20 miles from the end of a 250 mile ride today, my wife and I got on the I-5 North off the 76 in Oceanside. 1/2 mile later all 4 lanes are blocked and we start splitting lanes. I figure it's an accident a mile or so ahead, but we continue splitting in 1st and 2nd gear as the cars are stopped or going 10 mph in all 4 lanes. The cagers must be pissed, thousands of them. At least we're moving. (For those of you that don't know the area, this entire stretch of freeway borders Camp Pendleton Marine Base for 17 miles)

TEN MILES OF LANE SPLITTING LATER...we come upon the cause of the slowdown. About a mile south of the truck scales the Marines are running maneuvers with tanks and armored personnel carriers on the dirt roads that parallel the freeway. And some of the idiot drivers are craning their necks to watch the tanks stir up dust. If they're so intrigued by the sight, maybe they should just sign up.

On the plus side, my wife is now an experienced lane splitter. And we had a good ride out to Borrego Springs (windy) and Julian.

 

Hey to people who've never been in the military, it's WAY crazy cool to see!! They definitely shoulda signed up if they think it's THAT cool!

From experience, after you've done it way too many times to count when you really were pretty tired of it ... it's not that cool.

 

During the Vietnam War, when I was stationed at the Imperial Beach Radio Station, sometimes I'd drive up the freeway through Pendleton and see about a mile of Marines lined up on opposite sides of the freeway with their rifles pointed across the freeway at each other. But back then there was about 1/20th of the traffic there is today.

 

Now if only they would start shooting the slow drivers...

When I'm cruising up I-15 by Miramar and a fighter jet blasts overhead, I throttle up!

About the only thing I'd slow down for is that guy who was emptying bags of money on the freeway. Otherwise it pretty much has to be upside down and exploding into flames for me to look at it. Instead I focus on the idiots in front of me and look for a safe way to get out of there without getting squished. Bikes probably don't fare well in a chain reaction collision.

 

If you want to get your wife more white line practice, try I-5 north through Burbank during any daylight hours. 10am or 2 pm, doesn't matter. I-5 south is a rip. I-5 north is stop and go or 10mph. Why? Accidents? Nope. "Police activity"? hardly. A guy changing a flat on the shoulder? Not at all.

I-5 south through Burbank is slightly down hill. I-5 north through Burbank is ever so slightly uphill.

Doofus on the cell phone doesn't adjust his right foot, slows from 65 to 55. Additional doofuses over react, over brake. Next thing you know you've got 2 miles of doofus going 10mph.

 

I figure I've got at least 10,000 miles of lane splitting from my commuting days before carpool lanes. My commute was 35 miles of freeway each way, the 5 and the 22.

Back in the '80s a guy wrote a book answering questions about things that people don't know the answer to. I can't remember the title, but he gave the explanation that a traffic jam can start with one person hitting the brakes, and the chain reaction can cause a slowdown that will take a half hour to clear up. I hate rubberneckers.

But yeah, cell phones are the worst. That new law we got here in Cali is working great, isn't it. People stayed off their phones for about a week after it went into effect. Besides, hands free doesn't help.

 

Yeah. One week was about right. And "hands free" doesn't mean ****. I don't care where their hand is. Pull up along side some moron going 48 mph in the number one lane, look at his eyes and you can see his BRAIN is someplace else.

 

Sometimes I talk on the bluetooth while splitting lanes...

Don't blame the cell phone, blame the driver. If they're not driving stupid on the phone, they'll find something else to drive stupid while doing.

 

Yeah well, I ALWAYS blame the driver. Cyclists are a different breed.

The threat of imminent death or dismemberment might help focus consciousness enough to talk and white line at the same time. 90% of car drivers can't/don't do it.

Personally, I wouldn't want to be IPoding or bluetoothing while splitting traffic.

Even in my truck, the first thing I do when hitting heavy traffic is turn off the radio and tell whoever I'm with to be quiet.

 

That's the problem. Most people are lousy drivers to begin with. Motorcyclists have skills developed way beyond the average driver. If we didn't we wouldn't survive.

I will have to say that a number of drivers moved over to give more room while we were splitting for 10 miles, even though they must have been pissed off to be in an hour or more delay. But then there is always the pickup driver who shows no respect. Of course he has a Harley sticker in the rear window.

 

RK1, remind me never to go on a road trip with you.

 

Give me a freakin' break surfer. 99% of any road trip has nothing to do with heavy traffic. On the other 1% I've read you well enough to know you'd be perfectly willing to STFU!

One caveat; In heavy traffic my passenger is welcome to speak provided comments are restricted to what is happening within 200 yards of my front bumper!

 

Roadhead is a nice quiet way to get through a traffic jam. Sucks though when you're in a Corvette and pull up next to a busload of 5th graders.

 

On the relatively rare occasion I listen to music while riding, and given that there is very little motorcycle specific music available, I prefer surf music from the late, great formerly all American state of California.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbGYC5Kyq9U

My favorite tune to carve corners with. Not sure why. just is.

 

So you wouldnt mind some tard babbling like barney frank for extended periods about the Ronald McDonald sticker in the window of the SUV you are sitting behind?

 

Hell, that's why I have the "No 'Tards" sticker on my truck.

 

Ah, your already covered then.
Those stickers are useful for preventing potential liabilities

 

The worst traffic ever is the stretch of I-15 in CA between Baker and Barstow and Victorville/Hesperia on a Sunday evening. Its full of dumb asses coming back from Vegas and mega RVs pulling dirtbikes with everyone going 10 miles an hour in every lane no matter if there are only 2 or even 5 lanes.

Almost as bad is I-5 north from LA to SF Bay on any weekend day in either direction. Only 2 lanes of pin straight road for hundres of miles with people driving slow in both lanes.

 

I came back that way a few weekends ago. Some jackass jackknifed his trailer a few minutes prior and there were pieces of cars strewn around. I'm now much more careful when approaching an accident scene. If there's no emergency vehicles ther yet then expect debris in every lane and maintain your following distance until you're well past the scene.

 

thanks for the tip. I'm gonna have to get a "no daffy duck talking Barney ***" sticker as well.

 

It's all tongue-in-cheek RK1. I should have said Carpool, not Road Trip. And as for the STFU issue, my wife would disagree on both a personal and observational viewpoint. But in heavy traffic its "Hey, I'm driving".

 

I knew you were kidding. Just figured I'd take the opportunity to further elaborate and detail my on road manual of practice.

Besides, maybe it's my upbringing, my stint in the Boy Scouts etc. I can't help responding literally even when I know I'm being teased.