Bonneville America Forums Forums Rider Safety Forums Riding Technique And now for something....

Completely different....

I find it very helpful when we post about the odd and goofy hazards we encounter. Things that may not present a problem while in a cage, but are a hazard when on two wheels...

Here's my latest.

I was off from work Monday, so I did as much riding as I could despite having 3 appointments to go to.
I was on my way home in the early evening as the sun was at that point in the sky when riding west required some squinting. I decided to take a shortcut through a housing plan. The speed limit was 25mph, and I was just happily putting along when I saw what looked like a long shadow across the road maybe 50 yards ahead. As I got closer, the "shadow" didn't move...

Turns out, it was the cable wire from a house that had pulled loose and was suspended about 5 feet above the road. Had I hit it, even at the speed I was going, it would not have been a happy occasion... I hit the brakes and swerved into a driveway on the left. I went up to the house and knocked on the door but no one answered, so I went to the house across the street. No one answered there either. At that point I thought "screw it", and ducked under the cable and proceeded on my way.

So, watch out for low slung cables in residential areas.

If you had your cell, you shoulda called the utility company.
They're the ones that have to fix it.

I had my cel, but for some reason I don't have the utility company's phone number in it....

It was the tv cable. Comcast.

No, I don't have their phone number either.

Oh, my bad, I thought it was the electric.
FPL has an Emergency line 611 .
I thought it was the same everywhere.

Whip out the leatherman and snip it.

Hey Deon, ya ever think that maybe whoever strung that wire up had just escaped from a some detention camp and was just hopein' that you'd ride into it so he could take your bike and try to ride it to Switzerland???

Of course he would'a first had to jump over a barbed wire fence before he'd a'gotten to Cuckoo Clock Land, ya know!

(okay okay, I admit it...maybe I HAVE watched that Steve McQueen WWII flick a few too many times lately, ALRIGHT???!!!)