All this hi-tech lube stuff- slick 50, STP etc.

[canuguzzi]

Oh yeah? They spend hundreds on research, millions on marketing to make billions selling space aged lubricants that are supposed to make your engines run smoother.

Then we have 10-60 oils with alphabet designations, zinc and who knows what else added to save valves.

Paaalease ...nothing invented comes close to the slipperyness of wet cow manure upon which wet pine needles have fallen, NOTHING!

Out for late breakfast this morning, left Howard Station south on the Bohemian Highway. Norge gliding along in 3rd at maybe 5k ( I really like 3rdnon the Norge) and just before the major intersection headed back to Bodega, a ripened heap all covered with blown pine needles or what looked like it.

ABS? More like Abort, Bounce Slide.

They ought to boil it, bottle it and stick it on the shelf at Pep Boys. There is nothing slicker than that at any price.

Now if you've slid a little on something slicker than that, do tell.

Yeah, there were skid marks. Not quite black but nothing a little borax and bleach can't remove.

[oldbike54]

 Yep , a mixture of cow poop , avocado , and tooth paste would make the perfect lubricant . The first two for slippery , and the tooth paste for adhesion 

 Dusty

[canuguzzi]

BTW, Howard station has awesome breakfasts.

Yeah, they have oats too, boiled in apple juice and cinnamon with sliced almonds, raisins and whatever fruit they have on hand. Good stuff.

Old as dirt guy walked up as I parked and the "who makes that...) ensued. " haven't seen one of those in a long time" obviously an MG, not a Norge.

Sitting outside since its the first nice day after a couple weeks of rain, I noticed the patrons leaving with guys walking by the Norge and glancing, the women stopping to look, some point. Maybe memories of theirs?

Tomorrows job?/Tweezers to pick out the goo from oil cooler fins.

[PJPR01]

Presumably the cow ate the same cinnamon flavored steel cut oats from the same diner?  Just dropping bread crumbs on his way home to the pasture!   

[azguzzirep]

Anti-freeze radiator coolant is a major problem in the West. Can put an mc down faster than you can say "WTF"?

Tom

[John A]

I agree with the anti freeze and cow crap but the slipperiest stuff I ever encountered was millions of frogs in a mass migration near Leech Lake, MN. Or the trillions of mayflies in a hatch on Mississippi River bridges

[charlie b]

Wet leaves.

Hit them when on a bicycle one time and slid across the road.  Almost could not stand on them, it was like an ice rink.

[John Ulrich]

How are you feeling after bouncing off the pavement?

[azguzzirep]

I agree with the anti freeze and cow crap but the slipperiest stuff I ever encountered was millions of frogs in a mass migration near Leech Lake, MN. Or the trillions of mayflies in a hatch on Mississippi River bridges

Here in Germany they have warning signs with a picture of a frog because of mass frog migration.

I have yet to see it, though.

Tom

[toma nova]

Spilled diesel.

Resulted in a 10mph high side on the Stelvio after the rear hooked up, pretty classic reaction actually.  I had unknowingly been riding with the TC off, I fixed that error quickly.

[RayB]

Try making a 90 degree turn when there are soy beans spilled from a truck onto the turn at harvest time. Worse than marbles. Damhik

[wymple]

Along the Mississippi we have fish flies, sometimes called Mormon flies (I don't know why). They swarm by the billions for a few days and then die off en mass. Where I worked  back in 67 the plant was at the end of a mile long blacktop, with a light pole and a right turn at the end into the plant. Fish flies swarm around lights. There were so many dead flies out there that the company sent an endloader down there to scrape them up into a pile. One of my supervisors turned that corner on his 350 Harley Sprint, and slid full bore right into that pile of dead bugs. Clean out of site under 10 feet of stinking dead flies. They are as slippery as guts, and stink even worse. He probably still has nightmares if he's still living.

[atavar]

Agree on the frogs bit, ran in to a tree frog migration  crossing Louisianna one time and there were millions of the little buggers so thick that you could not see the white lines all the way to the horizon..  not only are they max slippery but five days later they stink like nothing you ever smelled before. 

I agree with the anti freeze and cow crap but the slipperiest stuff I ever encountered was millions of frogs in a mass migration near Leech Lake, MN. Or the trillions of mayflies in a hatch on Mississippi River bridges

[slopokes]

spilled diesel-well when the rain comes-all bets are off--makes old truck drivers cry.

[Sasquatch Jim]

 Vomit from S.Q.s  Those are shittaquart birds that wade the shallows catching frogs, salamanders, small fish,
 and other small wiggling delicacies.  They then fly to your boat and land on the deck.  When they fly away, at the first down flap of their 6 foot wingspan they shittaquart to drop ballast on take off.  If you do something to scare them away, they power puke first then shittaquart as they fly away.  Both messes stink to high heaven and are oily slick.  The stuff is also corrosive to metal parts of your boat.

[John A]

Along the Mississippi we have fish flies, sometimes called Mormon flies (I don't know why). They swarm by the billions for a few days and then die off en mass. Where I worked  back in 67 the plant was at the end of a mile long blacktop, with a light pole and a right turn at the end into the plant. Fish flies swarm around lights. There were so many dead flies out there that the company sent an endloader down there to scrape them up into a pile. One of my supervisors turned that corner on his 350 Harley Sprint, and slide full bore right into that pile of dead bugs. Clean out of site under 10 feet of stinking dead flies. They are as slippery as guts, and stink even worse. He probably still has nightmares if he's still living.

      Up here they call them May Flies, very slippery indeed!

[guzzisteve]

Hell, you mean your cows aren't wearing their diapers, sue that farmer. Where is his pooper scooper. 

[HardAspie]

Paint; the stuff that is used to mark lanes and crosswalks. When it is wet, it is a slip n slide.

[wymple]

      Up here they call them May Flies, very slippery indeed!

We also call them May flies, I just had a brain fart. Fish flies, Mormon flies, May flies.

[John A]

A few years ago I rode across the back channel bridge about a half mile from my place, went into the shop where I had a scanner on and within fifteen minutes there was a squad car and three other cars wrecked on the bridge, when the big hatch comes there are literally tons of mayflies in minutes on the bridges. It's pretty cool to see.

[ITSec]

Out in the Mojave, two things will get you.

Every year, the August rains will lift 8 months of whatever is on the road surface and mix it into the slipperiest crap you can imagine.

And once every few years, the Mormon crickets (actually locusts or grasshoppers to those outside the reach of Salt Lake City) will literally carpet the roads (and everything else).

[Tom H]

In no order:

Gas/diesel on a polished brick crosswalk

Manhole covers in the rain perfectly lined up for the left turn at the intersection

Paint lines (Isle of Man does or used to add something for grip in their pant)

Be safe!!
Tom

[John A]

Let's not forget the wet cattle grate at an intersection to surprise you and make you hurt for a few weeks!