The sun was in my eyes
 

One evening I back out of my drive with the intent to head west.
I put the car in drive and let my foot of the brake and as soon as I began to roll forward my wife gasps and I think tried to say stop.

Not knowing what was wrong and how I should react I relied on my wife’s possible warning to stop and put my foot back on the brake, thinking there is a neighbor hood kid jumping a skateboard of the curb or something.
Now I am stopped, trying to catch my breath and get my heart to slow down and I look at her and say, what?

She points forward out the windshield and says, that trailer!
So I look and say, what trailer?
She says, that trailer right in front of you Idiot!
I look again and still don’t see no trailer.

I am beginning to worry about her mental health now, but I calmly say “baby I don’t see a trailer”
She Looks at me and calmly says “you’re an Idiot” “get out and walk in front of the car and look”
Well I can see in front of me just plain as day, but just to humor her I get out of the car.
As soon as I stand up I say “Holy Crap”
There is a utility trailer parked on the side of the road and about 12” from my right headlight.

So I get back in the car and look and I cant see the trailer, so I lean over in front of my wife and there it is again.
So I lean back to my side and it’s gone, then I notice the sun coming between the trees in my neighbor’s front yard. I think, “Wow the Bermuda Triangle in my neighbors yard”
I look all around me and I can see everything except about 20ft of the road right in front of my neighbors house and not all of the road, just about the 8ft wide area that the trailer is parked in.

So I turn the steering wheel as far left as I can and pull forward and look at my wife and say “Oh that trailer, I new that was there, I wasn’t gonna hit it.”
She looks at me and says”Idiot”.

The next day about the same time of day, I roll my bike down to the end of my drive
Hop on and take 1 pedal stroke.
Wham, I hooked my right knee on that stupid trailer.
It jerks me of the bike and slams me to the ground causing me to hit my chin.
So now I am laying there thinking, “What the hell just happened to me”?
I get up, dust of my shorts and legs take stock and decide that the only injury seems to be to my pride.
So I pick up my bike, walk it about 6ft away from that stupid trailer hop on and ride of.
As I am riding away I look over my shoulder at my house and there is my wife looking out the window. She doesn’t know I can read lips, but I can tell she is saying “Idiot”:cry:

That's pretty funny. If you couldn't see the trailer, what did you see in its place?

I've been riding early in the morning with a big group, going in a generally east direction, just as the sun comes up, and at times its scary how little I can see. I find myself backing off because I just can't see the wheel ahead of me.

I drove home yesterday from the office right into the sun coming straight down the main road I take to get home... at one point there was nothing but a giant red ball in front of me. The road was marked at 35MPH. Neither I, nor anyone around me was doing over 20MPH at that time... driving into that giant flaming red ball.

Everyone was moving cautious into the sun.

Good story! All except the part where your wife says, "Idiot!" I mean, come on! You're not an idiot! You're just blind as a bat!

:D

Just kidding. What if a bike were riding there, I wonder (as I suppose you also have wondered, which proves you are not an idiot. :) )

This is one of the reasons that when it gets to be fall, I shift my work times so that I'm riding in to work in the dark, and riding home hours before dusk (usually about 3PM). Also I like riding in the dark, and IMHO it's far safer than riding in the daylight, given that I have a lot of lighting.

Its kinda hard to explain, the best I can do is say, I see nothing.
I know its sounds weired, but it is such a small area, if your are not focusing on it your brain just dosnt register the missing details.
The phenomina of the ghost trailer(as my wife now calls it) only happens for about 4 days out of the year.


When I look in that spot now, I always see that stupid trailer, even when it isnt there.:o

When I almost hit the trailer with my car I did worry about waht would have happened if a bike had been riding there,the good thing was I wasnt going fast enough to run down a jay walking ant.

After the incident on my bike, I now know what would haave happened if a bike had been ridding there.:o
They would have hit there knee on the trailer, which would have jerked them of the bike slamming them to the ground causing them to hit their chin.:) :)

Unfortunately, at various times of year, the east-west half of my L-shaped commute takes me into the rising/setting sun in both directions.

When I plan my route for a recreational ride, however, I do factor in sun position, along with avoiding nasty intersections and minimizing the number of left turns from prime arterials.

I can't help but wonder if the sun change is what causes this kind of change in attitude... http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=229133

I also recall bringing up a page a while back that cited more rear end collisions at the change of daylight savings in the spring and fall... when folks are driving into the sun, and or suddenly now are driving into darkness.

A properly cleaned (and maintained) windshield and good eyewear do wonders to significantly reduce sun glare caused 'blindness'
Al

Agreed, and so would a dimmer switch on the sun.

In the past few weeks, the sun has been just coming over the horizon as I start my ride to work. When it is straight into my eyes I pay very close attention to my mirror for anything coming up behind me. Fortunately the traffic is very light so I havent had to consider hopping onto the sidewalk.