoupled), boxes, tire tread, 2x4. Two bees at one time, both lodged by my ears. Not good. Didn't get stung. I believe they were stunned by the impact. Almost didn't find the second one.

I thought this might be a common occurence for those that commute on their bikes. I say, "dodged or hit", because sometimes it's better to do either. Other times, disaster will strike if not choosing the right approach. Typically, I'll be in a fast-moving pack of cages, with no recourse but to run over whatever comes out from underneath the back wheels of the car (or jeep) in front of me. My biggest bounce was hitting a loading pallet. R60/6 flew up in the air and landed solid with my headlight shell flying off and shattering against the bolts on the front fender. Pulled over for that one. On my CLC, the biggest object I hit was a garage door (metal) lying in my path. CLC (big ol' girl) flew up in the air, but landed nicely. I put a dent in the CAT with that one. Angle iron tipped by by jeep in front of me and flip flopping down the road. That was deflected by my crash bars on the CLC, but did bounce off my shin. Didn't bleed, but left a scar - go figure. For sure, I would have went down had I tried to dodge the loading pallet. In Detroit, once, a snowmobile fell off the truck in front of me, but I had room to dodge that one. I certainly wouldn't want to hit a snowmobile head on...

[GlobalRider]

I missed this little 1 meter cubed pebble that was on the exit to one of the numerous hairpins on Corsica.

Good thing I keep a tight line.

[ClassicVW]

YIKES! That chunk looks almost impossible NOT to hit on that hairpin curve. Good thing it was a hairpin and therefore= slow speed.

[macleanm4218]

While riding on a Bay Area freeway, I was hit in the face by a bird, while riding at 60! He/she looked at me, and I swear the bird had the same "Oh S***" look on its face as I did!
Cracked my helmet, and although it didn't knock me off, I had a very sore neck for a couple of weeks. No idea what the bird was; it seemed huge at the time, although I suspect it was a Starling/Towhee sized bird with hindsight. The car driver that was overtaking me at the time was cool though; as he slowed to check that I was ok...

[jthaney74107]

Last year, Bambi jumped a fence by the side of the road and hit me as I was sitting at a stop sign. Sprained my ankle, Bambi seemed fine. Furry bastard just kept on going, didn't even offer to help me up! The guy in the pickup behind me helped me up and checked on me, nice guy. Had his little daughter in the truck, she was about four, she said "Wow, my little brother is never gonna believe it."

[scoobs]

I was overtaken by a pickup truck full of "dentally-challenged" yokels and when they hit a bump in the road the contents of the truck bed (beer cans/paintcans/general trash) was all ejected like shrapnel. The tailgate of the truck was unattached and had been laying in the truck bed- it came skidding sideways at me across the tarmac but I was able to avoid it. Sadly the guy running right up my @$$ in a big SUV ran right over it....
Be careful out there.
Ian.

[Antaeas]

On I-75 under construction near Flint, I was looking for my exit sign when I suddenly saw one of the orange lane-marker barrels reclining ahead in my one and only lane. I swerved around it -good - but reflexively stuck out my left foot - bad! If I hadn't been wearing shin-high riding boots, I'd have lost that foot. In great pain, I hopped into my motel, soaked my foot in ice water, and took a anvils. I limped for six weeks.

[STOKES73]

I dodge cars every day. They pull in front of me, and pull into my lane. I even had one driver literally pull up along side of me in my travel lane. I was on the left side of the lane and he pulled up on my right he was close enough I knocked on his window.

One Jeep Cherokee I couldn't dodge since he ran into me. He was in a left hand turn only lane and decided he wanted to go straight. He did, straight into me and caught me broadside. Two days in intensive care. That one totaled my R1100RT now I'm riding an 2013 R1200RT.

Non car dodges this time of year tend to be mostly pot holes.

Stokes
Keep the rubber side down

[nakwakto00]

Once merging onto I-5 off of US 101 and going around a corner, I had the wheel and axel of the trailer in front of me pop off the trailer and luckily went sailing over my head missing me by inches. The car behind me was not so lucky as after a bounce the axel and wheel landed in his windshield. That avoided the next thing was the skidding trailer and vehicle in front of me. We were all doing 50+ mph. I was able to miss him too by inches as I quickly and deftly maneuvered to his left. I'd like to claim skill, but I think the hand of God covered me during the whole thing. Uff da! Still gives me shivers thinking about it.

[Omega Man]

While riding on a Bay Area freeway, I was hit in the face by a bird, while riding at 60! He/she looked at me, and I swear the bird had the same "Oh S***" look on its face as I did!
Cracked my helmet, and although it didn't knock me off, I had a very sore neck for a couple of weeks. No idea what the bird was; it seemed huge at the time, although I suspect it was a Starling/Towhee sized bird with hindsight. The car driver that was overtaking me at the time was cool though; as he slowed to check that I was ok...

Last year, Bambi jumped a fence by the side of the road and hit me as I was sitting at a stop sign. Sprained my ankle, Bambi seemed fine. Furry bastard just kept on going, didn't even offer to help me up! The guy in the pickup behind me helped me up and checked on me, nice guy. Had his little daughter in the truck, she was about four, she said "Wow, my little brother is never gonna believe it."

Welcome to the forum guys!
Gary

[Ken F]

Two summers ago while riding the Ozark twisties on a beautiful morning, I breezed into a beautiful right hand turn almost at the limit. So close to the limit that once I spotted (lets name him Homer) in the middle of my lane trying to get home for dinner that evening, I wasn't able to change my line through the corner much due to speed... but just enough that I almost missed Homer. But not quite. I ran right over the edge of his shell which ejected Homer just like a hockey puck! I was amazed at how well Homer flew off to the left just like a well thrown touch down pass! (you know the kind) Perfectly flat, spinning through the air, Homer flew across the road, and down the hollow where in the clearing sat a small computer repair shop with plate glass windows. Yep you guessed it. I've always hoped Homer lived and was there to great the owners when they came to work.

Ken

[ratze]

Mexican speed bumps, they are in places one would never imagine. alot of em are made from diff materials and almost look disguised, certianly no night time driving. allmost as bad as michigan pot holes,,,,