It's been in the 90's to 103 here for a couple of weeks. Just ran out in the cage to do some errands. I was sitting at a red light watching oncoming traffic left turn on arrow, a real nice custom painted fatboy caught my eye. As I watched him leave the intersection I saw a young guy on a metric swing a U turn. In an instant his front tire washed out and he went down. Couple of guys around me and I jumped out blocked traffic and got him and bike out of the six lane intersection. He had a helmet on but pretty sure he has a broken elbow and some good rash. His tee shirt didn't offer much protection. I looked where he went down and saw a tar snake about 4 inches wide and very soft. His front tire hit when turning and slid right out like butter.

 

I hit a section of road the other day that got my immediate respect and a big "holy crap, what was that" from the wife. We were slowing down before turning, not going fast at all and my bike went into a "bagger wobble". Tar snakes suck at best and can seriously hurt you at worst. You're absolutely right to warn of this problem this time of year! If you're not paying attention before running one for sure you'll be paying attention immediately after!

 

There are some roads in Western Pennsylvania that are really a joy to ride. Except when the snakes come alive. Leaning into a beautiful sweeping curve at 45/50 mph and finding all the repairs, made to the road, for the pat 25 years consist of tar injections is really a pucker pusher.

 

I almost dumped my ultra on a slow intersection corner where I encountered a dreaded snake which caused my front to slide out. I was watching traffic and not studying the road surface at the time. Luckily I was going slow enough and planted my foot a couple times and saved it. Other than that incident it was an awesome riding day with about 250 miles on the clock today.

 

Encountered a few tar snakes here in Florida but what really seems slippery to me are the thick white road lines when they are wet. They are like ice. Be careful out there!

 

Watch out for a road that has been "chip sealed" or "slurry sealed". The liquid tar pools in low areas of the road and then melts as the temperature heats up.
Loose gravel from the chip seal is also very dangerous.

 

The black snakes of death.

 

found this out thursday. scared the hell outta me

 

Yep lots of them here and as States get broker there will be more to save $$, guess we need to add one more thing to the "ride accordingly" list eh?

 

I've seen tar bubble up and I've heard of people chewing tar and I've seen snakes but that's all