Painless deer hit (kind of) - Motorcycle-Journal Forums

BttrThnWrk · 01-01-2008, 10:50 PM

Today I discovered that tumbleweeds can be as malevolently dumb as everybody back East says deer are as far as bike riders are concerned.

I was headed up the Frontage road beside I-10 north from Tucson with a pretty good crosswind blowing from my right (maybe 20 mph or so). I was doing 60-ish (mph). I'd seen a few tumbleweeds blow across the road ahead of me, but didn't think too much about it. Then the big one began to move from my right ahead of me. It's as big as some of the smaller palo verde trees along that stretch of road - maybe 6 or so feet in diameter. It looks like it wants to cross the space where I'm going to be when I get there. So I speed up and move to the middle of the road - I'd been tooling down the right side of the lane up to now.

The tumbleweed speeds up. It still looks like it wants to hit me. I speed up some more and move to the extreme left side of the other lane. No traffic to contend with on that road.

Except for the tumbleweed, which speeds up again, still trying to hit me. I chop speed and swing back to the right hand side of the right lane - back where I started from.

The wind dies out with the tumbleweed dead ahead of me, about 3 feet away.

POW! Instant tumbleweed explosion. Fortunately, tumbleweeds are considerably less dense than deer are. Mostly they seem to consist of about a couple million tiny little barbs that fly everywhere. I had to pull over and shake out my coat, gloves, sweater, and shirt. I was kind of shimmying in my jeans trying to get the barbs out where they stuck in my long johns between my jeans and my boots. I had to brush them out of my full face helmet (the visor was closed, too!). I even had to brush them out of my hair. Later I found that some of the barbs even went in through the vents in the helmet and were lodged between the padding and the foam. That explained why it still itched up there after I thought I'd gotten all of the barbs out.

After that, I think that if I ever ride back East and come across a deer, I'll just stop until it moves away. Far away. Actually, I even saw a deer south of Tucson on one of the reservations last weekend as I was riding south towards Nogales. Fortunately, it was headed away from the road at the time. Nothing to see here. Move along, move along.

**Clint** · 01-01-2008, 11:05 PM

Did you at least stop and drag the carcass off the road?

DocStark · 01-01-2008, 11:19 PM

dang. im gonna be scared of them killer tumbleweeds if i ride down the 10 again

AZRyder · 01-02-2008, 08:36 AM

Maybe you should put one of those tumbleweed whistles on your front fender..................

**Clint** · 01-02-2008, 09:49 AM

Rofl!

digitalbroccoli · 01-02-2008, 12:06 PM

I always speed up whenever I think I'll have issues with objects in the road. [/sarcasm]

Funny story, but it sounds like slowing down might have been the right alternative.

Ext1jdh · 01-02-2008, 12:44 PM

now that would have been a thing to get on camera...

Rockhead · 01-02-2008, 12:48 PM

Good thing you were wearing underwear.

tricker · 01-02-2008, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rockhead

Good thing you were wearing underwear.

did you have to change them afterwards? wait that might be tmi

outlaw · 01-02-2008, 04:03 PM

a certain song comes to mind with a few changes of course

I'm a roaming cowboy riding all day long,
Tumbleweeds around me sing their lonely song.
Nights underneath the prairie moon,
I ride along and sing this tune.

See them tumbling down
Pledging their love to the ground
Lonely but free I'll be found
Mowing down the tumbling tumbleweeds.

Cares of the past are behind
Nowhere to go but I'll find
Just where the trail will wind
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds.

I know when night has gone
That a new world's born at dawn.

I'll keep rolling along
Deep in my heart is a song
Here on the range I belong
Mowing down the tumbling tumbleweeds.

SNAFU · 01-02-2008, 05:52 PM

Was it something like this? Except on a motorcycle and going much faster?

DocStark · 01-02-2008, 05:55 PM

those pesky little tumbleweeds

AZRyder · 01-02-2008, 08:38 PM

Thistle while you work....

Rockhead · 01-03-2008, 12:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SNAFU

Was it something like this? Except on a motorcycle and going much faster?

Looks much more comfy than the ditch.

