Seattle Combat Commuting: October 27, 2008 or Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

Strangely, Hell froze over today and I hardly noticed it.

I saw a Honda Prius this morning with some very interesting things mounted in its tinted rear windows. It appears that one of the local law enforcement agencies bought up a Prius and rigged it with sirens and lights.

I went by it at a touch under 70 while he was doing 50-55 and I saw the cut-outs in the tinting and the reflection off the plastic strobe lenses. He lane-changed over real fast and accelerated just as the HOV merge zone ended. Thankfully motorcycles slow down quite quickly and smoothly with just engine-braking...

I cruised along about 75 feet in front of him and one lane over for about a half mile. Essentially, I cruised along like a good little sheep until a town car came up and tailgated me, thus blocking said copper's view of me. Once I had camouflage, it was time to roll it back on...

Cut it with a KNIFE

That time of year again. I can barely see the end of my driveway, and my driveway's only 50' long. Not exactly a country mile.

I'd provide you a picture, but envisioning the inside of a cotton ball would suffice.

Slip Slidin' Away

I just spent the last 4 months riding around on a really sweet set of tires, the Continental Road Attacks. A very nice tire with excellent handling properties and very forgiving.

One thing they are not is a good nasty-weather tire. There's very little tread in the tread pattern, with a mere half-dozen or so diagonal U-shaped tread lines that don't even go all the way across the tires. But they stick like glue on dry warm roads, and I could lean the bike over like nobody's business.

I recently put on a more dual-sporting tire, the Metzeler Tourance. There's MUCH more tread on this tire, with progressive larger tread width toward the edge of the tire.

I was going around a left-hander this morning and kinda-sorta forgot I had the new tires as I leaned it over and fed it a fistful of gas. Inevitably, the rear cut loose at about a 30-degree lean angle and swung partway around as the suspension fully extended. Quite the eye-opening experience it was, and I was all the way awake RIGHT NOW.

Nothing that a somewhat smoother application of power and keeping the bike pointed in the right direction wouldn't fix though. The rear came back in rather smoothly instead of trying to snap back in. Surprisingly well-behaved really, especially in light of the abuse I'd just put it to.

CHP screws up "crash" investigation?

A little bit of critical thinking has led one family to conclude that perhaps CHP did a crappy job of investigating a motorcycle-related fatality recently.

Family suggest Oakland man was hit-run victim, not motorcycle accident

By Sean Maher, Oakland Tribune

OAKLAND — Family members of a man who died last week in what the CHP declared a one-vehicle crash say investigators may have it wrong, that the evidence suggests he may have been the victim of a hit-and-run.

Aaron Fuller, a 35-year-old Oakland man, died Sept. 30 in what CHP investigators found to be an accident with no one else involved. Responding to a call just after 2 a.m. at the connector ramp between westbound Interstate 580 and Highway 24, investigators closed the roadway for a little more than an hour and ultimately determined Fuller lost control of his motorcycle on a curve in the road and struck a concrete barrier wall. He flew from the bike and struck a concrete pillar headfirst, and fell 50 feet to the grass below, the CHP told Fuller's family.

The salient points are a little further down the page:

"Aaron's motorcycle has $300 in damage to the plastics, and that's it. ... If it hit the retaining wall the way (CHP) said, the whole front would be ripped in half."

Pretty much covers it. Scrape your keys across the side panel of a motorcycle and it's a $500 repair. Do that to your gas tank and it's closer to $800. If there really is only $300 in damage, I'd bet the CHP is full of crap on this one.

Bluster

Not the Testerone-induced variety, but the low-pressure atmospheric variety.

Got seriously blown around on the way home today. BIG rain drops. Serious headwinds. Came out from behind a tractor-trailer just as we cleared a copse of birches and I caught a 40mph shift in the crosswind right in teeth.

No big deal usually, a little something to worry about when the road's greasy for a half-hour's worth of sprinkles yet not enough rain to rinse the road off completely.

Public Activism in Texas

Looks like everybody was getting into the act in Round Rock, Texas.

