They seem to be happening more and more lately. Riding in this morning, barely any traffic. It's almost 6am and I'm 3 miles from the office. Getting off the highway onto 36 street the off-ramp is nice and twisty and I usually take it at a nice clip.

Today I ended up behind one of those long trucks hawling soda - pepsi to be exact. He's making the last right hand curve and I'm right behind him, probably closer then I should have been.

The handtruck (dolly) snaps off the back of the truck and slams onto the asphalt right in front of me. It's sparking as it slides around and I'm trying to figure out where it's going to go. I took a chance and swerved hard to the left and totally lucked out. It went to the right. I just about crapped myself.

Doesn't matter how many years of experience you get it's something that gets your juices pumping hard. Needless to say no need for coffee this morning.

Last time this happened I was behind a moving truck. He hit a bump, the sliding door popped loose and out came the dining room furniture. Ended up jumping the sportster off the dining room table, which had no legs yet, nearly getting whacked by a chair.

Moral of the story? Stay away from trucks.

 

Glad you made it out OK

 

I never ride behind a truck or anyone hauling anything for that matter. If I dont have a choice on a one lane road I give myself alot of space even if I have to ride slow. Im always scared of something falling off of a truck or something not being tied down proper. I get chills when I see guys ride behind a log truck, or a flatbed hauling block or something like that. And when I pass a truck on the highway I do it quick and stay out of their blind spot.

 

Flying objects from vehicles in front of you are very scary. I had a friend die when a camper shell from a pick up truck, which had just entered the road, flew off and bounced up and hit him in the head. He died the next day at the hospital from severe brain damage. Just glad that you were able to avoid the dolly.

 

Hell of a way to start out the morning huh?

 

Sounds like you just took the Pepsi challenge......

 

I totaled my old honda Accord a few years ago when some guy had a lot of stuff in his truck, and lost a cast iron front porch swing, still in the box.
It was an interesting call to the police when I told them I'd hit a porch swing on I-275. I had to repeat myself several times.
The guy was very apologetic, and just thought that since he didn't have far to go that he would be okay with just throwing it in the back of the truck without tying it down.

 

Glad you are ok!

 

Too many close calls,maybe riding alittle too agressive?

 

I ran over a half bloated, stinking dead dog that showed up behind a pickup right in front of me at 70mph (I was way too close) on my friends KZ350, must have been back in 1976-77.
It was like riding over a 1 foot tall squishy leather beanbag, i'm sure the dog took a dump and I probably did too.
Didn't go down and learned a lesson...........glad I didn't have to learn it the hard way.