Rocks Falling From The Sky!

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03-29-2007, 03:35 AM
Mr. Bloom

Rocks Falling From The Sky!

Yesterday, I'm riding along in a remote marshy area of the gulf coast.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a pebble hits the front of my helmet and makes a VERY loud "smack" sound. I felt it, heard it, but never saw it coming. There's no way that the tire kicked it up on me...trajectory wouldn't have worked...

I was on a road where a car hadn't passed for a few minutes and I was totally alone in a wooded, marshy area. There were no clouds in the sky either.

So, in God's huge creation, what would cause one little pebble to find my head in the middle of nowhere???

Any ideas? Anyone else had this happen?
03-29-2007, 03:48 AM
crazycanuck

x files

Mr silver...it's the earth conspiring against you? Run for your lives the rocks are alive..:eek:

*ahem* Seriously though Mr Silver, i've no idea...

I'm sure we must have an construction engineer lurking who might be able to help.

C
03-29-2007, 03:56 AM
lph

Yoicks. :eek: That would have hurt without a helmet.

I'm guessing a bird, that had picked up a worm or insect or something and got a pebble along with it.

Somewhat related - we have gulls that pick up mussels, drop them on the road, and if they don't break on impact the gulls hang around waiting for a car to run over them and break them open for them.
03-29-2007, 04:08 AM
Bikingmomof3

Yet another reason helmets are an excellent idea. Seriously, I am glad you were not hurt.
03-29-2007, 05:18 AM
SouthernBelle

You p*ssed off God?
03-29-2007, 05:35 AM
DebW

Maybe it was falling satellite debris or a meteorite - oh, that would probably have burned a hole in your helmet. OK, I like the bird theory.
03-29-2007, 05:53 AM
IFjane

maybe it was a REALLY LARGE INSECT??
03-29-2007, 06:27 AM
Offthegrid

It fell off a giant's shoe.
03-29-2007, 06:45 AM
Duck on Wheels

What was the weather like around there? Any chance that a pebble had been picked up by a twister some distance away and then fell when it got spun out of the high wind area? Now, if you know a physicist, and if you found that pebble and kept it, (s)he could maybe calculate from the (lack of) damage to your helmet what the maximum speed might have been that the pebble had when it hit your helmet, or perhaps some range of speed. From that, you could also calculate the height from which it could have fallen, which can make all the difference between, say, something dropped by a bird from up in a tree or something spinning off the wheel of an airplane just tucking it's landing gear in or out, or something dropped by a high wind.
03-29-2007, 08:21 AM
7rider

Mr. Silver = Chicken Little. "The sky is falling!!" :eek: :D :rolleyes:

Okay - here's a scenario....
Your rear wheel (actually, tire) picked up a hitch-hiker, lifted it up and flung it UP and over your back, towards the front of the bike, like a catapult. You, moving forward, hit the pebble on it's way back down.

Hey...it could happen. Right?? Right???
03-29-2007, 08:40 AM
HillSlugger

I think the sky is falling Chicken Little!
03-29-2007, 08:57 AM
Brandi

Quote:

Originally Posted by DebW

Maybe it was falling satellite debris or a meteorite - oh, that would probably have burned a hole in your helmet. OK, I like the bird theory.

I concur!
03-29-2007, 10:29 AM
PinkBike

call the FAA - in case an aircraft dropped it and is now as we speak circling endlessly for lack of that one part that fell off that would have allowed them to land
03-29-2007, 12:32 PM
lph

Ok, I take it back. It wasn't a bird. Your ideas are much better :D
03-29-2007, 02:22 PM
mountainchick

Being the exceptional geologist that I am (really :) ) it was a rare form of volcanic rock that has been known to move on its own.

So not really, but thats very weird. Good thing you had the helmet on!
03-29-2007, 04:41 PM
Mr. Bloom

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regina

Mr. Silver = Chicken Little. "The sky is falling!!" :eek: :D :rolleyes:

Okay - here's a scenario....
Your rear wheel (actually, tire) picked up a hitch-hiker, lifted it up and flung it UP and over your back, towards the front of the bike, like a catapult. You, moving forward, hit the pebble on it's way back down.

Hey...it could happen. Right?? Right???

This is actually the scenario that I pondered the most...but I can't believe that the "traction" is enough...and the trajectory is all wrong.

No weather abnormalities, it lacked the "organic matter" that would have accompanied a "bird bomb", no aircraft in the area, no volcanoes within 1,000 miles...I'm flumoxed...Maybe I am CHICKEN LITTLE!!!
03-29-2007, 05:34 PM
Cella66

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Silver

Maybe I am CHICKEN LITTLE!!!

hey, I would be a little chicken! I hope it wasn't anything like Joe Dirt's meteor :eek:
03-29-2007, 06:14 PM
roguedog

are you SURE it can't have been a bird that ate too much seed last night???