Hit-and-run suspect arrested, charged in motorcyclist's death

Round Rock police late Tuesday evening charged a man suspected as having caused, then fled from, a collision on the night of September 25 in which motorcyclist Victor Luna was fatally injured.

Lyle Larue Earl, 25, of Round Rock was charged with Accident involving personal injury or death, a third-degree felony. Earl’s bond was set at $50,000.

Police sought the public’s help to locate the car involved in the wreck and identify its driver. Late Tuesday afternoon, detectives received an anonymous tip that a car matching the publicized description was possibly concealed in a garage in a neighborhood about a mile from the wreck scene.

Another punk kid. Another motorcyclist left to die in the street.

Oughta be a straight negligent manslaughter charge. If we get a conviction and a real sentence, I'll be happy.

Seattle Combat Commuting: October 16, 2008 -- Bang, Bang, Bang

No, this one is not related to firearms (not that I don't love mine, though). Instead, the sickening chain reaction of impacts usually brought about by inattention and inadequate following distance.

Had to go to the doctor's office this morning, so I was tootling up Interstate 5 at a nice sedate pace rolling past the single-occupancy traffic doing 40mph with 40 feet following distances.

They were all stacked up in the left lane (with the other 3 empty, oddly) behind a guy in a large black pickup truck. No big deal, except that everyone in the line assumed Mr. Pickup Truck was actually paying attention.

He wasn't, at least not until he was under 50 feet from hitting the stopped traffic in front of him. He panicked and stood on the brakes leaving a scant 3 feet to spare, but that did little for the traffic behind him. Traffic went scattering every which way and people alternately panic-braked or swerved blindly into neighboring lanes.

Needless to say, I made a bee-line for the shoulder as I rolled by about 50-55mph. I think I saw only two collisions in that stack, but I'm glad nobody got hurt and I was able to roll on by before traffic could snarl up.

Another Hit & Run Victim Passes

Another motorcyclist died from the injuries caused by a hit & run murderer, as reported by Allentown's (NJ) Morning Call:

Motorcyclist struck by hit-run driver dies

A 45-year-old Center Valley woman struck by a vehicle while operating a motorcycle last night -- in what police have called a hit-and-run incident -- has died.

Lori Smeltzer of 4042 Kozy Korner Road in Upper Saucon Township was pronounced dead at 5:54 a.m. today in Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, according to the Lehigh County Coroner's Office.

Hearing about fewer of these are folks start to park their bikes for the winter season. Unfortunately, there's no off-season for irresponsibility.

Hmm, perhaps these kind of reports had a little bit to do with the first one we covered today? From the West Linn, Oregon Police Blotter.

10/2, 5:09 p.m.; A person reported a reckless driver trying to run them off the street at 19500 Hidden Springs Road. Police reported they were out of position and advised other authorities.

10/4, 12:24 a.m.; Police arrested Kenneth R. Grotjohn III, 20, on suspicion of driving while intoxicated on Interstate 205 at Viewpoint and lodged him at Clackamas County Jail.

10/4, 1:55 a.m.; Police arrested Joni L. Clanton, 26, on suspicion of driving while intoxicated on I-205 at McLoughlin Boulevard and lodged her at the county jail.

10/5, 2:32 a.m.; Police arrested Sarah Chicharro, 21, on suspicion of driving while intoxicated at Borland and Prosperity Park Way and lodged her at the county jail.

No surprise.

That Time Again

Setting in for the winter, we are. Morning temperatures are barely staying in the lower 40s and the fog approaches a state of 'viscous'. And there's the standard Seattle precip to endure: Misty little droplets that don't quite float.

Time to re-waterproof the gear, eh?

50 days

Yes, indeed. The hour on reckoning approacheth for the murderous drunk driver Kimberly Elizabeth Graham.

50 days until the trial starts. I shall rejoice upon the conclusion of this one, knowing that a small part of the good work has been done.

