Yesterday I took the meanie for my first little road trip on it, from western to eastern Washington. My wife was over there (she barrel races her horse), and the weather was decent so I decided to make the trip over. The ride there was great. It got a bit chilly going over Steven’s Pass though the North Cascade Mountains, so I had to stop and throw on my heavier gloves as my face mask (I was wearing the shortie helmet), but then I was back on the road again.
Then came the ride back, during which I had the scariest moment I’ve ever experienced on the bike. It was about 5pm as I was coming over the peak of the mountain pass, and the wet roads were starting to become a bit icy. I slowed my speed down and everything seemed to be fine. All of a sudden I start getting hammered by extreme wind gusts coming down the steep mountainside on my left. It kept getting stronger and stronger, and all of a sudden as a sharp left curve was coming up, the wind starts pushing me toward the right. Now, I live in the foothills of the cascades, and we get strong winds quite often, and I’ve felt it push me around before, but this was different. Since the ground was icy, I swear I could feel it pushing and sliding my bike over the ice. I was trying to turn against it and ready up for the upcoming left curve, but it just kept pushing me toward the right. It slid me all the way from the left side of the left lane to the middle of the right lane (thank goodness there was no other traffic). On dry ground I’d have had no problem with just leaning in to battle the wind like normal, but since I was on ice, all I could think about was the bike coming out from under me. All the while I’m seeing that hard left turn coming, as well as the barrier on the right side of the road, which was all that separated the road from a 1000+ foot mountainside cliff. I was at the point where I’m deciding when I’m going to purposefully lay the bike down if I cant win the battle with mother nature, cuz if I hit that wall while sitting on the bike I know I’ll most likely be flung over the wall into the valley depths. Luckily, as I came closer to the left curve ahead the wind suddenly started letting up, and aside from my frayed nerves, all was fine again.
It took about 10 minutes after that ordeal for my stomach to drop back down from inside my throat, and me to feel calm and comfortable again. That was really the first time in my life where I literally felt like death was very eminent. All I can do is hope that it will be the last..
Then came the ride back, during which I had the scariest moment I’ve ever experienced on the bike. It was about 5pm as I was coming over the peak of the mountain pass, and the wet roads were starting to become a bit icy. I slowed my speed down and everything seemed to be fine. All of a sudden I start getting hammered by extreme wind gusts coming down the steep mountainside on my left. It kept getting stronger and stronger, and all of a sudden as a sharp left curve was coming up, the wind starts pushing me toward the right. Now, I live in the foothills of the cascades, and we get strong winds quite often, and I’ve felt it push me around before, but this was different. Since the ground was icy, I swear I could feel it pushing and sliding my bike over the ice. I was trying to turn against it and ready up for the upcoming left curve, but it just kept pushing me toward the right. It slid me all the way from the left side of the left lane to the middle of the right lane (thank goodness there was no other traffic). On dry ground I’d have had no problem with just leaning in to battle the wind like normal, but since I was on ice, all I could think about was the bike coming out from under me. All the while I’m seeing that hard left turn coming, as well as the barrier on the right side of the road, which was all that separated the road from a 1000+ foot mountainside cliff. I was at the point where I’m deciding when I’m going to purposefully lay the bike down if I cant win the battle with mother nature, cuz if I hit that wall while sitting on the bike I know I’ll most likely be flung over the wall into the valley depths. Luckily, as I came closer to the left curve ahead the wind suddenly started letting up, and aside from my frayed nerves, all was fine again.
It took about 10 minutes after that ordeal for my stomach to drop back down from inside my throat, and me to feel calm and comfortable again. That was really the first time in my life where I literally felt like death was very eminent. All I can do is hope that it will be the last..