My best ice story

As spring is arriving, we can look back over our winter adventures in comfort.

Let me take you back to a more innocent time - the Reagan era.

I'd been a winter rider for years by then. My philosophy was that "I can always take it for 10 miles/ 15 minutes." and indeed, almost all of my life - work, friends, stores, bars - they were all within 10 miles.

Then my girl-friend moved 15 miles away. So my philosophy took it's first mileage bump.

As noted elsewhere, it was March or April. Around midnight, it was time to ride home. Temp in the 30s, could be worse, light flurries in the air (again, not so bad).

The first indication that all may not be well is a mild curve on a 40 mph road. The landmark there is a very large tree overshadowing the bend in the road - this means it was probably April, not many leaves on trees in March. I get kind of sideways at this curve.

Seems the shade from the big tree kept the road bed cool all day, and now the road under the tree was frozen.

Eh, just a bit sideways, shakes me up, but you can't stop in the middle of nowhere. Forward into the past.

Now the flurries are building up in my beard - ahhh, sleet. Now the low spots in the road are getting hairy too, I again break a wheel free - a couple of times. It's purt damned nasty, but I hold out hope.

I hold out hope because I know in a couple of miles I am hitting the highway. A nice 6 lane busy highway where the rubber meets the road - and heats it up and keeps it from freezing. Once I get shet of this farm road ...

Bingo, bango here we are. Sodium arc lamps (whatever) over head casting a bright light, my heartbeat and respiration slow as the bike accelerates. Not too much - doing about 40 on a 50mph limit, about ready to head over the new 8-lane bridge. Wait a minute - what is that?

There's a car t-boned into the center divider in the middle of the bridge. What's that, another car stopped to help? No wait, that guys a crash too. What's all that steam? Jeezus K. Rist, there's a car upside down in the off-ramp - the steam blows to the side and I see stretching out before me 4, count 'em 4 lanes of sheet ice.

Three wrecks (just on my side of the road; at least two on the other side). A station wagon t-boned. I'm waiting for his back-up lights to come on. I can do nothing but continue apace (at 40mph) and hope that I continue to be the only moving vehicle on this bridge. The road glistens everywhere in frront of me - and to the sides and behind too. Cars upside down, lights flashing, steam blowing, snow and rain blowing, sirens wailing, heart hammering and a death grip on my grips, the lamentations of women and children ...

And that was it. I got off the bridge - what's a bridge half-mile, mile - and dealt with nothing but ordinary winter riding the last 5 miles. The next morning, I read in the local that the bridge was closed immediately after I crossed - unsafe for all traffic.

Heh, heh, heh.

But so it shouldn't be just long and boring, there are at least three road lessons in this tale. Name one.

Oh.

'82 Sporty.

The best message I see in there once you're in the situation is to pay attention to the conditions and adjust speed and riding style to compensate. Many people would have panicked and tried to stop before/on the bridge and stacked.

The smarter message is to not get yourself in that positon in the first place by watching the weather report and getting your butt home before that crap hits.

If at all possible, avoid overpasses in inclement weather, as they freeze before surface roads.

"The smarter message is to not get yourself in that positon in the first place by watching the weather report and getting your butt home before that crap hits"

That's right because weather reports are always right.

No, this is not a lesson that any one should take from this story.

However, watching out for bridges (more so than overpasses, the water underneath makes a difference, but overpasses too) is a valuable lesson we all should know and believe in. "Bridge Freezes Before Road Surface" is not a mere truism but quite true.

A bridge/overpass surface can freeze in above freezing temperature.

There's more.

I disagree. Although the weather reports are not always accurate, the predicted temps are usually close and if they give you a good chance of precip on top of below freezing temps, keep the bike at home.

What i get from this is, Don't ride where there going to be ice!

And if you can feel snow in your beard and your riding on ice, you should have a full face helmet.

You guys seem to be missing the point (as well as the road lessons)

'I learned don't go out in the bad weather; don't ride on ice"

Bad weather doesn't always announce itself, neither does ice. (Nor floods - oh yeah, I have flood stories too) The first responder started out with the pithy observation of "pay attention to the conditions and adjust speed and riding style". That's a lesson and good advice - "Don't be in that situation" is neither - especially because one can end up in such a situation.

This is just my best ice story - there are others. The very real advantage to having a lot of stories such as this is that no matter the situation I find myself in, I can always look back and think "I've been in worse." That is IMO far smarter practice than "don't get yourself in that position".

Having said that, I now say that this very winter I was in the worst snow squall I have ever ridden in. You know how squalls are - they suddenly appear, they blow in. Snow was so heavy I had to clear my shades twice a minute to maintain vision.

I could have pulled to the side of the highway, I guess. But then I would have been sitting on the side of the highway 20 miles from home waiting for it to get dark and maybe snowier. Besides, I had a broken clutch cable and I didn't want to have to get the machine rolling again (that and stoppping are the worst without a clutch cable, am I right?).

