After returning from
Spring Training Camp for Riders (STC-II), I took a drive down Midlothian Road (from Mundelein to Lake Zurich). I'd been wanting to try this Italian restaurant that was supposedly expensive, but offers good thin-crust pizza.
It was after work, and dusk. The road is a double-nickles two laner. The interstection at Midlothian and Old McHenry Road widens with a left turn and a right turn lane.
There were oncoming left-turners and 2 cars in front of me that took the right turn lane (I was behind them and went straight through the intersection).
As I crossed the intersection 2 things happened (text book things, really) -- the light just turned yellow, and the oncoming left-turner lurched to make his turn and (thankfully) stopped about a foot short of my left knee.
I VOWED that the next priority for my bike is auxilliary lights.
I can only guess that riding behind 2 cars which went into the right-turn lane, my single-point headlight confused the left-turning driver into thinking "left headlight of another car following into the right-turn lane".....
Jeff Dean has pointed out research on "
Inattentional Blindness" (the
research on this now at
University of Illinois) and the benefit of mounting headlights
high and wide so that the visual cue of your motorcycle better suggests what drivers expect to see - an automobile.
So I was thinking - I want
2 new sets of lights: one
so others may see me better (low beam partners), and one
so I can see better (perhaps a long-legged set of HIDs to occasionally augment high beam). It would be nice to have a set of auxiliary lights that had dual beams. Know of any?
----
If this wasn't enough motivation, I got another "message from above" about this today. I took a nice ride into the reported twisty roads of western Wisconsin (what midwesterners think is twisty!). Somewhere about 15 miles or so south of Mt. Horeb on Hwy 78, coming around a curve a Wild Turkey (the kind with the feathers :-) flew up in front of me. I have slow motion memories of its agonized head twisting through the air, and me ducking, remembering Larry's story about hitting a buzzard that shattered his windshield.
If a 25 lb. turkey
must hit my helmet, I remember thinking, let me just try to head-butt it (I imagine 20lbs hitting the front of my helmet would
not be good - something about neck-like-twig comes to mind). All that thought over about 1 foot of pavement. I remeber the turkey in the air, now to the side of me and upside down; checking that I still had control, brakes, etc. and slowly winding down the road (rejecting several gravel driveways as pull-outs). Here's what I found a few curves down the road.
I recall someone in their front yard near the scene. Hopefully they are enjoying the bird. I would guess it was perhaps a 20lb-er.
It left "dust" marks from it's feathers on the bike, and rendered all my headlights inoperable.
I disconnected the high beam, cleaned away the broken pieces from behind, and tried to "settle" the main headlight (looked like it wasn't going anywhere - and didn't) and tied up loose wires out of the way underneath (yes, I carry wire ties). Everything else seemed ok. The front holder of the right mirror was popped, but relatively gently - it re-attached just fine, didn't look to have any breaks.
My front end was spitting out feathers for miles (despite my half-hearted attempt to clear the bulk of them out).
Later, I noticed the fuel gage was "not working" --- er, working in slow motion. When I filled up, it didn't seem to register, but did creep up. In the 8 miles home, it got to showing about 2/3 full.
Well, the rest of the ride was fine. I was late to lunch at my Uncle Bill's near Madison, so I repointed my GPS to "faster" for that destination... thankfully, all that was left to get to Madison were curvy roads. Lunch was great - Aunt Donna prepared a feast, and a wonderful fresh Apple pie too.
Donna kindly offered Pepsi or Odouls; Bill offered peppered Ukrainian spirits (thanks Bill; mmmm, tasty - don't worry, just had a little shot and stayed 3 hours).
Their dog, Aza, has the nicest personality - I don't know why the autofocus didn't like her!
Now auxilliary lights come to mind ONCE AGAIN!
The obvious thought:
- If I had MotoLites I wouldn't have to worry so much now about being seen, or getting home before dark;
But some other thoughts passed:
- If I'd had MotoLites mounted to the caliper bolts, would they have been able to act as "a lever" under a 20LB bird, in effect harming my front braking ability in a collision or on my ride home (say, snapping the head off the caliper bolt)?
- Unless someone can show me hard evidence, I am now shying away from Caliper Mounted lights (fender mounting screws - maybe).
- How would have PIAA "Easy Mount" lights faired in this scenario? (would they have taken out a radiator?)
- If mirror mounted lights were "pop-off" similar to the mirrors (the motivation should be the same) would they still be stabily focused light sources?
- If we desire high-and-wide mounts, how would you take care of 2 extra light sets for an LT that fit this criteria?
- Further, I thought about Z-Technic's side illumination light kit - would this mount idea make a fine set of FORWARD pointing driving lights (but would require adjustability)?
I hate not having my bike to ride (even in daylight, I'm more aware than ever of the need to be seen).
I also just got my bike's 12,000 mile service. At a later time I'll have something to say about service departments and inspecting / accepting their work.
Right now, it's spring - Susan Galpin taught me not to be worried about rain and riding, and I want my bike back as my main transportation!
Dinner after all the excitement.
