Riding the Tornados of Death Valley

[kightboy]

Just felt like telling a tale.....
Riding my first K75 in late March 1994 on the way to Caliente, Nevada to meet up with a bunch of riders and going north on 395 after circling Bakersfield because of late season snows in the Sierra that wouldn’t let me over the passes at Reno, there was a very strong and steady wind from west to east. 
I was watching LARGE dust-devils form on either side of the highway as I traveled and was glad to be avoiding them. 
Without any exaggeration, these monsters were as wide as a two lane road and 100 to 150 feet high. 
I photographed 7 or 8 of them as proof-later on.  They were full of dust up-high, and the bases were loaded with what looked like LOTS of dust, tumbleweeds, sticks and pieces of litter. 
As I approached one that was close to the highway, it appeared to have already crossed over the road from the west to the east. 
I could clearly see the top of it, all cream colored and couldn’t see the base. 
As I drew up even to it at about 80 mph, all of a sudden the base of it was to my LEFT, on the west of the highway and coming for me!
The danged thing was “S” shaped  and curved down over the road with the Base coming at me.  At first it was transparent because it was over a grassy area which explains why I couldn’t see it but as it drew alongside the shoulder, moving towards me, it picked up a load of shoulder debris, tumbleweeds, sticks, sand, dust and pea-sized gravel and clobbered me.  Too late to stop, I could do nothing but gas it (my solution for many emergencies!), put my head down, hold my breath and blow through it!  The doggone things blow in a circle, of course, so I was quickly blown HARD in one direction and then IMMEDIATELY in the other direction as I went squarely through the middle at speed.
Before I closed my eyes, I could see NOTHING but a white-dust-filled storm.  I felt the gravel and sand hit and ended up spitting and chewing grit for 15 minutes or so.  It deposited gravel, grit and tumbleweed fragments in every pocket of my jacket that wasn't zipped and every nook and cranny of my luggage and when I got off the seat for gas about 45 minutes later, there was about ½ cup of gravel under my butt!!
They say “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”.  As I cleared out of the other side of the thing I was laughing and all I could think of was how I must’ve looked to the guy in the car behind me as I disappeared into the middle of this Jumbo Nevada Dust Devil.  And yes, the paint on the front of this bike had a million tiny chips in it and, interestingly enough, it sandblasted the headlight glass even more than the paint and windshield!! sigh 
Red K75

[detbmw]

What a ride report!

I'm glad you made it through without going down, but it pains me to hear that the red K75 got scratched up!

I guess you could only gas it or slam on the brakes.

[tsbt]

I would think the tears might wash all that dust off your face, after that! Glad you made it through.

[detbmw]

I should have added, a situation like that is where experience pays off.

Four times in the last few months someone has pulled into my lane or pulled right out in front of me. Each time I was watching the other people and reacted without panic. About a year ago the clutch cable on my RT broke as I was on a small county road and approaching a four-lane highway. Without much thought I shifted to neutral without a clutch and stopped the bike on the edge of the road just shy of the highway without ever killing the bike.

Your experience and reflexes kept you & the bike upright.

[Qdude]

Yes, experiences and reflexes...

A carpool van suddenly lane changed from almost standstill right lanes, left into the clear HOV lane that I was doing 60+ in. My bad...

I bent my right handlebar on his front left corner as I passed which sent me veering off the freeway to the left. There was only about a foot & a half of shoulder before the Jersey Barrier.

Crashing as often as I had on dirt bikes as a adolescent really came back to help me. I didn't panic, oddly enough, not in the least. It was if I was watching a movie. My body stood up and scanned the ground for a place to dive when that left bar would hit the wall and send me over the right bar. I had full face, boots & gauntlets, leathers and an armor jacket, I could use them.

Some part of my head also thought there was a chance to ride this one out, so it was doing its best attempting to salvage some type of control of the bike. Turning the bars left to react right was not an option because the center barrier was so close so I just had to try to pick a line and hope I could squeak it with my body on the wrong side of center balance. Kind of like leaning too far back in your chair. 

By the time I felt it was me making conscious decisions again, I was slowly working my way to the right, back to the far left lane again. It felt as if another part of my brain had "taken over" and handled the first few split seconds of that accident/collision better than I could ever give myself credit for. It was a remarkable experience