And by the by, until you have had snow turn to ice in your beard while riding, you shouldn't just assume it is a bad thing. It ain't. It ain't cold, it's cool.

I am by God a motorcyclist. Don't talk to me about not riding in bad weather.

Lesson two - Shady spots freeze first and thaw last. One large tree on an otherwise clear road can change the riding dynamic. One large building, they cast shadows too, can do the same .

What I took from it was the number one most important thing I've ever taught myself about riding, which is many times, the correct action is none at all...maintain speed, maintain your line, ride through the problem. Overreaction in the form of braking, steering, or in this case even closing throttle abruptly is gonna end your ride real quick....

Those instincts served me well when I began driving a semi...the same holds true. 53' trailers are like old people, they abhor change. Ask it to change direction or stop quickly, it will ignore you. When it does finally respond, it is too much, too late, and you are beyond the threshold of recovery.

I had a similar experience on Sherman Pass in Wyoming with a semi...I topped a hill on otherwise dry road, and got a glimpse of the sweeping left curve ahead, completely glazed in black ice from refreezing blowing snow, and wrecked vehicles littering the curve, including two semis jacked in the area that would be the most logical runoff point at the apex if it all went to hell, so that wasn't an option...

My reflexes got ahead of my rational thought, and I lifted off the throttle when I first saw this, and immediately felt my drive tandems slew around, as if I was driving on grease...and I caught a glimpse in the mirror of the right front of the trailer box beginning to push out, signaling impending jacknife...

And against my screaming urge to slow down, I gently rolled back into the throttle to get my drives back under me and straighten the box out, and ever so gently slalomed the obstacles, taking the straightest path possible through them, which took me from shoulder to shoulder, but I sneaked through...

But I immediately realized it was my motorcycle rationale and reactions that kept me thinking about keeping her straight, balanced, upright and unfolded...many times I found the same understanding of balance and control applies well to both bikes and big trucks...

As far as ice and bikes, only had one real nail-biter...rented a Road King Classic while my truck was down for repairs in Portland, OR...decided to ride out to Mt Hood the next morning.

The weather that week was unreal for that area in late September...pushing 80 in town in the afternoon and clear, sunny skies...

I left the motel at 4:30 am, wanted to be in the mountains for sunrise...it was brisk in town, 52 degrees when I set out, but comfortable...but as I chugged higher into the hills, the temps dropped off into lower 30's, and near the top of the road running up Hood I noticed I was riding over spots of ice where trickles of water found their way across the road....

Once at the top, after enjoying the full morning sun in the crisp cold for a while and taking in the view, I headed down, not really thinking that by continuing on instead of heading back the way I came up, I was headed down the side of the mountain that had yet to see the early morning sun....

And before I knew it, I found myself riding on glazed asphalt with a nice covering of morning frost, enough to leave wheel tracks in. As with the truck incident, I noticed that clipping throttle was enough to make the rear wheel wallow, and so to strike a balance of speed, control, and avoid braking, I decided to take the hill slowly in second gear at idle the whole way.

Compounding this situation was many more of the aforementioned frozen water trickles, which spotted the road at random intervals and with a fine glaze of frost over ice, made the bike's traction somewhere between zero and that of a wet peeled hard boiled egg on Teflon when I encountered them...and I just kept hoping I wouldn't find one in a critical turn...I was already using both lanes, making curves into straight lines as much as possible, but the combination of braking torque supplied by the idling motor and steering input would have been too much if I'd encountered the ice at a critical moment, and stopping wasn't an option...this was a one-way, non-stop thrill ride...

When the steep mountain road began to finally give way to more sane grade and longer stretches of straights, I finally relaxed and began to breathe again. Upon finding the intersection of the county highway I'd come in on, I finally stopped, chain smoked about six cigarettes, and silently thanked HD for building this bike so heavy and sure-footed.

The next day I headed out to see the Pacific, and had to cross another mountain range to get there. Beautiful warm temps and clear skies gave way to dense fog you couldn't see 50 feet into briefly, as cold damp air piling up off the ocean interacted with the warm, dry air that was loitering so nicely to the east...made for some butt-puckering moments as hairpin curves appeared out of the blank grayness, but only lasted a few miles...the Pacific was angry, probably 6-8 swells and whitecaps crashing into the beaches, looked like a storm brewing out to sea...it was still a sight for me, coming from landlocked Missouri, but not what I'd hoped for.

So getting tired of the cold, gray and windy, I headed east, back through the fog, and just enjoyed the rest of the day riding in some of the most beautiful mountain scenery, something you just can't get here in Missery :smile:

http://images5.theimagehosting.com/hood.9.th.jpg (http://server5.theimagehosting.com/image.php?img=hood.9.jpg)


Here's my favorite pic from the trip...came around this last curve and there was Mt Hood in the sun, had to stop and take a pic with the bike in it....click to enlarge...