DocStark · 01-03-2008, 12:08 PM

heck, an ER bed is more comfy than a ditch, but i dont wanna be there either

BttrThnWrk · 01-03-2008, 02:07 PM

No, no, no. You just ride through tumbleweeds. Well, you can. Personally, I no longer recommend it, you understand. Tumbleweeds are just dried up, brittle collections of brambly branches held together mostly with stubbornness.

No carcass left - I think it all disintegrated and wound up in my clothes and helmet. Well, except for the tiny pieces that just blew away.

So, you folks think I might need to install a tumbleweed warning thistle, eh? Hhmmm. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the suggestion.

DEATH TO TUMBLEWEEDS!

Ext1jdh · 01-03-2008, 02:15 PM

Could be worse. Could be geese like we have all over the !@#$% place

AZRyder · 01-03-2008, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ext1jdh

Could be worse. Could be geese like we have all over the !@#$% place

Or a palo verde beetle, man they really sting

**Trapper** · 01-03-2008, 04:20 PM

Calls for a title change if I do say so myself.

tricker · 01-03-2008, 04:46 PM

on the name change

01-01-2008, 10:50 PM	#1 (permalink)
BttrThnWrk Tumbleweed Murderer! Joined: Jun 2006 Bike: '06 M50 - Blue Location: Tucson Posts: 93	Painless deer hit (kind of) Today I discovered that tumbleweeds can be as malevolently dumb as everybody back East says deer are as far as bike riders are concerned. I was headed up the Frontage road beside I-10 north from Tucson with a pretty good crosswind blowing from my right (maybe 20 mph or so). I was doing 60-ish (mph). I'd seen a few tumbleweeds blow across the road ahead of me, but didn't think too much about it. Then the big one began to move from my right ahead of me. It's as big as some of the smaller palo verde trees along that stretch of road - maybe 6 or so feet in diameter. It looks like it wants to cross the space where I'm going to be when I get there. So I speed up and move to the middle of the road - I'd been tooling down the right side of the lane up to now. The tumbleweed speeds up. It still looks like it wants to hit me. I speed up some more and move to the extreme left side of the other lane. No traffic to contend with on that road. Except for the tumbleweed, which speeds up again, still trying to hit me. I chop speed and swing back to the right hand side of the right lane - back where I started from. The wind dies out with the tumbleweed dead ahead of me, about 3 feet away. POW! Instant tumbleweed explosion. Fortunately, tumbleweeds are considerably less dense than deer are. Mostly they seem to consist of about a couple million tiny little barbs that fly everywhere. I had to pull over and shake out my coat, gloves, sweater, and shirt. I was kind of shimmying in my jeans trying to get the barbs out where they stuck in my long johns between my jeans and my boots. I had to brush them out of my full face helmet (the visor was closed, too!). I even had to brush them out of my hair. Later I found that some of the barbs even went in through the vents in the helmet and were lodged between the padding and the foam. That explained why it still itched up there after I thought I'd gotten all of the barbs out. After that, I think that if I ever ride back East and come across a deer, I'll just stop until it moves away. Far away. Actually, I even saw a deer south of Tucson on one of the reservations last weekend as I was riding south towards Nogales. Fortunately, it was headed away from the road at the time. Nothing to see here. Move along, move along. __________________ Don't follow. Don't lead. Don't join.

01-02-2008, 08:36 AM	#4 (permalink)
AZRyder Sit speling cheker Joined: Jun 2006 Bike: Suzuki C90T Location: Chandler Arizona Posts: 1,729	Maybe you should put one of those tumbleweed whistles on your front fender.................. __________________ -------------------------------------------------- I don't care if it's the unholy four, John Wayne and Dorothy Lamour I just don't wanna talk to him now......

01-02-2008, 12:06 PM	#6 (permalink)
digitalbroccoli U.B's LoveChild Joined: Jan 2007 Bike: 06 M50 in Bluuuuuuuuue Location: Sodus, NY Posts: 1,063	I always speed up whenever I think I'll have issues with objects in the road. [/sarcasm] Funny story, but it sounds like slowing down might have been the right alternative. __________________ 06 Blue M50 - tattoo profiler and bags, pciii, hypercharger, cruzers, drag bars, lots of other goodies. 99 black bandit - winter project. mwahahaha.

01-02-2008, 12:44 PM	#7 (permalink)
Ext1jdh Top Gear ! Full Throttle! Joined: Apr 2005 Bike: Sold Location: Elgin, IL, US Posts: 5,266	now that would have been a thing to get on camera... __________________ I am lurking. I am likely to be eaten by a grue.

