Scariest thing I think I've seen on the road yet

[Trouble]

This morning my wife and I were crusing along minding our own business. We caught up to a car but, being double up, I decided I'd do the good thing and not pass it. A quarter mile later we catch up to a truck pulling a power boat doing about 40-45 mph. We're rolling down a long hill and a friggin' tube blew out of the back of the boat. You know the tubes you ride on behind boat in the water. Well, this one was apparently unsecured in the back of the boat, but still clipped to the stern of the boat by the tow rope. The tube came back 30', reached the end of it's teather, and flopped back and forth across the road a couple of times before something snapped and the tube (and rope) flew off to the side of the road.

If we weren't double up, I would have passed the car and have been halfway past that boat when the tube came out. If the tube had blown out 1/4 mile sooner it would have creamed a bicyclist coming the other way up the hill. I'm sure it would have scared the crap out of a cager too. I'm alive now and feelin' pretty friggin' lucky. I think I'll buy a lotto ticket!

[wingerdor]

Now ya hafta take back all those bad things you've said about your wife....well, some of them

Crazy! Some of those things are big, not to mention the rope possibly getting caught in your chain.

[KillBill]

Scary!

Reminds me of last week when I was riding on 495
and a huge piece of Styrofoam came out of nowhere
and I swerved to avoid it. I would have been on the
ground had i hit it. Shit like that gives you religion.

[Trouble]

Caught in my chain, around my neck, being smacked upside the head with the tube, etc. Oh yeah, there was a lot of stuff stewing inside my head.

[Ericthejet]

I don't like getting stuck behind older Dodge Caravans or any vehicle that stores the spare under the rear floor area held in place by a non-stainless steel cable. That would be bad news if it let go.

[Tricky Mike]

dude on Rte 2 last week lost a ball joint (I'm guessing) and subsequently control of his car... (divided section of Rte 2 between Arlington and I-95... divided but no guardrails) I was motoring along in the left lane and luckily I had enough time to react and get the hell out of his way. He literally spun all the way through the center median and into oncoming traffic (mid-week at 4:30 or so) it's a miracle nobody hit him. I'm lucky I wasn't there a few seconds sooner.
Pucker factor: About 7.9 (I did have time to check my shoulder before I swerved).
Funny thing is that I IMMEDIATELY threw my left hand up

[wingerdor]

That was very thoughtful of you to wish him well as he spun past. They say, once you do something several thousand times it becomes muscle memory!

[Evil_Weasel]

yikes, people really need to tie thier shit down better.

i was passing a tractor trailer on 95 down in FL one day when just at that moment one of it's retreaded tires came apart. i heard a sound like a huge zipper and a loud fwap, fwap. just as i realized what was going on a 3 foot piece of tire was shot across my bow at chest level. if i was going .5 of a mile an hour faster or started my pass .5 of a second sooner i would have been knocked off the bike before i could have even reacted.

[DucDave]

YIKES STIPES....

Couple years ago I was leading some friends up Rt. 31 in Greenfield heading to the Trebuchet.

I caught up to a couple of cagers and because a two of the guys I was leading were on Cruisers I settled back and followed. Suddenly the cars both jammed on their brakes and swerved to the other lane. I was JUST able to see a wire that had fallen, neck height, across the road and swerved to the other lane where I went underneath. The rest of the crew followed suit but not without some skidding and major puckering. Apparently one end of the 'cable' cable came undone from a house and fell. The other end, across the road was attached to the pole. So it made an arc, the side on our lane being neck high and then rising to the pole on the other side.

Point is, had I been alone, wicking along as I would normally do, I probably wouldnt have seen the cable at all...and certainly not soon enough to swerve to the other lane...where there may or may not have been an approaching vehicle.

I'm an athiest but a strong believer in good freekin' luck...thank God!

[wingerdor]

Holy Chit! I knew I liked my fairing and windshield the tops out at eye level for a reason!

[kspiers]

Once was in my Dad's Camaro SS, with some person going slow in front of us. It looked as though they had something caught in front of their car like a cone. We went to pass them and "it" hit the car just right and spun out in front of us. It was freaking CHAIN SAW. Did you not see or hear the 30Lb metal object in the road? Idiots....