I was out riding this weekend in the North Texas area and had a really close call i thought i would share so others might not run into the same thing.

I had ridden out to a local Bike Bar in Westminster, Tx call Big Slicks. There is a pretty curvy road out of Anna that runs out to Westminster and it had been a couple of weeks since i had ridden that way.

On the way out there were signs of road construction and you could see where they had patched the road in several areas with Chip seal. It appeared that it had been a while since there was no loose gravel on the patches.

I stopped in at Slicks and a cold one and then headed back home. As i was about 2-3 miles out of Westminster coming down a hill and over a bridge that sweeps to the right and then sweeps back to the left i felt my bike start to go out from under me and slide a bit sideways into the corner. I was going about 50 MPH and having raced motor cross for years in my youth my first reaction was to stomp my left foot down on the road and roll off the gas. This righted the bike but also caused it to kick a bit the other way and i had my hands full with the bike swinging back and forth. I was lucky that the ditch right there is very open and slight so i was able to get the bike straightened out and rode it down into the ditch and stopped.. I got off the bike expecting to find i had blown a rear tire as thats what it felt like with the bike swinging back and forth.

I walked back to the turn and found it was covered with about 1 inch of gravel like it had just been patched (did not see the work crews on my way out so not sure if they patched it while i was having a beer or it was just much looser than the rest of the patches). Also tore my heel of the my boot.

I got really lucky and just a reminder that road conditions in the country can change very quickly and a note to self to pay more attention.

 

I ran into some crack filler (lack of a better term) on the street. Hot day must bring the oils to the surface. It was like an ice skating rink. Bike came out from underneath me.....yikes!

 

Tar Snakes.

 

One or two cold ones?

 

Actually one large draft beer. lol. Wife called and i had to get going. Might have actually saved me some road rash because i normally would have had 2.

 

Why are they so slick? When I was a kid your shoe would almost stick to those things.

 

Tar Snakes = Patch the cracks during the winter, then when the temp gets back to the 90s here in NC they soften. Had a close call last spring with the wife on the back, a long sweeping turn on 2 lane here near Goldsboro, NC. I take this at 70+ almost all the time. Well last spring, on one of the first warm days, I laid over into the corner near the double yellow, (Can see all the way through the corner,, good visibility.) Well it started washing out on each patch, I rolled off the throttle slightly,, and by the time we exited the corner, I was about a foot from the white line on the right side..... wife held on tighter while this was happening,, when I got straight,, she asked, what happened? I explained that the tar was soft because it was really warm out,,, she thanked me for being skilled! LOL I guess skill was involved,, not panicking,, just rolled off and kept turning,,,,

 

Yep...hate those things. Out the other day with the wife, saw them before I entered the turn and rolled off. The bike got squirrelly but kept a good line...not fun.

 

we call the black road filler ROAD SNAKES here and they are not a good thing for bikes

 

Chip and seal should be banned. There's an entire stretch of road near me that been patched so much the entire thing is nearly one big tar snake. Also, the city uses crush and run to patch the shoulders on some roads every spring. Cars kick the stuff on the roadway, so when you come around a curve, bam, you're on ball bearings. Glad you didn't wreck. That fresh gravel would have been like a cheese grater.