The Kiss of the Cobra. 6/24/2007
Grant S. : Did you see that cobra?
The Snark : What cobra?
Grant S. : The one that tried to strike at your foot.
The Snark : What the fuck?
The morning dawned grey and slightly overcast. I needed to ride. It had been that kind of a month. And yes, it’s actually been slightly over a month since I rode a motorcycle for pure recreation. I had made arrangements with Grant S., and Jeyadev, to go for a ride to the infamous Titi Kong. We met up at a Shell station near the Casa del Snark, and Grant arrived just slightly before I did. We parked up, and waited for Jeyadev to arrive, catching up on our respective lives and short term plans.
When Jey finally arrived, we suited up, and headed off to do the TT. I was a little wary about doing the TT this Sunday, because it had been raining every evening for the last 6 weeks, culminating in almighty flooding in the city 2 weeks ago. I knew the route was going to probably be wet and slimy in sections, and with possibly mud and sand at certain places.
Sure enough, after we turned in the 9th mile marker, and started heading on the road that would bring us to the twisties, the road was wet, with puddles of water standing on the road. I decided to err on the side of caution. I hadn’t done the TT in a while, and I didn’t really know what the road condition was like. A bad rain, and heavy vehicles, can change the surface of a section of road overnight, and some of the corners in Titi Kong can be very unforgiving.
I skirted a big puddle, and headed down the road in the lead, with Grant and Jey following behind. At the intersection after the first stage of twisties, Grant pulls along side me, and said, “Did you see the cobra?”
After the usual “what the fucks?”, he told that as I was skirting the afore mentioned large puddle of water, a cobra, lying in the puddle, had reared up as I rode past, and struck at my leg, missing me by, in Grant’s words, “just this much”.
I have to confess to not noticing it at all. And even if it had managed to bite me, all it would have probably gotten for its troubles would be a mouthful of carbon fiber from my boot, or a taste of denim. On the other hand, I was grateful it missed completely. If it had managed to catch my jeans, it would probably have gotten stuck, and I would be riding down the road at 120 km/h and having to deal with 6 feet of angry cobra hanging off my leg.
Oh, the the ride was good, although I was definitely nowhere near pushing the envelope in any way or form. Jey acquitted himself well, managing to stay with us mostly, and not lagging too far behind. Grant noticed I was not leaning anywhere near what he had seen the last ride we took together, nor was i going anywhere near as fast. He followed closely behind Bikebike, although I knew he and his SV650S could have buggered off into the distance anytime. His bike is fully run in, and it was definitely ready to rock and roll. He did pay me a nice compliment though. He said, “If you ever get one of these,” pointing to his bike, “I’m in trouble.”
Nice ride guys. Let’s do this again in a fortnight.
- Posted in : On the road
- Author : thesnark
Comments»
thanks for the kind words… i think.
Imagine it flapping in the wind.
Well, it’ll be quite a sight. Jeyadev can probably pull it off by its tail.
No-one was going to queue up for the job of sucking the poison out either
It was really was one of the wildest things I have ever seen in 25 years biking! Don’t get a lot of that in the UK
*Note to self - buy higher boots. Avoid puddles out in the sticks. Stay at least 6 feet behind Snark!
Kudos too to Jeyadev for maintaining the pace. Nice one.
I\’m crying as i read this…..
6′ trouser snake?
Er… any chance u guys might be heading up north anytime soon?
Jeyadev : Hang around, it gets faster. I think you didn’t see Grant and myself take the S bends on the elevated highway. We were formation flying.
Dr Tan : Grant could have done that without us stopping the bikes.
Grant : Let’s get wilder. Phuket Bike Week next year?
Bikerwannabe : Cry lah, see if I care. I went riding, I’m happy now.
cmos : Maybe. When’s a good time?
thesnark : it gets faster? hmm, i’ll need to learn how to use my sixth gear around the corners.
Grant S : maintaining the pace? i felt like I was holding you guys back. also, with those tyres you have, I also have to keep 10 feet behind you, or your tyre spray sticks to me…
thesnark : I’ll make time! Btw… I’m a noob biker… so pls show me the ropes if the chance for a biking outing pops up…
Oh gees, that Cobra was lucky.
Last time I saw one was in Penang 1971 or 1972!
[Seen plenty of other things since then, Dugites, Brown Snakes, Red Bellied Black Snakes, White Bellied Black Snakes … harmless carpet pythons … blue tree snake. I think that’s it].
@ cmos : judging by yesterday, you’ll mainly get to get at your own speed…
Midwest USA gets cold, but we never have to worry about cobras.