01-02-2008, 12:48 PM	#8 (permalink)
Rockhead M-J.Com Master Poster Joined: Jan 2006 Bike: M50 Location: 1060 West Addison, Chicago Posts: 3,767	Good thing you were wearing underwear. __________________ Greg Biffle #16

01-01-2008, 11:19 PM	#3 (permalink)
DocStark In Training Joined: Oct 2007 Bike: '07 M50 Location: from neosho, mo....just got transfered to hawaii Posts: 123	dang. im gonna be scared of them killer tumbleweeds if i ride down the 10 again

01-02-2008, 04:03 PM	#10 (permalink)
outlaw Fifth gear streak Joined: Feb 2006 Bike: Red '05 M50 Location: Wake Forest, NC Posts: 1,375	a certain song comes to mind with a few changes of course I'm a roaming cowboy riding all day long, Tumbleweeds around me sing their lonely song. Nights underneath the prairie moon, I ride along and sing this tune. See them tumbling down Pledging their love to the ground Lonely but free I'll be found Mowing down the tumbling tumbleweeds. Cares of the past are behind Nowhere to go but I'll find Just where the trail will wind Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds. I know when night has gone That a new world's born at dawn. I'll keep rolling along Deep in my heart is a song Here on the range I belong Mowing down the tumbling tumbleweeds. __________________ Last edited by outlaw; 01-02-2008 at 07:47 PM.

01-02-2008, 05:52 PM	#11 (permalink)
SNAFU Just Won't Go Away ! Joined: Mar 2006 Bike: '06 M50 Black Location: Winnipeg, Canada Posts: 5,112	Was it something like this? Except on a motorcycle and going much faster? __________________

01-02-2008, 05:55 PM	#12 (permalink)
DocStark In Training Joined: Oct 2007 Bike: '07 M50 Location: from neosho, mo....just got transfered to hawaii Posts: 123	those pesky little tumbleweeds

01-02-2008, 08:38 PM	#13 (permalink)
AZRyder Sit speling cheker Joined: Jun 2006 Bike: Suzuki C90T Location: Chandler Arizona Posts: 1,729	Thistle while you work.... __________________ -------------------------------------------------- I don't care if it's the unholy four, John Wayne and Dorothy Lamour I just don't wanna talk to him now......

01-03-2008, 12:08 PM	#15 (permalink)
DocStark In Training Joined: Oct 2007 Bike: '07 M50 Location: from neosho, mo....just got transfered to hawaii Posts: 123	heck, an ER bed is more comfy than a ditch, but i dont wanna be there either

01-03-2008, 02:07 PM	#16 (permalink)
BttrThnWrk Tumbleweed Murderer! Joined: Jun 2006 Bike: '06 M50 - Blue Location: Tucson Posts: 93	No, no, no. You just ride through tumbleweeds. Well, you can. Personally, I no longer recommend it, you understand. Tumbleweeds are just dried up, brittle collections of brambly branches held together mostly with stubbornness. No carcass left - I think it all disintegrated and wound up in my clothes and helmet. Well, except for the tiny pieces that just blew away. So, you folks think I might need to install a tumbleweed warning thistle, eh? Hhmmm. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the suggestion. DEATH TO TUMBLEWEEDS! __________________ Don't follow. Don't lead. Don't join.

01-03-2008, 02:15 PM	#17 (permalink)
Ext1jdh Top Gear ! Full Throttle! Joined: Apr 2005 Bike: Sold Location: Elgin, IL, US Posts: 5,266	Could be worse. Could be geese like we have all over the !@#$% place __________________ I am lurking. I am likely to be eaten by a grue.

01-03-2008, 04:20 PM	#19 (permalink)
Trapper Dogs Best Friend(admin) Joined: Jul 2004 Bike: SOLD Location: Moncton NB Canada Posts: 9,257	Calls for a title change if I do say so myself. __________________ PointFlushRetrieve.com - Bird Dog Blog Motorcycle-Journal.com Blog

01-03-2008, 04:46 PM	#20 (permalink)
tricker Does not play well with others. Joined: May 2007 Bike: 2004 kawasaki zzr 600 Location: rochester, minnesota Posts: 5,685	on the name change

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