Twitchy

Some hinky stuff going down on the road lately. I know there's the issue that folks have out here with having to re-learn how to drive in the rain several times each week. This is a little weirder.

Seattle drivers tend to oscillate or weave about within their lane. This is something that one can get used to and you just need to be careful. No big deal.

Lately, they've gotten twitchy and I'm a bit concerned. Instead of just oscillating: they're straying further out towards the edges of the lanes, jerking back and over-correcting and then jerking back slightly less violently towards the center.

It's a little tough to maintain your standard MSF SIPDE escape routes with the Twitchers. Normally you'd want to be on the other side of the lane from whichever side they prefer, but that doesn't really work so well. So you have to keep more following distance.

What happens then? Of course. Everyone thinks you're going too slow because you have more than a 10' following distance and they keep trying to cut you off and get into that gap. Wash, Rinse, & Repeat.

Seattle Combat Commuting: October 8th, 2008

No surprise here, I suppose. Another run-in with large trucks driven by construction contractors. Thankfully it was one vehicle up from me this time.

Here's the scoop:

A nice steady stream of traffic is merging off a smaller freeway onto I-405 and smart carpool commuters adjust their speed in the on-ramp to match the open pockets in the overtaking traffic to make sure they can do straight to the HOV lane.

But is Mr. White Box Truck capable of this? Oh no.

Mr. White Box Truck waits until the last second to merge into the mainline lanes from the merge area, and then just bulls his way into the HOV lane directly through neighboring trafic.

Lots of brake lights and the car in front of me stands on the brakes and moves back a relative 8 feet to keep said box truck from slamming into the side of his vehicle.

No joke.

Small wonder that the newspapers are filled with stories about people being killed on the road everyday. People driving like morons seems like a pretty good causation factor to me.

Motorcyclist murdered by drunk trucker on North Cascades Highway

Yup, another one that needs to spend the rest of his life in jail.

Having just been up on Route 20 this past weekend, I'm not overly surprised. I go up there every autumn and the past couple years have had a lot more traffic running around up there on what used to be extremely empty roads.

It used to be that NorthWestern Washington was a pretty good place to go to ride around in the countryside and not be hassled by tons of traffic. Perhaps it's the same thing that's going on down here with all the sub-divisions going up. Whereas they're mostly concentrated along the freeways down here, they all seem to be going into out of the way little places on country backroads there.

And of course, the ijits going in there still drive around at 20+ like they're in Bellevue.

Motorcyclist killed in Skagit County crash



By KOMO Staff

SKAGIT COUNTY, Wash. -- A man was killed and another critically injured in a crash involving two cars and two motorcycles on Wednesday night, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Trooper Keith Leary the accident took place on State Route 20 near milepost 70, three miles east of Sedro-Woolley just before 6 p.m.

Investigators believe the driver of a Toyota pickup truck traveling east crossed over the center line and smashed into an oncoming Buick sedan. The pickup kept going and rammed into two oncoming motorcycles before crashing into a ditch, Leary said.

The driver of the first motorcycle was pronounced dead at the scene, and his bike was engulfed in flames, Leary said. His name has not been released.
The driver of a Buick sedan was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.

The condition of the second motorcycle driver was not known.

Leary said the pickup driver was treated for minor injuries and booked into the Skagit County Jail under investigation of vehicular homicide. Investigators believe alcohol may have been a factor.

Detectives shut down SR 20 after the crash, and said the roadway could remain closed until midnight.

Mass Media Ijitry

Not about motorcycles this time, but apparently the NY Times doesn't have proof-readers that are any better than the small town papers.

Mr. Fossett held numerous world records and was the first person to circumvent the world in a hot-air balloon as well as the first to fly a plane solo around the globe without refueling.

Yeah, I want to circumvent the world too. Then perhaps the morons driving their little metal cages would stop trying to run into me because they don't recognize motorcycles as vehicles but as empty spaces.

On the way to Lake Cavanaugh

On the way to Lake Cavanaugh

Cascade Mountains, East of Mt. Baker

Cascade Mountains, East of Mt. Baker