Flying squids !

[dazco]

Yes, squids CAN fly ! Over the edge that is..........

That was my saturday 5 hour ride, and about 15 minutes of it was waiting for them to finish fishing some squid up from the gully he flew down into while showing everyone what a fine racer he is. Not his lucky day. It was mine tho because i got there as they finished up. Last time this happened i was there 1.5 hours. The yellow sportbike you see to the left had passed me on a curve about 3 or 4 minutes before we got to the stop. He'll likely be in the chopper one of these days himself. I had one come over the line into my lane going the other way not long ago. I gotta tell you....i just don't feel sorry for them. Thier families, yes. Them, no. I understand riding briskly, but these guys ride so insane and do this so much that theres one of these nearly every time i go up the twisties. It's epidemic. It's just a matter of luck that this one didn't head on with someone coming the other way. Oh well.......i hope he learned a lesson thu all this. By the way, i have been up in the mountains all over the so cal area riding and shooting and fishing for a good 40+ years now, and 5 minutes before this scene i saw for the first time in my life some wild bears. It was a mama and cub crossing the road in front of me. They must have been scared by the chopper which is probably why i saw them that day because they never move around in the daytime, at least not near the roads. They jumped the guard rail on a curve and i wanted to stop and take a pic but i feared a mama with a cub might get aggressive. I might have gotten mauled, and i couldn't bear that. :ya2:

 

[DaveM]

What gets me about these guys is that most of the time you will find they are relatively new riders only been riding for a few month. They then think that they are seasoned and experienced riders and this is the end result of it all. I see them all the time on the straight it goes from 0 - 150 mph and once a corner comes up it is down to the 40 mph and wobble.

The sad part is you are not able to tell these guys a thing as they already know it all :tongue:

 

[dazco]

They're kids, IE: immortal. Gotta be a rude awakening to discover you aren't kenny roberts while flying thru the air looking down 200 feet. h: I guess some people live in a fantasy world and others see the reality of it all, and those are the ones that grow old.

 

[DaveM]

I think back then our bikes were also not as forgiving so you were more aware of the dangers of riding as well

 

[avion]

I might have gotten mauled, and i couldn't bear that. :ya2:

groan :y114:

Yep, squids. See that alot here, go out and buy a first bike of 1000cc plus - then proceed to wrap it round a lamp post (no cliffs here unfortunately).

As you say - you can't tell them anything. They take off the wing mirrors and indicators so they can look just like Rossi. F$cking idiots normally take out some innocent though.

Natural selection.

...

 

[CarlS]

Daz, it it is unusual to bears in the daytime. They do move more at night; but they do feed in the daytime. Most of my sightings have been at night. You were wise not to get too close.

My guess is the squid got target fixated when he came into that curve too hot. Instead of leaning the bike more and applying a little more throttle or even low siding, he was looking at that cliff and went right for it. That is an easy thing to do in a panic. - always look where you want to go.

 

[dazco]

I just figured they do move during the day but unlike deer for example are much more wary of roads and anywhere that is populated with vehicles or people. So thats why i figured the chopper scared them across the road. They DO occasionally move into areas where there are people tho as I witnessed on last nite's local news where a bear was taped wandering thru a neighborhood in the middle of the day. But even the newscaster mirrored what you said, that this is normal for them to come down looking for food except that it almost always happens at nite and very rarely in the day. It was really a thrill to see them tho. i just wish i could have stopped and watched them for a while. But i couldn't do that from the safety of my bike (so i could acellerate away quickly if necassary) because tehy went over the guardrail and if was down from there. So to see them i'd have had to get off the bike and then be vulernable if she decided to run at me. The little cub was so cute !

 

[The Seeker]

Seeing bears is a pretty common around here....they know the garbage truck schedule so they "migrate" in accordance with people putting their garbage out for pick up. Most in this area will run from you if you yell at them. But you NEVER go anywhere near a mother with her cubs!!

 

[dazco]

Yeah, thats why i didn't stop. You always hear stories on the discovery and other channels like that of the person who happened upon a mom and cub and was mauled. I still find it odd tho that in the 40 years or thereabouts that i've wandered thru the brush while hunting or just shooting that i never came upon one. Seems like you're more likely to see one in populated areas then in the wild.

 

[CarlS]

Bears are no more road wary than deer. There is just not nearly the population of bear as there is deer. Bears have very wide ranging territories. It is not unusual at all for a bear to roam 100 plus miles in a season. They do not form herds or groups like deer. Males are solitary and if you see two or three bears to together, it is usually a momma and these year's family. That goes out the window if they have a good food source like the garbage cans AJ mentioned.

 

[The Seeker]

The State Fish & Game Commission tells us not to feed the bears and to keep refuse in containers that are bear-proof.

Then the local government decides that we need to pay for our garbage pick-up by forcing us to buy special blue bags (like we don't pay enough taxes already?). Now they only pick-up garbage that's in the paid blue bags and prohibit you from using metal cans.

Well...DA?

It only defeats the idea of not feeding the bears, it makes a horrible mess, and we have more bears than ever.

What's really strange is that we now have coyotes too. I have never heard of coyotes in Pennsylvania before the last few years. Wolves, yes - coyotes no.

 

[CarlS]

Coyotes are now pretty much every where. They are extremely adaptable. The bridges spanning the Mississippi aid their spread. Before the bridges, the Mississippi was a natural barrier.

 

[The Seeker]

Actually, I'd much rather run across a bear than I would a mountain lion!!

I thought I heard a bear messing around in our garbage one night so I stepped out of the barn to scare it away only to be confronted with a lone mountain lion. I can still remember those eyes! I figured cleaning up the mess the next day was the better part of valor!

 

[CarlS]

A very wise decision!

 

[CarlS]

Speaking of coyotes:

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Brad Coleman was testing a Gibbs NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car at Toyota Arizona Proving Grounds earlier this week and came onto the radio and told his crew something rather unusual.

"Guys, I hit a coyote," Coleman said.

Coleman was running close to 200 mph around the 10-mile test track when he saw the animal wander under the outside guardrail.

"I'm in the middle of the corner, and I'm doing like 190," Coleman said Friday at Nashville Superspeedway before practicing his Nationwide Series car.

"I'm just cruising. You run the high line there, because that's where the most banking is. It's the high-speed lane. There's just a guardrail there like on the freeway."

 

[dazco]

Oh $hiT !!!! Thats crazy ! :y24: Around here they're all over too. Sitting on my deck they sometimes walk right by. The other day out front i'm cleaning my bike and one jumps down onto the street from the cliff on the opposite side and stands there looking at me then turns away and lazily walks down the street. yesterday as i have seen numerous times, as i drice home past Griffith park i see one just standing there on the grass with people all around as tho he's just part of the crowd. I'm surprised i don't see a lot of news reports on people getting bit.

Actually, I'd much rather run across a bear than I would a mountain lion!!

He|| yeah ! There have been numerous cases around here or people being attacked and even killed by them, yet not one here i ever heard of where a bear attacked someone.