I've seen the sign for years "watch out for falling rocks". As alot of you know, my morning ride is up Catalina highway which is a nice twisty road to the top of Mt. Lemon. Well, it rained pretty heavy last night (over 1") and this morning I noticed alot of sand and gravel washed over the road requiring extra caution.

On my way back down I rounded a corner and for the first time in my life I saw falling rocks. If I'd been a few seconds earlier they would have been on me but as it was I only caught one rolling across the road with my front tire. It jerked the grips right out of my hands. Luckily I kept it up. I'm grateful I have a tubed front tire as it bent the hell out of my front rim. Damn, I've got a $250.00 deductible but atleast I'll be able to pick out a wheel that I like.

 

Here in Oregon, a couple of years ago, a woman, her husband and some friends were riding, ONE fairly large rock came off the mountain side and hit the woman in the chest, the bike continued down the highway a ways, then went down, the woman was killed. If i remember correctly, the husband saw the whole thing, very tragic.

 

Glad your alright man ,that could have been much worse.

 

Nightrider, I remember reading about that. We have the same problems here in Washington. Not only do we have to have an eyeball out for falling rocks, occasionally those big friggin' trees come with it. Remember reading about a couple who stopped for the rocks and the passenger got killed by a falling tree. I usually won't ride those roads during rain or too closely following a heavy rain like we have now. That can ruin your whole day. Glad you're okay, Whaap.

 

I stayed a week in Colorado a couple of years ago. We drove from Salida, back down to Howard on the road that paralleled the Arkansas River. I saw falling rocks EVERY morning. During the day, there were lots of bikes on that road. I would love to ride it on my bike, but I would be very cautious. Some of the rocks were the size of a basketball, others the size of a large ice chest. The largest I saw was perhaps four feet around. Beautiful scenery, but scary stuff.

 

WHAAP, Glad you are O.K. I know that road very well. That is pretty common after the weather we have been having.

 

Yeah, I had to laugh. When I got home and told my wife about it I expected her to take on the sweet approach: Oh, I'm so glad you're o.k. Let me give you a hug. Instead: You stupid chit, you knew what to expect. LOL

 

Glad you were ok....