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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

rock & roll

“ THAT OLD TIME ROCK AND ROLL “
by John Del Santo

The temperature is warming, and rocks are falling onto the roads from the mountain face above. Depending on the State where you are riding, you may see signs that read “Falling Rock”, or signs that read “Fallen Rock.” I would guess that if we ride along looking up…watching for Falling rock, we might miss seeing any number of things in the roadway, such as curves, deer and Fallen rock. And of course, there will be plenty of places where there are no warning signs.

So….. As we ride along, we will want to keep our attention open for rocks lying in the roadway. We keep in mind the biker rule ‘Where you LOOK is where you will GO ‘ So saying “Hey….Wow…..Look at that Big Rock in the Road” …. would NOT be a good observation to make). Curvy mountain roads seem to have just been made for motorcycles ! Ya gotta love ‘em ! ….The Angeles Crest Highway, Rim of the World, Route 89-A through Sedona, The Tail of the Dragon at Deals Gap, Wow ! What a Rush !!!!!
We can program our speed coming into the curves to account for Braking Visibility. If I come into a right-curve at 40 MPH, I will be traveling at about 60 Feet Per Second… If I spot something in the road, It will take me about 100 feet to come to a full STOP….. If I cannot see 100 feet around that curve, Then I will not have enough room to come to a stop. Fortunately for us, we can usually swerve around something quicker than we could stop for it. Let’s practice that at an Experienced Riders Course or in a parking lot before we need it up in the canyons. And, just around that next bend in the road, we should anticipate oncoming cars moving into our lane as they swerve around fallen rocks in their lane. The drivers we share the road with tend to overreact to hazards.

The same weather conditions that create falling rocks also causes sand and gravel to spill out onto the roadway. A proper approach to a curve would include making a wide entry so that we have an early view of what is around the curve….and we’re watching for the fuzzy look of gravel in the corner. At this point we could say ‘good-bye traction’ and ‘hello ditch’ unless we can make proper speed and direction adjustments before we reach the sand or gravel. ..Slow…Look…Press…Roll…….Whew !

Expect the Unexpected ! Constant Surface Appraisal will get us where we want
Want to go, Rock on !!!!!!