Traveling down a 2 lane highway, that I routinelytravel,on my Ultra at 55 mph when I hit some road construction I was not prepared for. There were no construction signs, no warnings of any kind plus it was right after dusk which for me is the hardest time of day to see.

In preparation for resurfacing, they had scraped away the top layer of asphalt leaving those infamous wavy grooves that are so fun to ride on. However since I was riding in the middle of the left third of the lane, my wheels hit right on and parallel with a 2 to 3 inch drop off between the original pavement and the scraped part. I didn't see the drop off until I was right at it due to the amount of light, having traveled this road allot and I assumed I knew were all the potential hazards were, and I had just glanced to the left as 2 cops had somebody pulled over.

When I hit this all hell broke loose. I'm not even sure how I kept the bike up, it was jerking all over the place. It all happened so fast that all I remember is fighting the handlebars and at one point getting thrown all the way to the right edge of the road. I was thinking "I am going down". My wife was on her Deluxe following me, but was riding in the right third of the lane so she just hit the grooves and not the lip and it scared her enough as it was. Its funny how I perceived the front of the bike jumping around, but later she said it was unbeleiveable how my back end was flying all over the road. Its not a good feeling when your trying to get control of your bike and you actual hear your wife scream from her bike behind you.

I'm not sure if I used any brakes, kept power to the bike or what. All I remember is holding on and fighting the bars with everything I had. When the bike settled down and everything was back to normal I did have a cramp in my left foot, probably caused from the death grip I had on the tank with my legs.

What is the best way to handle this situation (other than not playing with uneven pavement)?

 

I'm glad you pulled thru that one o.k. The only way I can describe how I would handle that situation is to use the term "Ride Thru It". Of course it's great to know in advance that it's coming up so you can be mentally prepared.

 

You did well! think no more of it.

 

Make sure the incompetents put some road signs up before someone who isn't as skilled or lucky as you comes along.

 

Excellent job of handling the situation. You did instinctively what you felt you had to do and it worked, so no suggestions here...

You could hear Mama scream from behind you on her own bike? WOW!

 

Way to go good job staying up on two,,,it is an eary feel when you see this thing going all over the place..