Strange, alarming sound this morning

[bobhamlin]

When I moved to the Nomad from the Classic, it took a while to get used to the different sounds. Now I know what's normal--and what's not.

I'm involved in a project with a tight deadline. This morning I woke up an hour before the alarrm thinking about it, knew I wouldn't get back to sleep, and ended up pulling out of the driveway around 5:15am. Dawn was just starting to lighten the sky. Last night I had raised my windshield to its utmost to see if that reduced any buffeting or wind noise. (This is a factor)

When I get on Rte. 15S out of town, I usually get up to 65mph in the slow lane, then wait on a passing cager that can beat the bushes for both cops and deer.

As I was waiting, I gradually closed a gap with a car in the slow lane. In the mirror, I noticed oncoming lights of my potential higher speed escorts, so I stayed in the slow lane. The car in front of me was cruising very well, I was in no urgent hurry, relaxed, listening to music -- and about the same amount of helmet wind noise as before.

As the first of the vehicles passed me, a loud noise -- from my immediate front -- brought me into sharp focus. My first thought was that my front tire was shredding! As I let off the accelerator, the sound lessened a bit. I felt no difference in the ride. I turned my head to the left to hear if the sound was coming from the passing vehicle. Nope. From my immediate front. Then the sound stopped.

Very alert now, I began closing the gap with the car in front of me. The sound started up again. Was it related to speed? RPM vibration? It was very much coming from my front. Again, I concentrated on the feel of the ride because if the noise was the front tire, it wouldn't have lasted long! The noise was similar to, but not exactly like, car tires going over a rumble strip--or those perpendicular strips that are on some roads when you approach a dangerous intersection.

I slowed down again, and the sound receded. A second vehicle passed on my left. A box truck! Was it the truck's tires I'd been hearing? Like before, I actually turned my head toward the truck, but it was making no noise that approximated what I had heard.

Once again, I closed the distance with the car in front of me and, once again, the rumble strip noise started! I put my hand on my windshield. The height adjustment? Maybe I didn't tighten the bolts enough? I felt no vibration that I wouldn't expect. WTF was going on?

At that moment, the car in front of me elected to fall in behind the passing truck. And I saw what the car had been following: A motorcyclist on a cruiser with loud-ish pipes and an inconsistent throttle.

When he cranked it, I heard "my noise." When I had heard "my noise", I had backed off the throttle, increasing my distance from him and, when he backed off his throttle, my helmet noise masked his normal rumble.

It's always something, ain't it?